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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.

Illustrative example Open Manage Groups
Organization
Your studio
Open
Users & Permissions → Manage Groups
Illustrative example Create the scoped game group
Action
Create New Group
Group name
Coal — Your Game
Application List
Your Game (yourappid)
Members
No users yet
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.

Illustrative example Invite Coal without broad access
Full name
Coal
Email and confirmation
Use the Coal invitation address in this step
Partner-wide permissions
None
Everyone permissions
None
Next
Invite User → confirm on your phone
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.

Illustrative example Confirm the invitation on your phone
Open
Steam mobile app → Confirmations
Invitation
Partner User Invite → Finish Inviting: Coal
Check
The required Coal invitation address
App and publisher rights
None
Next
Tap OK
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.

Illustrative example Wait for Coal to accept
Invites Awaiting Invitee
Coal is accepting. Wait and refresh.
Invites Awaiting Confirmation
Coal has accepted. Administrator approval is needed.
Illustrative example Approve the accepted invitation
User
Coal
Action
Approve the verified Steam identity in this step
Result
Invite Approved
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 retrieve Steam Players reports for live games: daily active users (DAU), daily peak concurrent players (Peak CCU), and player country breakdowns.

Sales and wishlist imports use the separate Financial API key created in phase 3. A working API key or UTM import does not verify access to Players reports.

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.

Illustrative example Grant only the two required rights
Group
Coal — Your Game
Member
Coal
Enabled
View Marketing Traffic Data; View Financial Info
Other permissions
Unchecked
Action
Update Rights
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 and create it. Steam automatically creates the key.
  3. Open Manage WebAPI Key. Confirm that Financial is enabled and General is unchecked.
  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.

Illustrative example Create the dedicated Financial API key
Group type
Financial API Group
Group name
Coal
Key example
yourkey
Financial
Enabled
General
Unchecked
Economy and Microtransactions
Unchecked
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.

Illustrative example Finish in Coal
Detected game
Your Game
Financial API key example
yourkey
Action
Verify & save key
Expected result
Verified key; first wishlist import starting

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.