OAuth
An industry-standard protocol that allows a user to securely grant a third-party application limited access to their data without ever sharing their actual password.
What it is
OAuth is the underlying technology behind "Log in with Google" or "Log in with GitHub" buttons. Instead of giving a new app your Google password, the app redirects you to Google. You authenticate there, and Google passes a secure, temporary token back to the app, granting it specific, limited permissions (like reading your email address).
When you would use it
You implement OAuth to significantly simplify the user signup process and securely integrate your application with powerful third-party enterprise APIs.
Common operations
- Allowing users to sign into a new web app instantly using their existing GitHub account.
- Granting an AI agent temporary permission to read files from an enterprise Slack channel.