# Authenticating Looker CLI

> Looker Developer Onboarding: Step 3. Authenticates the Looker CLI using OAuth. Only execute this after Step 2 (CLI Verification using `installing-looker-cli`).

- Skill: `looker-open-source/authenticating-looker-cli` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add looker-open-source/authenticating-looker-cli`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/looker-open-source/authenticating-looker-cli/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Integrations & APIs
- License: Apache-2.0
- Author: looker-open-source (https://skillmd.com/u/looker-open-source)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/looker-open-source/authenticating-looker-cli

---


# Authenticating Looker CLI

Authenticates the Looker CLI to a Looker instance using OAuth and saves the
session configuration in a named profile.

## Prerequisites

-   Looker CLI must be installed (see `installing-looker-cli` skill).
-   You must know the Looker instance URL (host and API port). Generically, the
    API port is `443` for Looker Core / Google Cloud Core.

## Instructions

### 1. Configure a Named Profile

Create a new profile named `default` to save your connection details:

```bash
looker-cli profile add default --host {instance_host} --port {instance_port}
```

Set this new profile as your default configuration:

```bash
looker-cli profile use default
```

### 2. Trigger OAuth Login

Run the login command in the background (since it requires interactive browser
authorization):

```bash
looker-cli session login --oauth
```

### 3. Retrieve the Authorization URL

Monitor the background login task log or stdout to extract the generated login
URL. Looker CLI will output:

`Opening browser to URL:` followed by a long URL.

### 4. Instruct the User (Interactive Step)

Present the login URL to the user and instruct them:

> "Please open the following URL in your browser, log in to Looker, and
> authorize the CLI:
>
> URL: {auth_url}
>
> If you are running on a local desktop machine, the login should complete
> automatically once authorized. If you are on a remote server/headless
> workspace, the browser will show a page load error or try to redirect to
> `http://127.0.0.1:7777/?code=...`. Please copy the *entire* redirected URL
> from your browser's address bar and paste it back into the terminal prompt."

### 5. Handle the OAuth Response

-   **Scenario A (Automatic)**: If the user completes authentication and the CLI
    is listening locally on port 7777, the login command task will finish
    successfully.
-   **Scenario B (Headless Fallback)**: The background process will print:
    `Paste redirected URL here: ` If the user pastes the redirected URL, use
    `manage_task` with `send_input` to pass the pasted URL directly to the
    background login task.

Once complete, `looker-cli` will automatically save the access and refresh
tokens into your `default` profile in `~/.config/looker-cli/config.yaml`.

### 6. Verify Authentication

Confirm you can successfully communicate with the Looker API without passing any
connection flags:

```bash
looker-cli user me
```

This should return a JSON object containing the authenticated user details.

### 7. Pre-flight Check: Looker User Privileges

Verify that your authenticated user account has the required developer and
connection management permissions:

1.  Inspect the roles and permissions in the output of `looker-cli user me`.
2.  Confirm the account has roles containing `develop` and
    `manage_project_connections` permissions (or the `Admin` role as a
    fallback).
3.  **If privileges are insufficient**: Warn the user and pause to wait for
    updates: > "I have authenticated successfully, but I noticed your Looker
    user account lacks the required 'develop' and 'manage_project_connections'
    permissions (or the 'Admin' role). > > Without these developer permissions,
    I will not be able to create the database connection, project, or write
    LookML. Please grant these permissions to my user account in the Looker
    console and let me know once done so we can proceed!"