Adding an identity provider to self-hosted Hoppscotch: what happens to guest-mode collections?

Answer

Enabling an identity provider does not touch the data that was stored only in the browser. Guest‑mode collections remain client‑side and are not automatically migrated to the new account or workspace.

Why this happens

In a self‑hosted Hoppscotch deployment the backend only persists data for authenticated users. Without an identity provider the API accepts unauthenticated requests, but it does not create a user record or a workspace. Collections that were created in guest mode live in localStorage under the key hoppscotch_collections. When an identity provider is later added, the server starts rejecting unauthenticated requests (unless you keep the default ALLOW_UNAUTHENTICATED flag), so the browser can no longer reach the API to auto‑save those collections.

What you get after the change

• Unauthenticated API calls return 401 Unauthorized.
• Guest collections are still visible in the UI while you are logged out, but they are not shared with anyone else.
• Links that were generated from guest collections will 404 once the instance requires sign‑in, because the link payload is no longer resolvable on the server.

Recommended migration steps

1. Open Hoppscotch while still in guest mode. Create any collections you want to keep.

2. From the Collections sidebar, click the three‑dot menu on a collection and choose Export. Save the JSON file.

3. Stop the Docker container and add your identity‑provider configuration (e.g., AUTH_PROVIDER=google and related client IDs). Restart the container.

4. Verify that unauthenticated requests now return 401 by hitting /api/collections without a token.

5. Log in with the new provider, go to the Workspace view, click Import and load the JSON file you exported. The collection will appear in the default workspace.

6. Repeat for any other collections or environments you exported.

7. Optionally, delete the old local‑storage data by clearing the browser cache or using hoppscotch_collections key.

Shared links

If you had generated shareable URLs while in guest mode, those URLs will no longer work after authentication is enforced. The only way to keep them functional is to re‑share the collection from the authenticated workspace, which will create a new shareable link.

What to verify

• Check the backend logs for any 401 responses after enabling authentication.
• Confirm that the exported JSON matches the collections you created.
• Make sure environments are recreated if they were not part of the collection export.

Missing detail

Could you let me know which Hoppscotch Docker image/tag you are running? The default behaviour may differ between releases, and the migration steps above assume the current stable version.