Artifact Site Access Failures: Sign-In, Purchase, Revoked, and Expired
How artifact-site open failures differ between missing sign-in, missing entitlement, revoked links, and expired links, and what users should expect from each path.
Artifact Site Access Failures: Sign-In, Purchase, Revoked, and Expired
Where you see this in the app
This page documents what can happen when someone opens an artifact-site link and the site does not open normally.
Users may encounter these failures through:
Open sitefrom a post,- a copied artifact-site share link,
- a previously shared public site URL.
Sign-in required vs purchase required
These are not the same failure.
| State | What it means |
|---|---|
Sign in to view this site. | The current viewer is not signed in and anonymous access is not allowed |
Purchase required to view this site. | The viewer is signed in, but does not have the required entitlement |
You do not have access to this site. | The viewer is signed in but still does not satisfy the audience/access rules |
Users should first distinguish identity problems from entitlement problems. Signing in does not automatically solve a purchase or access-rule restriction.
Revoked vs expired links
A revoked link and an expired link are lifecycle failures, not audience failures.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
Share revoked. | The author intentionally turned off this share link |
Share expired. | The link had an expiry time and has now passed it |
Share not found. | The link is invalid, removed, or malformed |
These are different from paywall or sign-in states because the link itself is no longer valid in its current form.
Redirect to login vs hard failure
Unsigned viewers may be redirected to login instead of seeing an immediate dead-end message when sign-in could still solve the problem.
By contrast:
- revoked links fail hard,
- expired links fail hard,
- invalid links fail hard.
This is why some users see a login step while others see a direct failure response.
What users should check first
Use this order:
- If you were redirected to login, sign in first.
- If you are signed in and still blocked, confirm whether purchase or audience access is required.
- If the link is revoked or expired, ask the author for a fresh active link.
- Do not treat revoked/expired links as something purchase alone can repair.
Related docs
Related docs
See it in action
Previous
Artifact Site Expiry, Revoke, and Share Lifecycle
How authors manage an existing artifact-site share after it is published, what Revoke link and Expire in 24h do, and how users should think about a share link over time.
Next
Artifact Site Anonymous Access and Public Eligibility
How the app decides when an artifact site can open without sign-in, why some public-looking links still redirect to login, and how purchase rules change anonymous access.