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Steamworks onboarding

Connect Steamworks to Coal

Invite Coal, grant access to one game, and connect wishlist reporting. You never need to share your Steam password.

5–10 minutes of active work Steamworks admin required Desktop + Steam mobile app

Before you begin

Have these ready

Steamworks administrator access

A Steamworks account that can manage users and groups and personally holds View Marketing Traffic Data and View Financial Info.

Steam mobile app

Signed in as the same administrator you will use in Steamworks.

Three phases

Set up Steamworks

The work is three phases. Steam may pause during the invitation handshake, but you should not repeat or restart it while Coal is accepting.

01 Create scoped game access Phase 1 · About 2 minutes

Create a regular Steamworks group that limits Coal’s user access to one game. The group defines the game scope; you will grant permissions to Coal after Steam approves the invitation.

  1. Open the Steamworks dashboard ↗ and confirm the correct organization is shown in the top-right corner.
  2. Open Users & Permissions → Manage Groups.
  3. In the Create Group panel, click Create New Group. Do not click Create New Financial API Group.
  4. Name it Coal — Your Game and click Create group.
  5. Open the new group and choose Add an application to this group.
  6. Type the game name or App ID, then click the exact game in Steam’s autocomplete results. The application is not added until you click that result row.
  7. Confirm that only the game you are connecting appears under Application List.
The group scopes games, not people’s rights

This regular group contains one application. Steam assigns permissions to each member separately, so the Coal user and its two rights are added in phase 2.

Done when: the new group shows your game under Application List. It is normal for the group to have zero users right now.

Recording 01A · Real footage Open Manage Groups

From the Steamworks dashboard, open Users & Permissions and choose Manage Groups.

Edited desktop capture
Recording 01B · Real footage Create the scoped game group

Create a regular Coal group and add the one game you are connecting.

Edited draft · failed attempts removed
02 Connect the Coal user Phase 2 · About 4 minutes plus Steam’s wait
2.1

Send the partner invitation

Invite Coal without broad partner-wide access.

  1. Open Users & Permissions → Manage Users and click Invite User.
  2. Enter Coal as the full name and mikkelheart@gmail.com in both email fields.
  3. Leave every Partner wide permission and every permission in the Everyone group unchecked.
  4. Click Invite User.
The invitation is not sent yet

Steam creates a mobile confirmation for the administrator who submitted the form.

Done when: Steam tells you to finish the invitation in the Steam mobile app.

Recording 02 · Real footage Fill out the Invite User form

Open Manage Users, invite mikkelheart@gmail.com, leave all broad permissions unchecked, and submit.

Edited draft · existing members cropped out
2.2

Confirm the invitation on your phone

Use the same administrator account as the browser.

  1. Open the Steam mobile app menu and choose Confirmations.
  2. Open the Partner User Invite labelled Finish Inviting: Coal.
  3. Check that the email is mikkelheart@gmail.com, then tap OK.
If Confirmations is empty

Switch the mobile authenticator to the Steam account that submitted the invite. Steam lets the active profile and authenticator account differ.

Done when: the confirmation disappears and the invitation appears in Steamworks after a refresh.

Steam mobile Confirmations screen showing a Partner User Invite labelled Finish Inviting: Coal 1. Open Finish Inviting: Coal
Steam mobile confirmation details for Coal at mikkelheart@gmail.com with an OK button 2. Check the email and tap OK
Phone confirmation · Real screenshots Approve the Partner User Invite

Open the pending invite, verify that it is for Coal at mikkelheart@gmail.com, and tap OK.

Steam mobile app
2.3

Wait for Coal, then approve the user

Coal accepts automatically; the Steamworks administrator gives the final approval.

Refresh Manage Users and click Show invites awaiting invitee…. While Coal is accepting, the invitation appears under Invites Awaiting Invitee. Do not send another invitation.

  1. Refresh until Coal moves to Invites Awaiting Confirmation.
  2. Open Coal’s pending invitation and approve the verified mikkelheart Steam identity.
  3. Complete a second mobile confirmation only when Steam presents one.
Awaiting InviteeCoal is accepting. Wait and refresh.
Awaiting ConfirmationApprove the user.

Done when: Steam displays Invite Approved.

Recording 04 · Real footage Understand the waiting state

Compare Steam’s Awaiting Invitee and Awaiting Confirmation states without exposing the organization member list.

Edited draft · member list excluded
Recording 05 · Real footage Approve Coal after acceptance

Approve the accepted invitation and confirm Steam’s Invite Approved result.

Edited draft · member list excluded
2.4

Add Coal to the group and set its rights

Group membership and permissions are two separate Steamworks actions.

Required administrator rights

The administrator must personally hold View Marketing Traffic Data and View Financial Info in Everyone before Steam will let that administrator delegate them.

  1. On the Invite Approved dialog, click Add to Groups and add mikkelheart to Coal — Your Game.
  2. If you already closed the dialog, open Manage Groups → Coal — Your Game → Add User and add mikkelheart.
  3. Open mikkelheart in that group and choose the action to update group permissions.
  4. Check only View Marketing Traffic Data and View Financial Info, then click Update Rights.
View Marketing Traffic Data

Lets Coal retrieve Steam store traffic and UTM attribution for this game.

View Financial Info

Lets Coal confirm access to this game’s protected reporting surfaces.

Coal does not need

Actual Authority, Manage Users, publisher-wide View Financials, editing or publishing permissions, Steam keys, pricing permissions, Economy, or Microtransactions.

Done when: the group’s Member List shows Coal with exactly those two permissions.

Recording 06 · Real footage Add Coal, then grant its two rights

Add Coal to the scoped group first. Then open the member’s group permissions and enable View Marketing Traffic Data and View Financial Info.

Edited draft · successful save captured
03 Connect wishlist reporting Phase 3 · About 3 minutes
3.1

Create the Financial API key

This key is partner-wide and separate from the scoped game group.

  1. Open Users & Permissions → Manage Groups and click Create New Financial API Group.
  2. Name the group Coal, create it, and click Create WebAPI Key.
  3. Open Manage WebAPI Key. Enable Financial and leave General as Steam configured it.
  4. Leave Economy and Microtransactions unchecked, save the changes, and securely copy the key.
One key covers the partner account

A Financial API Group contains no users or applications. Use this dedicated Coal key for every game connected from this Steamworks partner and paste it only into Coal.

Done when: Financial is enabled and the key is copied.

Recording 07 · Real footage Create and configure the Financial API key

Create the Coal Financial API Group, then confirm General and Financial are enabled. The key is covered throughout.

Edited walkthrough · key hidden
3.2

Select the game and verify the key in Coal

Coal detects the games granted to its Steam user.

  1. Return to the Coal onboarding page and wait for the approved Steamworks connection.
  2. Select your game from the detected-game dropdown. Do not type a Steam App ID.
  3. Paste the Financial API key and click Verify & save key.
What you should see next

Your selected game, a verified Financial API key, and the first wishlist import starting automatically.

Steam permission changes can take a short while to propagate. If the game does not appear, wait one minute, refresh Coal, and check once more.

Done when: Coal shows the selected game and a verified Financial API key.

Recording 08 · Visual placeholder Finish in Coal

Show the connected Steamworks state, select the detected game, paste a redacted key, verify it, and show imports starting.

Coal video · 30–45 seconds

Troubleshooting

If Steam looks stuck

No confirmation appears in the Steam mobile app

Check that the phone is signed in to the same Steam account that submitted the invitation. Refresh Manage Users in the browser. If the invitation does not appear under either invitation heading, reopen the Invite User form and submit it once.

The invitation stays under “Awaiting Invitee”

The invitation was sent, but Coal has not accepted it yet. Leave it in place and refresh after a few minutes. Sending duplicates makes the state harder to diagnose.

The invitation moved to “Awaiting Confirmation”

That is good news: Coal accepted it. A Steamworks administrator on your team now needs to give final approval in Manage Users.

Your game does not appear in Coal

Confirm that Coal is in the scoped group, that the group contains the right game, and that both View Marketing Traffic Data and View Financial Info are enabled for Coal. Steam may need a short wait before the change becomes visible.

The Financial API key does not verify

Confirm that the key comes from a Financial API Group in the same Steamworks partner account as the game and that Financial is enabled under Manage WebAPI Key. A missing Steam reporting date can also mean the wrong app is being checked or Steam has not exposed wishlist reporting for the title yet. If the setup matches this guide, contact Coal instead of repeatedly creating new keys.