Set Up Finch Connect

Now that your application is registered with Finch, it’s time to integrate Finch Connect into your application’s frontend. Finch Connect is the user-facing authentication flow that allows your users to securely input their employment system credentials to establish a connection with their provider. This prerequisite step is crucial before obtaining access tokens to make API requests.

Finch Connect is configurable with the following parameters:

Finch provides two options to setup Finch Connect: Redirect or Embedded.

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Implementing Finch Connect in your application

1. Choose your preferred flow: Finch provides several Frontend SDKs for easy integration. Select the SDK that best suits your application’s technology stack. Otherwise, you can use the Redirect flow.

   • React SDK: If you’re using React as your frontend framework, use the React SDK. Import the Finch Connect component and include it in your application. You can find examples and usage instructions in the SDK documentation or continue to follow this tutorial.

     • npm install --save @tryfinch/react-connect
     • yarn add @tryfinch/react-connect

   • JavaScript SDK: If you’re using a different frontend framework or vanilla JavaScript, use the pure JavaScript SDK. Include the Finch Connect library in your application, either by adding a script tag to your HTML file or by importing it as a module.

     • <script src="https://prod-cdn.tryfinch.com/v1/connect.js"></script>

       Since Finch Connect is an iFrame that requires interactivity, the HTML page that is loading Finch Connect must be served from a server. If the page is hosted statically, Finch Connect will not work properly.

   • Redirect Flow: The redirect flow is helpful in instances where you do not have a user interface (such as a link in an email) or you prefer to redirect in order to not host the authorization experience yourself.

2. Configure Finch Connect: Every flow requires you to configure Finch Connect with your unique client_id. You can find this client_id in your Finch Developer Dashboard.

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Redirect to Finch Connect

In this method of integrating Finch Connect, your application redirects your user’s browser to Finch Connect hosted by Finch on https://connect.tryfinch.com. After a successful connection, Finch Connect will redirect your user back to a URI you specified (redirect_uri) with a short-lived authorization code.

Set the redirect_uri parameter to the URL where users will be redirected after completing the authentication flow. The redirect_uri must be set in the Finch Developer Dashboard. Otherwise, the request will fail.

https://connect.tryfinch.com/authorize?
&client_id=fdc8f543-bfb2-4463-883b-fa234106ca9d
&products=company directory individual employment
&redirect_uri=https://example.com

The redirect authorization flow consists of four steps:

1. Open Finch Connect — Your application redirects your user’s browser to Finch Connect to initiate the authorization flow.
2. Obtain consent — Finch Connect prompts your user to log in to their employment system and grant your application access to the permissions you are requesting.
3. Retrieve the authorization code — If your user successfully connects and grants your application access to their system, Finch Connect will redirect their browser to a specified redirect_uri with a short-lived authorization code.
4. Exchange the code for an access token — Before sending API requests, your application will exchange the short-lived code for a long-lived access_token that represents your application’s access to your user’s employment system.

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Embedded Finch Connect

The Finch-provided SDK embeds the Finch Connect screen into your application. The user will remain entirely on your application throughout the process. When the onSuccess event is called by the SDK, simply pass the code to your internal callback endpoint as a query parameter.

NOTE: You should not include a redirect_uri if using the embedded flow. Because the entire flow is already self-contained in your app, no redirect is necessary.

import React, { useState } from "react";
import { useFinchConnect } from "@tryfinch/react-connect";

const App = () => {
  const [code, setCode] = useState(null);

  const onSuccess = ({ code }) => setCode(code);
  const onError = ({ errorMessage }) => console.error(errorMessage);
  const onClose = () => console.log("User exited Finch Connect");

  // 1. Initialize Finch Connect
  const { open } = useFinchConnect({
    clientId: "<your-client-id>",
    products: ["company", "directory", "individual", "employment", "payment", "pay_statement"],
    payrollProvider: "gusto", // optional
    sandbox: "provider",       // optional
    state: "",                // optional
    onSuccess,
    onError,
    onClose,
  });

  // ...
};

<html>
  <body>
    <script>
      const onSuccess = ({code}) => {
        // exchange code for access token via your server
      }
      const onError = ({ errorMessage }) => {
        console.error(errorMessage);
      }
      const onClose = () => {
        console.log('Connect closed');
      }
      const connect = FinchConnect.initialize({
        clientId: '<your-client-id>',
        products: ['company', 'directory', "individual", "employment", "payment", "pay_statement"],
        payrollProvider: "gusto", // optional
        sandbox: "provider",            // optional
        state: "",                // optional
        onSuccess,
        onError,
        onClose,
      });
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

3. Implement the authentication flow: Add a button or a link in your application that triggers the Finch Connect flow. Users will click this button or link to start the authentication process.

const App = () => {
  // ...

  // 2. Display Finch Connect
  return (
    <button type="button" onClick={() => open()}>
      Open Finch Connect
    </button>
  );
};

<html>
  <body>
    <button id="connect-button">Open Finch Connect</button>
    <script>
      const button = document.getElementById('connect-button');

      const connect = FinchConnect.initialize({
        ...
      });
      button.addEventListener('click', () => {
        connect.open();
      })
    </script>
  </body>
</html>

4. Listen for events: Finch Connect emits events that your application should listen for to handle the different stages of the authentication process. The two most important events are onSuccess and onError.
   1. onSuccess: This event is triggered when the user completes the authentication process. It returns an authorization code that you will use to obtain an access_token in the next step. Pass this authorization code securely and temporarily to the access token exchange function.
   2. onError: This event is triggered if there’s an issue during the authentication process. Your application should handle this error gracefully, either by displaying an error message to the user or retrying the authentication flow.
   3. onClose: This event is triggered when a user exits the Finch Connect model, either by closing the modal or clicking outside the modal.

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Checkpoint + Next Step

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Learn more

• Finch Connect Best Practices
• Finch SDKs