What Is OAuth?

OAuth is how automation platforms securely connect to your apps. When you connect Slack, Google Sheets, or Salesforce to your automation platform, OAuth handles the authorization — you approve access through the app's own login page, and the platform receives a token that grants specific permissions.

The OAuth flow works like a valet key: instead of giving your full credentials (master key), you give a limited-access token (valet key) that can only perform specific operations. You can revoke this access at any time without changing your password.

OAuth tokens come in two types: access tokens (short-lived, used for API calls) and refresh tokens (long-lived, used to get new access tokens when they expire). Automation platforms manage token lifecycle automatically, refreshing expired tokens to keep your workflows running.

For automation users, OAuth means you never share your passwords with the platform, you control exactly what permissions each integration has, and you can disconnect any integration at any time. This is significantly more secure than approaches that require direct credential sharing.