Table of contents
If the dashboard, report, or URL you want to display on screen is protected behind a Google sign-in - and that Google Account has 2-Step Verification turned on - Fugo needs a way to get past that verification step on its own, every time it refreshes your screen. That's what this guide walks you through.
It covers two things: how to configure 2-Step Verification on the Google Account side so Fugo can use it (steps that live entirely inside Google's own settings, not Fugo's), and how to hand Fugo what it needs when you set up the dashboard.
What you'll need
The email address and password for the Google Account you want your dashboard to sign in with. We'd recommend a dedicated account for this rather than someone's personal Google login, so access doesn't disappear the day that person changes their password or leaves the company - but a personal account works too if that's what the dashboard already uses.
2-Step Verification turned on for that account, with an authenticator app configured as the method - covered in Part 1 below.
The Secret Key Google gives you while setting up that authenticator app - also covered in Part 1. This is the piece Fugo actually needs; you'll enter it once when you create the dashboard.
A dashboard, report, or URL that offers "Sign in with Google" as a login option.
Why Fugo needs your Secret Key, not just a passcode
A quick bit of context before you start, because it explains everything that follows.
Fugo doesn't keep a browser open and watching your dashboard all day. Instead, on a schedule you control, it opens the page fresh, signs in, takes a screenshot, and closes again - with nobody sitting there to click anything. That works fine for a plain email and password. It breaks the moment your Google Account asks for a second factor, because most 2FA methods need a human in the loop: tapping "Yes" on a phone notification, reading a text message, or inserting a security key. None of those can happen unattended.
An authenticator app is the one method that doesn't need a person - because the 6-digit code it shows you isn't random. It's generated from a shared Secret Key that both your phone's app and Google's servers know, combined with the current time. Anyone holding that Secret Key can generate the same valid code Google is expecting, at any moment, without a phone in hand. That's exactly what Fugo does: you give it your Secret Key once, and from then on it generates a fresh code itself, every single time it needs to sign in - the same way your authenticator app would, just running in the cloud instead of your pocket.
If you'd like the general explanation of secret keys and how they differ from the 6-digit codes themselves, we've also got a dedicated What Is a Secret Key? article. This guide focuses specifically on getting one from Google and using it in Fugo.
An alternative to a Secret Key: passkey login
🆕 New: Fugo now also supports signing in with a passkey instead of your Google Account's password and Secret Key. You don't need an existing passkey to use it - Fugo creates and stores its own the moment you set one up when connecting the dashboard.
Whether it works depends on the service you're signing into: some let an admin restrict passkey registration to device-bound credentials only, which blocks Fugo from adding one, in which case stick with a Secret Key instead.
You'll find the option to add one from the dashboard's Home tab:
Adding a passkey doesn't remove your existing Secret Key setup - Fugo tries the passkey first on each refresh and falls back to the Secret Key if it can't use it. The feature just launched and is still being refined; see Dashboards Overview for the full walkthrough of adding a passkey to a dashboard.
Part 1: Set up 2FA in your Google Account
These steps all happen on Google's side, inside your Google Account settings - Fugo has no control over this part of the process, so if Google changes their layout after this article is published, the exact screens below may drift slightly even though the overall steps stay the same.
Turn on 2-Step Verification
If your account doesn't have 2-Step Verification on yet, start here.
If it's already on and you just need to add or re-generate an authenticator app entry, skip ahead to I already have the Authenticator app, but not my Secret Key.
1. Go to your Google Account and open the Security page.
2. Under "How you sign in to Google," turn on 2-Step Verification.
3. Click Get Started.
4. Google will ask you to add a first verification step, usually a phone number. Enter it and click Next - you'll get a text with a verification code.
5. Enter that code and click Next again.
6. You should see a green confirmation check mark. Click Turn On, then confirm in the pop-up that follows.
2-Step Verification is now on, using your phone number as the first method. That alone isn't enough for Fugo though - a text message still needs a person to read it. Continue to the next section to add the authenticator app, which is the method Fugo can actually use.
Set up the Authenticator app and get your Secret Key
7. Back on the 2-Step Verification page, click Set Up under Authenticator App.
8. Choose your phone type and click Next. (This just tells Google what kind of setup instructions to show you - it doesn't matter which one you pick, since you won't actually be scanning anything with that phone.)
9. You'll land on a QR code screen. Don't scan it. Instead, click Can't scan it? to reveal the Secret Key as text.
10. This reveals the Secret Key - a string of about 16 letters and numbers, usually shown in groups of 4 for readability. Copy it and save it somewhere secure right now - a password manager is ideal. You'll need it in a moment for Fugo, and Google won't show it to you again once you move past this screen.
Don't click your browser's back button here - that invalidates this key and generates a new one, and you'll have to start this section over.
11. Google still needs to see the key work once before it'll accept the setup. If you have a spare phone or a browser-based authenticator handy, enter the Secret Key there to generate a 6-digit code.
12. Enter that 6-digit code back into Google to confirm the setup.
Once that's accepted, you'll see the authenticator app listed as an active method on your 2-Step Verification page.
You now have everything Part 2 needs: the account's email, password, and the Secret Key you saved in step 10.
I already have the Authenticator app, but not my Secret Key
If 2-Step Verification is already on and an authenticator app is already set up, most authenticator apps don't let you view a key after the fact - so the simplest path is to add it again and capture the key this time.
From your Google Account Security page, find Authenticator App under 2-Step Verification and choose to change or set it up again. That drops you back into step 8 in the above section, where Can't scan it? reveals a fresh Secret Key. This replaces the old one - your authenticator app will need re-scanning too, so do this only when you're ready to update both places at once.
Keep the Authenticator app as your account's go-to method
Fugo is generally able to work around a Google Account that offers several verification methods - if the account's default happens to be something else (like a tap-to-approve phone prompt), Fugo will automatically look for and select the "Try another way" option to reach the authenticator app choice, the same way a person would.
That said, the fewer detours in the way, the more reliably it works. A couple of things worth doing on this same Google Account:
Remove or avoid phone-prompt ("tap Yes") approval as a verification method. Unlike a code from an authenticator app, a push notification genuinely needs someone to tap it on a physical phone - there's no key or secret Fugo can use to answer that on its own. If this method ends up on the account, either remove it or make sure the authenticator app is set as the account's default/primary step.
Sign out of other devices and browsers this account is logged into. An account that's already signed in elsewhere can sometimes short-circuit Google's normal login screens with device-recognition prompts Fugo isn't expecting. Signing out elsewhere first keeps the login path predictable.
You're ready to head over to Fugo.
Part 2: Connect your Google-authenticated dashboard in Fugo
With 2-Step Verification on and your Secret Key saved, the Fugo side is a short form - there's no live sign-in to click through and nothing to record. You give Fugo your Google credentials and Secret Key once, and it signs in on its own from then on, on whatever refresh schedule you set.
Create a new dashboard
1. From the Dashboards page in Fugo CMS, click Create dashboard.
2. You'll see a browsable list of services with automated sign-in built in - a handful of these (currently Looker Studio, Salesforce, HubSpot, and allGood) already offer Google as one of their one-click sign-in options, so if your dashboard lives in one of those, you can pick its card directly.
For anything else - any other site or dashboard that offers "Sign in with Google" - choose the Custom URL card, pinned at the top of the list. It works the same way for any Google-authenticated site, not just the ones with their own dedicated card.
Choose Google as the sign-in method
If you picked a named service (like Looker Studio), you'll see its available sign-in methods as buttons - choose Sign in with Google.
If you picked Custom URL, enter the destination URL first (the page you actually want on screen, not a Google URL), then use the Authentication Method dropdown to select Google.
Enter your Google account details and Secret Key
The form will now ask for:
Username. The full email address of the Google Account from Part 1 - not a username or login for the destination site itself, since you're authenticating through Google.
Password. That Google Account's password.
Secret Key. The key you copied in step 10 of Part 1. Google usually displays it in groups of 4 characters for readability - paste the whole thing and remove any spaces, since Fugo expects it as one continuous string. This field is what lets Fugo generate its own 2FA codes going forward; if you leave it blank, Fugo will get stuck at Google's verification screen every time it tries to refresh your dashboard.
Fugo encrypts and securely stores whatever you enter here - it's used only to sign in on your behalf when this dashboard refreshes.
Click Create dashboard when you're done.
What happens when Fugo captures your dashboard
There's nothing left for you to watch. On the schedule you've set for this dashboard, Fugo opens the destination URL in the background, clicks through to Google, enters your email and password, generates a fresh code from your Secret Key the moment Google asks for it, and takes a screenshot once the page has loaded - all without a browser window ever appearing on your screen.
If you've used Fugo dashboards before and remember a "Dashboard Recorder" window popping up for you to click through a live sign-in, that step is gone for Google-authenticated dashboards; entering the Secret Key up front is what replaced it.
Finding or updating the 2FA step later
Once your dashboard is created, open it and go to the Home tab, and find the Steps list. You'll see the login sequence Fugo runs on every refresh, including a step labeled something like Pass 2FA - that's the Secret Key you entered:
If you ever regenerate 2-Step Verification on this Google Account (which issues a new Secret Key, per Part 1), your dashboard will start failing to sign in until you update it here too. Click the pencil icon next to the 2FA step, paste in the new Secret Key, and save - there's no need to recreate the dashboard from scratch.
Troubleshooting
If your dashboard's screenshots stop updating or show a login/verification screen instead of your content, a few things are worth checking:
Double-check the Secret Key was copied correctly. It's easy to miss a character or leave a stray space in when copying a 16-character string. Re-open the key from Google (you'll need to set the authenticator app up again, per above, since Google won't show you an existing key) and re-enter it on the dashboard's Steps tab.
Make sure nothing on the account still requires a manual tap or text message. If a phone prompt or SMS step got re-added to the account (for example, after a security check from Google), Fugo has no way to complete it. Keep the authenticator app as the account's primary step.
Check whether the account password changed. If it was updated outside of Fugo, update it on the dashboard's Steps tab the same way you would the Secret Key.
Still stuck? Our dashboards team can take a look - reach us via the chat box in Fugo CMS or at support@fugo.ai.
More guidance connecting your dashboard
Fugo can be used to access just about any dashboard, report, or URL living behind a secure login. A few of our most-used services have their own dedicated setup guides:
For everything else, browse the Dashboards Overview, or reach out and our dashboards team will help you get it connected.
Need more help?
Reach us any time via the chat box in Fugo CMS, or at support@fugo.ai.
And if you haven't yet, you can always try Fugo free at www.fugo.ai/app.