Pairing

The apps talk to each other over their REST APIs, and every API call needs a token. Pairing is how those tokens get created without you copying keys between settings pages: one side asks, you approve on the other side, and the two exchange scoped tokens on their own.

There are two links:

monloader and monbooru. In monloader, Settings -> pairing -> connect to monbooru sends the request; you approve it in monbooru under Settings -> Plugins. monbooru issues monloader a token (read and write, so it can push downloads), and stores the token monloader offers in return, which is what powers monbooru’s lookup features and its “connected to monloader” footer light.

monsender and monloader. In the extension options, connect to monloader sends the request; you approve it in monloader under Settings -> pairing, in the monsender extension block. The extension stores the issued token locally in the browser.

Rules of thumb#

• Each pairing is approved once and then persists. Tokens are scoped to what the peer actually needs; removing the pairing revokes them.
• To re-pair, remove the existing pairing on both sides, then connect again.
• A pending request does not survive a restart of the approving app, and unapproved requests expire after a few minutes. If that happens, connect again.
• A rejected token shows up as an authentication error in the asking app. Removing and redoing the pairing fixes it.

Third-party plugins pair the same way and land in the same list.

Per-app detail: monloader pairing, monsender setup, and for third-party API clients, manually created tokens in monbooru development and monloader development.