build agents that can sign in without asking users for everything.
practical guides to choosing credential management, securing AI agent credentials and making authentication work.
AI authentication logic: how agents connect and sign in
Authenticate the agent connection, verify the granted access, retrieve only the information needed for the task, then complete the service’s sign-in. Permission to use a credential is separate from permission to purchase, send or delete.
read the guide choosing an agent credential managerhow to choose the best credential management for AI agents
For backend API calls, evaluate a secrets manager or credential broker. For user-owned accounts, evaluate an agent password manager with approved account access, website sign-in and verification email. In either case, verify secret handling, access expiry, revocation and the complete task.
read the guide AI agent credential securityhow to secure AI agent credentials
Keep credentials in an encrypted store, grant only the access the task requires, decrypt in a trusted runtime and keep secrets out of chat and logs. Verify the result independently, track access and revoke or rotate credentials when needed.
read the guide 2FA for AI agentshow can ai agents handle 2FA?
AI agents can handle 2FA by reading an approved service-specific inbox, requesting a current TOTP or asking the user’s phone to sign a passkey challenge.
read the guide MCP credential managementhow should credential management work over MCP?
MCP credential management should pair a named agent, request specific resources, decrypt approved values locally and record each sensitive tool call without placing the entire vault behind one tool.
read the guide passkeys for AI agentshow should passkeys work for ai agents?
An AI agent should use a passkey by sending the website challenge to the user’s trusted device and receiving only the signed WebAuthn assertion.
read the guide email access for AI agentshow can you give an ai agent email access safely?
Give an AI agent access to a service-specific inbox or selected messages instead of connecting the user’s entire personal mailbox.
read the guide AI agent security boundariescredential custody is not action authorization
Credential custody protects stored secrets. Access authorization controls retrieval. Action authorization controls what the authenticated agent may do. A safe system needs all three layers.
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