You may not need one
The whole simulator works signed out. Every board, every part, the compiler, the serial monitor and sharing by link. An account adds cloud saving, a page of your own, classes and the learning game's progress following you between machines.
The ways in
At /login, or from the sign-in sheet that opens anywhere on the site:
- A link in an email. Type your address and press the button; a link arrives and opening it signs you in. There is no password to make up.
- A password, if you would rather have one. It is optional on sign-up.
- Google.
- Microsoft.
- Apple, once it is switched on; until then there is no Apple button. If you choose Hide My Email, Apple gives us a private address that forwards to yours. It works like any other address, but it is never used to join this sign-in to an account you made another way: add Apple from Sign-in & security in Settings instead.
- GitHub.
Each provider only appears when it is configured, so a button you can see is a button that works.
One account, several ways in
Sign in with Google today and with a link tomorrow and you land in the same account, as long as the email address matches and has been confirmed. That is the rule and it is deliberately strict: an identity is only ever linked on a verified email match, never an unverified one.
You can see and manage them all under Sign-in & security on Settings, and add or remove a provider there. Adding a way in asks you to prove it is you if you have not signed in recently.
Two-factor authentication
Under Sign-in & security, Two-factor authentication adds a 6-digit code from an app on your phone after your password or sign-in link. Press Set up to turn it on.
The link
A sign-in link lands you in the editor, because somebody who has just made an account came here to build something. A link that was sent from somewhere else on the site brings you back to where you were instead, and only ever to a page on this site.
A sign-in link lasts 15 minutes and works once. A verification link lasts 24 hours. A password reset link lasts one hour.
Nothing is gated on verifying your address: an unverified account can sign in and use everything. Verification is what lets us email you, not what lets you in.
The first time
You are asked once to pick a username, which becomes the address of your page
at /u/<name>. It can be skipped: the username sheet asks once per browser,
and Profile in Settings can set it later.