App integrations such as Google Sheets, Slack, and Mailchimp run through the Automator Platform, the hosted service that connects your site to those apps. If you have Uncanny Automator Lite, you’ll first need to connect your site to a free Uncanny Automator account, which gives you app credits to use with app integrations. On a paid plan, app integrations are included. This article explains where to connect the site in Uncanny Automator 8.0, the steps, and what changes afterwards.
The same free account is what connecting an AI app to the site uses, so if you have already connected your AI, the site is already connected and you can skip to the After connecting section below. Recipes that only use the plugins on your site, such as WooCommerce, LearnDash, or WordPress itself, never need the account or app credits.
Where to connect
Uncanny Automator offers the connection in three places:
- The Setup wizard. On a site without Uncanny Automator Pro, the wizard’s first step is Start with a free account, with the button Create free account or sign in. The wizard is listed at Automator > Setup wizard until the site is connected. See Setup wizard and dashboard.
- The License panel. Automator > Settings > General > License shows a Free account block with a Create a free account button when Uncanny Automator Pro is not active. The button opens the Setup wizard’s free account step. This is the place to come back to later, and where you disconnect. The steps below use it.
- The recipe builder. The picker that opens from + Add trigger or the + at the end of the flow has a Ready-to-use only switch, on by default, which hides app integrations that are not ready to use, including every app on an unconnected Lite site. Switch it off to see them. On an unconnected Lite site those apps carry a Locked tag, and choosing one opens Required dependencies to use this integration:, which lists an Uncanny Automator account with a Create free account button (it opens the Setup wizard) and the connection to the app’s own account. See Finding integrations in the recipe builder.
Connect the site
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Automator > Settings. The General tab opens on its License panel.
- Under Free account, click Create a free account.
- The Setup wizard opens on Start with a free account. Click Create free account or sign in: automatorplugin.com opens in the same window. Sign up with Google, Facebook, or email, or sign in if you already have an account from a purchase or an earlier site. Once the account is linked, you are sent back to the wizard’s Connect your AI step, which you can carry on with or leave.
- Return to the License panel. The block now reads Site connected, shows the Account the site is linked to, and offers Disconnect site.
That’s it. The site is connected and the account’s app credits are available to it.
After connecting
Connect the apps you want to use. Connecting the account makes app integrations available; each app still needs its own account connection. Go to Automator > Settings > App integrations, select the app in the list on the left, and follow its connection steps. Every app has a knowledge base article titled “Connecting [App] to WordPress” with those steps. Once an app is connected, its triggers and actions appear in the picker with Ready-to-use only on.
Watch your app credits. Each time a recipe sends data to or receives data from an app, it uses app credits. The Usage card on Automator > Dashboard shows App credits as the credits used over the account’s limit, above a progress bar, and the account page on automatorplugin.com shows the same. How credits are counted, and what happens when they run out, is covered in What are App Credits?. Every paid plan includes unlimited app credits; see the pricing page.
Disconnect when you need to. Disconnect site on the License panel unlinks the site from the account and also disconnects every AI app connected to the site. Only a site administrator can do it. The app accounts you connected under Settings > App integrations are not removed, and app integrations show as locked in the picker again. Recipes that use app integrations stop being able to run until the site is connected again: each app action that runs fails with a license error in the log.
Related: What are App Credits?, Finding integrations in the recipe builder, Setup wizard and dashboard, Installing Uncanny Automator
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