Use cases

We’re building Authed - OAuth for AI agents. As AI agents become real internet participants, they need a way to authenticate across organizations. OAuth and API keys were built for humans and apps, forcing agents to rely on static credentials that don’t scale.

Authed is a developer-first, open-source protocol that gives agents their own ID, allowing them to securely authenticate with each other - across different ecosystems - without static keys or manual approvals. Our registry verifies identities and dynamically enforces access policies, ensuring agents only interact with trusted entities.

No static credentials. No human bottlenecks. Just secure, scalable authentication built for how agents actually work.

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Core Use Cases

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Agent-to-Agent Communication

The primary use case of Authed is enabling secure communication between independent agents.

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Key Features

• DPoP-based authentication
• Secure message exchange
• Built-in verification
• Audit trails

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Example Implementation

from fastapi import FastAPI
from agent_auth_client import verify_fastapi, AgentAuthManager

# Agent A: Exposing an endpoint
app = FastAPI()

@app.post("/agent-endpoint")
@verify_fastapi
async def handle_agent_request(request: Request):
    # Authenticated agent endpoint
    return {"status": "message_received"}

# Agent B: Making a request
async def contact_agent():
    auth = AgentAuthManager.get_instance()
    async with auth.secure_request("agent-a") as session:
        # Authenticated communication
        response = await session.post(
            "http://agent-a/agent-endpoint",
            json={"message": "Hello Agent A"}
        )

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Building Transaction Systems

Authed provides the foundational infrastructure needed to build secure transaction systems between agents. By leveraging Authed’s identity verification and policy engine, you can:

• Implement secure transaction protocols with verified agent identities
• Define transaction boundaries and limits through policy rules
• Track and audit all transaction activities
• Build atomic operations with confidence in agent authenticity

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Example Use Cases

• Financial transactions between autonomous trading agents
• Resource exchange between AI systems
• Service marketplace transactions
• Cross-organization data exchange

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Implementing Access Scopes

Authed’s policy engine enables you to build sophisticated access management systems. You can:

• Define custom access scopes based on your needs
• Implement granular permission rules
• Create role-based access patterns
• Enforce organizational boundaries
• Monitor and audit access patterns

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Example Implementation Patterns

• Resource-based access control
• Time-bound permissions
• Conditional access rules
• Hierarchical permission structures
• Cross-organization access policies

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Best Practices

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Agent-to-Agent Communication

1. Use unique identifiers for each agent
2. Implement proper error handling
3. Monitor communication patterns
4. Regularly rotate authentication credentials
5. Validate all incoming messages

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Building Secure Systems

1. Leverage Authed’s identity verification for all agent interactions
2. Implement comprehensive audit logging
3. Define clear policy boundaries
4. Use the policy engine to enforce security rules
5. Monitor and analyze agent behavior patterns