Connect Google Drive

Google Drive is connected using a bring-your-own OAuth setup: you create a small Google Cloud project, enable the Drive API on it, and paste the resulting Client ID and Client Secret into Cinaura’s pairing page.

It’s a one-time setup that takes about 10 minutes. The payoff is that your Drive content is read by a Google client you control, with read-only access scoped to your account.

Note

Why bring-your-own credentials? Google’s verification process for third-party Drive apps is heavy and slow, and forces every user onto the same shared OAuth client. The bring-your-own approach keeps the credentials in your hands, gives you full visibility in your own Google Cloud project, and avoids the “unverified app” warnings that shared clients show.

What you’ll need

• A Google account.
• About 10 minutes for the one-time Google Cloud project setup.
• The 8-character session code shown on your TV, plus access to cinaura.tv/pair/google-drive on your phone or laptop browser.

Step 1: Create a Google Cloud project

Tip

Use one Google account throughout this setup. Sign in to the Cloud Console with the same account whose Drive you want Cinaura to read, create the project under that account, and add that account as the test user later. Mixing accounts (e.g. a Workspace account for the project and a personal Gmail for the test user) is the most common cause of pairing failures, since Workspace organisations often block adding consumer Gmail accounts as test users.

1. Open the Google Cloud Console. Sign in with the Google account whose Drive you want to connect.

2. Click the project picker at the top of the page, then New project.

3. Give the project a name (e.g. Cinaura). If the Location selector offers a choice, pick No organization for a personal project. Click Create.

Step 2: Enable the Google Drive API

1. With your new project selected, open the navigation menu (top left) and go to APIs & Services → Library.

2. Search for Google Drive API and open its detail page.

3. Click Enable.

Step 3: Configure the Google Auth Platform

Google Cloud recently replaced the single-page OAuth consent screen with a multi-tab Google Auth Platform experience. The settings are the same, just spread across a few tabs behind an initial Get started wizard.

1. Go to APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen. You’ll land on the Google Auth Platform overview. If you see “Google auth platform not configured yet”, click Get started.

2. Fill in the wizard:

   • App Information: app name Cinaura (or any name you like), your email as user support email
   • Audience: choose External
   • Contact Information: your email as the developer contact
   • Agree to the Google API Services User Data Policy, then click Create

3. Open the Data access tab in the sidebar (or APIs & Services → OAuth consent screen → Data access). Click Add or remove scopes and add the following scope manually:

   https://www.googleapis.com/auth/drive.readonly

   This grants read-only access. Cinaura never writes to your Drive. Click Update, then Save.

4. Open the Audience tab and scroll to Test users. The account you’re signed in with (the project owner) is already listed there by default, so if the Drive you want to connect belongs to that same account, you’re done with this step.

   Only click Add users if the Drive belongs to a different Google account. Adding your own account a second time returns an “Ineligible accounts not added” error because it’s already in the list.

Caution

Leave the app in Testing mode (the default). You don’t need to publish it. Testing-mode apps work indefinitely for the test users you add, with no verification process.

Step 4: Create OAuth client credentials

1. Open the Clients tab in the Google Auth Platform sidebar (or go to APIs & Services → Credentials, which still works).

2. Click Create client (or Create credentials → OAuth client ID on the Credentials page).

3. Application type: Web application.

4. Name: Cinaura (or any name you like).

5. Under Authorized redirect URIs, click Add URI and paste:

   https://www.cinaura.tv/api/google-drive/callback

   This is the only redirect URI you need. Don’t add anything else.

6. Click Create. A dialog appears with your Client ID and Client Secret. Keep this dialog open, or copy both values somewhere safe.

Caution

Treat the Client Secret like a password. It lets anyone who has it identify themselves as your Cinaura app to Google. Don’t post it publicly. If you ever lose track of it, you can regenerate a new one from the same credentials page.

Step 5: Pair on the TV

1. On the TV, open Cinaura → Settings → Sources → Add source → Google Drive. The TV displays an 8-character session code and a QR code linking to cinaura.tv/pair/google-drive.

2. Scan the QR code with your phone (or open the URL manually).

3. Paste your Client ID and Client Secret into the form, then click Connect with Google.

4. Sign in with the same Google account you set up the project under.

5. Click Continue on the “Google hasn’t verified this app” screen. This warning is expected: your Cloud project is in Testing mode, so Google flags it as unpublished. The app is your own and it’s safe to continue.

6. Approve the read-only Drive access when Google asks.

7. Return to the TV. Within a few seconds the source unlocks and Cinaura lists the folders available in your Drive.

8. Pick which folders to sync. Tick the folders you want Cinaura to index. You can come back later to add or remove folders. Once you confirm, Cinaura starts scanning the selected folders for media.

Troubleshooting

• “Ineligible accounts not added” when adding a test user: most often this just means the account is already in the Test users list. Google auto-adds the project owner when the project is created, so trying to add yourself again is a duplicate. Scroll down on the Audience tab to confirm; if your account is listed, you’re already set.

  Other causes worth checking:

  • Typo in the email (e.g. john@doe.gmail.com instead of john.doe@gmail.com). The address must resolve to a real Google account.
  • Workspace org restriction: if your Cloud project is owned by a Google Workspace organisation, the org may block adding consumer Gmail accounts as test users. Workaround: create a new project under a personal Google account (New project → Location: No organization).

• “Access blocked: Authorization Error”: the Google account you signed in with isn’t listed as a test user. Go back to the OAuth consent screen → Test users and add it.

• “redirect_uri_mismatch”: the redirect URI in your OAuth client doesn’t exactly match https://www.cinaura.tv/api/google-drive/callback. Re-check for typos, trailing slashes, or http vs https.

• “invalid_client” when submitting on the pair page: the Client ID or Client Secret was pasted with extra whitespace. Copy them again and try once more.

• No folders appear after pairing: confirm you actually have files in your Drive that the Drive API can see. Shared drives are not currently supported (only the contents of “My Drive”).