Forge uses Salesforce OAuth 2.0 for authentication. Your existing Salesforce credentials are the only credentials you need — there is no separate Forge username or password.
Prerequisites
- A Salesforce org with the Blackthorn Events managed package (conference360__) installed.
- A Salesforce user account with access to the Blackthorn Events permission set.
- A supported browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Brave — latest two major versions).
Logging in for the first time
- Navigate to your Forge URL (provided by your Salesforce Administrator).
- On the login page, pick where your Salesforce org lives. Production, Sandbox and Custom Domain are all shown on the page, so there is nothing to expand. Production is selected by default.
- If your org uses SSO (Single Sign-On) or a My Domain, choose Custom Domain and enter your org's My Domain.
- Click Log In. You will be redirected to the standard Salesforce login page. Enter your Salesforce username and password, or sign in through your identity provider.
- Review the OAuth permission screen and click "Allow". Forge requests only the scopes it needs to read and write event data.
- The first time you sign in, tick "I agree to the Blackthorn Forge Terms of Service and Privacy Policy" on the welcome page and click Accept.
- You will land on the Home dashboard.
:::(Note) (OAuth token handling)
Forge stores a sealed refresh token per tenant in its database and uses short-lived Salesforce access tokens (cached briefly in Redis). Your Salesforce password is never stored by Forge. If you revoke the Connected App authorization in Salesforce, you will be prompted to log in again.
:::
The login page also has a Volunteer tab. Volunteer login is not available yet and shows "Coming soon" without a login button.
Admin setup: allow the Blackthorn app for all users
If a standard user sees "Your Salesforce admin needs to finish setting up Forge" when they log in, the Blackthorn connected app has not been opened to all users in your org yet. A Salesforce admin fixes this once for everyone.
- In Salesforce Setup, search for Manage Connected Apps (or Manage External Client Apps) and open the Blackthorn Forge app.
- Click Edit Policies and set Permitted Users to "All users may self-authorize", or to "Admin approved users are pre-authorized" and assign the profiles or permission sets that should use Forge.
- Save, then ask the affected user to try logging in again.
Logging in on subsequent visits
Your session persists for the duration set by your Salesforce session policy. When your session expires, Forge automatically redirects you to the Salesforce login page. After logging in, you are returned to the page you were on.
Connecting a sandbox or additional org
Each Forge deployment is connected to exactly one Salesforce org. If your organization has multiple Forge environments (for example, one connected to production and one connected to a sandbox), each has a separate URL. Contact your Salesforce Administrator for sandbox URLs.
Production access and moving to production
Forge connects directly to production Salesforce data, so production orgs are turned on one customer at a time. Until your production org is turned on, logging in shows the tour and then a Production access page. Click I'm Interested in Production Access and the Blackthorn team will reach out. If you are a planner rather than an admin, your Salesforce admin is told, because moving to production is done together with them.
- Connect a Sandbox — logs you out of production so you can log into a sandbox and build and test there first. Developer Edition orgs work like sandboxes and are never locked.
- Move to production — in a sandbox, find it in the left nav below the divider. Every user sees it, and it opens the sandbox version of the page.
- Sandbox data and setup do not carry over to production.
Troubleshooting login issues
- "OAuth retry loop" — if you are stuck at /oauth?reason=retry, your session may be corrupted. Clear cookies for the Forge domain and try again.
- "Insufficient privileges" — your Salesforce user does not have the Blackthorn Events permission set assigned. Ask your Salesforce Administrator.
- "Invalid client" — the Connected App in Salesforce may have been reconfigured. Ask your Salesforce Administrator to verify the OAuth settings.
- "Your Salesforce admin needs to finish setting up Forge" — the Blackthorn app has not been allowed for all users in your org yet. Share the Admin setup section above with your Salesforce Administrator.
- "Blackthorn Events 5.44.0 or newer is required" — a new org can only connect with that Events package version or newer. Ask your Salesforce Administrator to upgrade the package, then connect again.