Connect Marketing Cloud to VeLens

One sign-in links VeLens to your Marketing Cloud account. It is your VeLens login and your API access at the same time. There is nothing to copy and paste, no client ID or secret to create, and no separate VeLens password.

About a minute · Once per Marketing Cloud account · Covers every way you open VeLens

What happens when you click Connect

Four steps, all of them in a browser window you can see.

1

You start it

Click Sign in with Marketing Cloud in VeLens Cloud, or Connect SFMC in the Chrome extension popup.

2

Marketing Cloud asks who you are

VeLens sends you to your own Marketing Cloud login page. You sign in there. VeLens never sees your password.

3

You allow access

Marketing Cloud shows what VeLens is asking for. Choose Allow. If you are already signed in, this step can pass without a prompt.

4

You land back in VeLens

Connected. VeLens stores its access server side, lists your business units, and switches on the AI features.

That single sign-in is both your VeLens identity and your Marketing Cloud API access. There is no second account to create.

What you need

  • A Marketing Cloud user account you can sign in with.
  • The VeLens package present in your Marketing Cloud account. An administrator adds it once, under Setup → Apps → Installed Packages. If it is missing, the sign-in stops and says so.
  • That package enabled for the business unit you connect from.
  • Permission for your user to authorize it. Some orgs limit this to administrators.

You do not create your own Installed Package, and you never paste a Client ID, Client Secret or Auth Base URL into VeLens. Older instructions asked for that. They no longer apply. Authorization runs through the VeLens package against your own tenant, and no VeLens screen asks for a credential.

Connecting from each surface

Connect once, from wherever you happen to be. The other places pick up the same account and the same connection.

  • VeLens Cloud (web app). Open app.velens.cloud and click Sign in with Marketing Cloud. If your Marketing Cloud login lives on a tenant-specific domain, open Advanced: specify your tenant first and type your subdomain so you are sent to the right login page.
  • VeLens Cloud, opened inside Marketing Cloud. Open VeLens from the Marketing Cloud app menu. You are already signed into Marketing Cloud there, so the connection usually completes without any typing.
  • VeLens for Marketing Cloud (the Chrome extension). Open a Marketing Cloud tab, then open the extension popup and click Connect SFMC. The extension already knows your tenant, so it sends you straight to your login page. A small window opens for the sign-in and closes itself when it finishes.

After you connect

  • VeLens creates a workspace for your Marketing Cloud enterprise. The first person to connect that enterprise becomes the owner. Anyone who connects it later joins as an editor. Owners change roles on the Team page in VeLens Cloud.
  • VeLens reads the business units your connection can reach and saves the list, so the BU picker and BU-aware answers work straight away.
  • AI Chat, the AI email tools, Query Studio AI and the cross-business-unit lookups switch on.
  • Access refreshes in the background. You do not sign in again unless the connection is revoked or expires.

Business units

The business unit you are sitting in when you connect decides how far VeLens can reach.

  • Connect from your parent (enterprise) business unit if you can. VeLens then works across every business unit your user can reach, and you get a BU picker.
  • Connect from a child business unit and VeLens works in that one business unit only. Cross-BU features stay off. The success screen tells you which of the two you got.
  • To go from child-only to full reach, switch to the parent business unit in Marketing Cloud and connect again.
  • Access is scoped per business unit. Every request VeLens makes is checked against the business unit you are working in, so a question asked in one BU cannot read or write in another.

More than one Marketing Cloud account

Consultants and agencies often work across separate enterprises. That is supported.

  • Connect each enterprise once. VeLens keeps a separate connection per enterprise.
  • The Chrome extension activates the connection that matches the enterprise you are looking at, so one org's data never shows up while you are in another.
  • In VeLens Cloud, an org switcher appears once your user belongs to more than one.
  • Child business units belong to their parent enterprise. They do not need a connection of their own.

Where your access lives

  • The long-lived refresh token is stored on the VeLens server, encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The browser and the extension never hold one.
  • Short-lived access tokens are issued for the business unit in use and expire on their own.
  • VeLens never receives your Marketing Cloud password. Sign-in happens on Marketing Cloud's own pages.
  • No subscriber row data is sent to the AI model. It works from schemas, counts, headers and errors.
  • Writes are proposed first and wait for your confirmation. Nothing is changed in your org until you click Confirm.

More detail on the security page and in the Privacy Policy.

Turn access off

Either of these is enough on its own.

  • From VeLens. Disconnect in the Chrome extension popup, or in VeLens Cloud. The stored tokens are deleted.
  • From Marketing Cloud. Go to Setup → Apps → Installed Packages, open the VeLens package, and remove it or take away the business units it can reach. This cuts access from your side, whatever VeLens still holds.

Troubleshooting

These are the messages the connection can actually return, and what to do about each.

What you seeWhat it meansWhat to do
VeLens isn't installed in this account yet Marketing Cloud rejected the app rather than your login. The package is not in this account. Ask an administrator to add VeLens under Setup → Apps → Installed Packages, and to enable it for the business unit you are connecting from. Then connect again.
Connection cancelled Someone chose Deny on the Marketing Cloud consent screen. Nothing in your account was changed. Start again and choose Allow. If no consent screen appeared, ask an admin whether your user is allowed to authorize the package.
Marketing Cloud rejected the connection The sign-in finished but the final exchange failed, usually because the package is not fully enabled, or the window sat open too long. Confirm the package is installed and enabled for this business unit, then run the connection through without pausing. The authorization step expires after a few minutes.
Your connection attempt timed out Too much time passed between starting and finishing the sign-in. Close the window and start the connection again.
Couldn't identify your Marketing Cloud account Marketing Cloud did not return the account details VeLens needs. Often temporary, sometimes a missing permission on the package. Try again in a minute. If it keeps happening, ask your administrator to confirm the package grants Accounts and Users: Read.
This connection covers one business unit only
not_parent_bu		 You connected from a child business unit, and something asked for a different one. Switch to the parent (enterprise) business unit in Marketing Cloud and connect again. Everything in the child BU keeps working in the meantime.
VeLens can't reach that business unit
bu_not_accessible		 The connection itself is fine, but this business unit is closed to it. In Marketing Cloud, open the VeLens package and add that business unit to the ones it is enabled for. Check that your own Marketing Cloud user has access to it too.
Reconnect Marketing Cloud
refresh_failed		 The stored access was revoked or expired, so VeLens can no longer reach your org at all. Connect again. There is nothing else to repair, and reconnecting keeps your workspace, team and history.
No SFMC connection found A feature asked for a connection this user does not have yet. Connect from the extension popup or from VeLens Cloud.
Multiple SFMC connections found Your user is connected to more than one Marketing Cloud enterprise and the request did not say which one to use. Pick the org in the switcher in VeLens Cloud, or open the Marketing Cloud tab for the enterprise you mean and try again.

Still stuck? Tell us what you saw and we will work it out with you.