Importing existing connections
If your users have already authenticated with a service and you have their credentials (API keys, bearer tokens, etc.), you can pass those directly into Composio. No re-authentication required.
This is useful when:
- Your app already stores API keys or tokens for users
- You're adopting Composio and want to onboard existing users without disrupting them
- Another platform already holds credentials for your users' accounts
How it works
Instead of asking users to authenticate again, you pass their existing credentials to connectedAccounts.initiate() using the AuthScheme helpers. Composio creates a connected account directly from those credentials.
Prerequisites
- An auth config for the toolkit you're importing into
- The existing credentials for each user (API keys, bearer tokens, username/password, etc.)
- A user ID for each user, any string that uniquely identifies them in your system
Importing existing OAuth tokens (access tokens, refresh tokens) is not currently supported. For OAuth-based services (Google, GitHub, Slack, etc.), users must authenticate through the standard OAuth flow. This page covers importing non-OAuth credentials like API keys, bearer tokens, and basic auth.
API keys
For services that use API key authentication (e.g., SendGrid, Tavily, PostHog):
from composio import Composio
from composio.types import auth_scheme
composio = Composio(api_key="your-api-key")
connection = composio.connected_accounts.initiate(
user_id="user_123",
auth_config_id="ac_your_auth_config",
config=auth_scheme.api_key({
"api_key": "sg-existing-sendgrid-key",
}),
)
# API key connections are immediately active
print(f"Connected: {connection.id}")import { Composio, AuthScheme } from '@composio/core';
const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' });
const connection = await composio.connectedAccounts.initiate(
'user_123',
'ac_your_auth_config',
{
config: AuthScheme.APIKey({
api_key: 'sg-existing-sendgrid-key',
}),
}
);
// API key connections are immediately active
console.log('Connected:', connection.id);Bearer tokens
from composio import Composio
from composio.types import auth_scheme
composio = Composio(api_key="your-api-key")
connection = composio.connected_accounts.initiate(
user_id="user_123",
auth_config_id="ac_your_auth_config",
config=auth_scheme.bearer_token({
"token": "existing-bearer-token",
}),
)
# Bearer token connections are immediately active
print(f"Connected: {connection.id}")import { Composio, AuthScheme } from '@composio/core';
const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' });
const connection = await composio.connectedAccounts.initiate(
'user_123',
'ac_your_auth_config',
{
config: AuthScheme.BearerToken({
token: 'existing-bearer-token',
}),
}
);
// Bearer token connections are immediately active
console.log('Connected:', connection.id);Basic auth
from composio import Composio
from composio.types import auth_scheme
composio = Composio(api_key="your-api-key")
connection = composio.connected_accounts.initiate(
user_id="user_123",
auth_config_id="ac_your_auth_config",
config=auth_scheme.basic({
"username": "user@example.com",
"password": "existing-password",
}),
)
# Basic auth connections are immediately active
print(f"Connected: {connection.id}")import { Composio, AuthScheme } from '@composio/core';
const composio = new Composio({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' });
const connection = await composio.connectedAccounts.initiate(
'user_123',
'ac_your_auth_config',
{
config: AuthScheme.Basic({
username: 'user@example.com',
password: 'existing-password',
}),
}
);
// Basic auth connections are immediately active
console.log('Connected:', connection.id);