Auth for Agents: Let AI Sign Up for Your Product with auth.md — Michael Grinich, WorkOS
Source
youtube.com
Author
AI Engineer
Date
Context
WorkOS proposes auth.md as a discoverable set of registration instructions for agents. A service publishes which identity proofs and registration flows it accepts, so an AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → can determine how to obtain an account without navigating a human signup form. That is the narrow problem presented in the talk.
The protocol documentation describes two routes: an identity provider can vouch for the user, or the agent can ask the user to sign in and confirm a code. The service chooses which routes to accept and issues limited, revocable access credentials. Publishing the file gives agents a way to discover the registration process while leaving access decisions with the service.
Terms in this piece · Glossary
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.