Automatic sign-in

When an account has a stored password, Asterobot can sign it in for you. It starts a real browser on the computer where it runs, fills in Ankama's sign-in page and reads the result, without showing any window by default. When Ankama doesn't let it through, Asterobot's log says why.

What it needs

• A password stored for the account. See Add an account. Sign in automatically only appears for accounts that have one.
• Google Chrome, Chromium or Microsoft Edge on the computer where Asterobot runs. Not on the device you open Asteroboard on, if that's a different one.

Asterobot looks for Chrome or Chromium first, and tries Edge only when neither can be started:

For a browser installed anywhere else, or another Chromium-based browser such as Brave, Vivaldi or Opera, enter its full path in the zaapmanager.browserPath setting, described below. Firefox and Safari can't be used.

Sign an account in

The quickest way is from Account Manager:

1. Open the account's menu, the three dots at the end of its row.
2. Click Sign in automatically.
3. Wait. A sign-in can take up to two minutes. When it works, Asteroboard shows the Login ID followed by signed in on its own, and the badge turns to Signed in.

You can also do it from the sign-in dialog: click Connect or Reconnect in the same menu, then Sign in automatically at the top of the dialog. When it works, Asteroboard shows the Login ID followed by is connected and closes the dialog. When it fails, the dialog stays open with Automatic sign-in failed - sign in yourself below and a picture of the page, as explained further down. The reason itself is only in Asterobot's log.

You don't always have to click anything. When a bot connects with this account and the account's sign-in has stopped working, Asterobot signs it in the same way as part of the connection. Full socket mode describes that connection, and Verify in Account status and actions can trigger it too.

What happens during a sign-in

1. If the account's current sign-in still works, Asterobot keeps it and stops there. No browser is started.
2. Otherwise, it asks Ankama to renew the sign-in quietly, still without a browser.
3. Only when that's refused does it start the browser, with the account's own profile, and open Ankama's sign-in page. Its log, in the terminal and on Server > Console, shows Signing in to Ankama through a browser.
4. If the profile still holds a valid Ankama session, Ankama skips the form and goes straight to its confirmation page.
5. Otherwise, the browser types the Login ID and the password into Ankama's form and submits it.
6. On Ankama's confirmation page, Asterobot reads the link behind the Continue button. That link carries a one-time code, which Asterobot trades for the account's sign-in.
7. Asterobot checks the new sign-in with Ankama straight away, then closes the browser.

Three time limits apply: 30 seconds for Ankama's sign-in form to appear, 60 seconds after submitting it for the confirmation page, and two minutes for the whole attempt.

No window by default

The browser runs without any window, because zaapmanager.browserHeadless is on by default. That's what lets automatic sign-in work on a computer nobody is sitting at, such as a server. You can turn the window on when you need to see what Ankama is asking, as explained below.

One browser profile per account

Each account gets its own browser profile, kept between sign-ins in the zaapmanager/browser-profiles folder of Asterobot's data folder. Accounts never share one. Because the profile keeps the account's Ankama session, a later sign-in often goes straight to the confirmation page without meeting the form again. It also means the profile is as sensitive as the password itself.

When Ankama asks for a person

Sometimes Ankama puts a challenge or a captcha in front of its sign-in form. Asterobot doesn't try to get past it: it gives up and lets a person take over. You have two ways out.

Sign in yourself, in your own browser. The sign-in dialog offers it right under the automatic button, below "or sign in yourself". See Manual sign-in. This always works, wherever Asterobot runs.

Answer the challenge in the sign-in browser's window. This only works when Asterobot runs on a computer with a screen you're sitting at:

1. On Server > Config, turn off zaapmanager.browserHeadless. It applies from the next sign-in, without restarting Asterobot.
2. Start the automatic sign-in again. A browser window opens on the computer where Asterobot runs.
3. Answer what Ankama asks in that window, quickly: the form has to appear within 30 seconds, and the confirmation page within 60 seconds after the form is sent.
4. When the account shows Signed in, turn zaapmanager.browserHeadless back on.

When it fails

A failed attempt shows Automatic sign-in failed - sign in yourself below in the dialog, or Automatic sign-in failed as a notification when you started it from the menu. The message under it starts with ankama account authorization required, followed by the address of Ankama's sign-in page. Ignore the end of that message, which mentions saving a code to the configuration: signing in happens in the dialog, as Manual sign-in shows.

That message is the same whatever went wrong. The real reason is in Asterobot's log.

Find the reason

In the terminal where Asterobot runs, or on Server > Console, look for the warning Automatic Ankama sign-in failed, a person has to sign in. Its error says what happened, and most of the time it ends with the title and address of the page the browser was on:

Sign-in problems goes through these one by one.

The screenshot

When the browser got as far as showing a page, Asterobot takes a picture of it at the moment it gives up. Right after a failure started from the dialog's own Sign in automatically button, the dialog shows that picture under the alert, with the caption "What the browser was looking at when it gave up - click to open full size". Click it to see it full size. It's often the fastest way to tell a captcha from a wrong password.

Asterobot keeps one picture per account, in the zaapmanager folder of its cache folder, and replaces it at the next failure. The terminal prints Captured what the browser saw when the Ankama sign-in failed with the file's path. When the browser couldn't start at all, there's no picture.

Settings for automatic sign-in

These three settings are on Server > Config. None of them needs a restart: each sign-in reads them again.

Settings reference lists every setting, and The Config page shows how to change one.

Where to go next

• Manual sign-in, when automatic sign-in isn't an option.
• Account status and actions, to check that a signed-in account still works.
• Sign-in problems, for every error in detail.