Connecting Your Account
Sweet Tea works great as a purely local tool — you never have to create an account to generate images. But linking your Studio installation to a Sweet Tea web account unlocks continuity features: syncing your Pipes, presets, and snippets across devices, accessing your web library from Studio, and managing your account and plan from inside the app.
This chapter covers how to link your account, what entitlements are, and what to do when something isn't working.
Linking Your Account
The link process connects your local Studio installation to your Sweet Tea web identity through a browser-based handshake:
- Open Settings in Studio and find the account linking section.
- Click Link Account. Studio opens your browser to the Sweet Tea web login page.
- Sign in to your web account (or create one if you don't have one yet).
- The browser completes the relay handshake and sends your session back to Studio.
- Return to Studio — your account status should now show as linked.
Tip: If the browser handshake doesn't complete automatically, the link page may show a code or status you can enter manually in Studio. This fallback handles cases where browser-to-app communication is blocked by firewalls or privacy settings.
What to Verify After Linking
Once linked, check these items to confirm everything took:
- Account status in Studio — The Settings panel should show your username and account tier.
- Entitlement state — If you have a Plus subscription, Studio should reflect that (features associated with your plan become available).
- Sync status — If sync is enabled, the sync indicator should show a healthy baseline.
- No stale identity — If you previously linked a different account, make sure the old session is fully cleared.
What Are Entitlements?
Entitlements are signed capability claims that your web account issues to Studio. In plain terms: your account tells Studio what you're allowed to access based on your plan.
Under the hood, Studio verifies these claims using public keys published by the web platform. You don't need to understand the cryptography — the takeaway is:
- Entitlements are tied to your subscription and account state.
- They're refreshed when you log in or when your session updates.
- If an entitlement check fails, it usually means your session is stale, not that your billing is wrong.
Checking Entitlement Status
If a feature seems unavailable that you expect to have access to:
- Open Settings and check the account/entitlement status display.
- If the session looks stale, refresh it by clicking the refresh/reconnect option.
- Verify your subscription status on the web at /my-plans.
- If everything looks correct on the web but Studio still shows the wrong state, try unlinking and re-linking your account.
Note: Entitlement changes after a plan upgrade may take a moment to propagate. Refresh your session in Studio if a feature isn't available immediately after upgrading.
Troubleshooting Access Issues
| Symptom | Likely cause | What to try |
|---|---|---|
| "Not linked" even though you linked before | Session expired or was cleared | Re-link from Settings |
| Feature shows as locked with active subscription | Stale entitlement cache | Refresh session, verify plan on web |
| Link handshake times out | Browser/network blocking the relay | Try a different browser, check firewall/proxy |
| Wrong account showing in Studio | Previous link not fully cleared | Unlink, then re-link with the correct account |
| "Entitlement verification failed" | Key rotation or network issue | Refresh session; if persistent, re-link |
Sync Readiness
Before relying on sync to keep your work continuous across devices, verify:
- Account link is healthy (not expired or stale)
- Auth session is current
- Sync status indicator is not showing errors
- You understand which data syncs and which stays local
Warning: Don't delete local data (Pipes, snippets, presets) as a way to "reset" sync issues. Always confirm your cloud state has the data you need before removing local copies. The Studio-Web Continuity and Sync chapter covers sync in detail.