I am working on building a Shiny web app in R that uses Google APIs. I rely heavily on {googledrive}, {googlesheets4}, and {gargle}. I've also done some experimentation with {googleAuthR} but have not been successful at getting sign on and authentication to work on shinyapps.io.

The app will require a user to log in to Google. It will then ask a few questions and then create a handful of files based on the information given. I have registered an OAuth2 client through Google. I also tried my best to follow the information on non-interactive auth given by the developers of the package.

The app works fantastic and exactly as I want to when I run it locally, in RStudio with the "Run App" feature. The app opens, I hit a button, a new tab opens in my browser asking me to log in, and the app works all the way through. However, once I deploy to shinyapps.io, I can't authenticate. I click on a button to authenticate, and the app just automatically disconnects. It doesn't open a new tab asking me to log in. The shinyapps.io log just tells me to make sure I'm taking steps to run in non-interactive environment which I thought I was doing already.

I'll put my abbreviated code below. I should note that I currently have my OAuth client set to testing mode. Is there something I'm missing about how to specify redirect URLs? I'm not sure since the auth page won't even open. I also have messed around a little bit with googleAuthR but I keep getting a 403 error even on my own computer.

global.R

# import packages
library(shiny)
library(googledrive)
library(googlesheets4)
library(dplyr)
library(stringr)
library(waiter)
library(cli)
library(gargle)
library(bslib)

# set up OAuth client downloaded from Google
drive_auth_configure(path = "path-to-client-json")

###
# global variable set up
###

###
# global function definitions
###

ui.R

ui <- fluidPage(
  useWaiter(),
  waiterShowOnLoad(),
  
  navbarPage(
    "App Title",
    tabPanel("Home",
             mainPanel(
               tags$p("Details about why this exists, who might want to use it, and what it does")
             )
    ),
    
    # Primary page for creating the project ####
    tabPanel("Create the Project!",
             mainPanel(
               
               ## Authenticate ####
               tags$p("Introduction to the app."),
               actionButton("auth", "Authenticate With Google"),
               br(), br(),
               
               ## Appears once authentication has been completed ####
               conditionalPanel(
                 condition = "output.auth_complete==\"yes\"",
                 htmlOutput("greeting")
               )
##### More conditional panels that appear as the user progresses through the questions and app
  ))))
ui

server.R

server <- function(input, output, session) {
  waiter_hide()
  
  rv <- reactiveValues()
  
  # record the name of the user and send a greeting ####
  observeEvent(input$auth, {
 
    drive_auth(email = TRUE, cache = ".secrets/.user")
    gs4_auth(token = drive_token())
    
    rv$auth_complete <- "yes"
    rv$user <- drive_user()$displayName
    
  })
  
  output$greeting <- renderText({
    
    HTML(paste0("Hey ",
                "<span style=\"color: #099392\"><b>", rv$user, "</b></span>",
                "! Welcome to the app........"))
  })
  
  output$auth_complete <- renderText({rv$auth_complete})
  outputOptions(output, "auth_complete", suspendWhenHidden = FALSE)

#### More server items that use functions to operate on Google files
}
server

Local Results

Here is what happens when I run this on my computer.

The app loads with the button I created.

When I click on the button, a sign on page opens. (Emails hidden for security reasons)

shinyapps.io Results

As soon as I hit the same authentication button, the app automatically disconnects :(.

Thanks in advance!!!