AI agents are no longer just answering questions. They read documents, call APIs, and act on users' behalf. That power demands a new identity layer: agents must prove who they act for, access only what each user is allowed to see, and pause for human approval before sensitive actions. This advisory bundle helps organizations build exactly that, using Auth0's platform for AI agents.
Building AI agents raises hard identity questions: who the user really is, whether an agent may proceed with an operation, how it can call external services on the user's behalf, where tokens are securely stored, and how to ensure users see only the data they're authorized to access. This advisory answers each with proven patterns built on Auth0.
This advisory was designed for organizations building AI agents, assistants, or RAG applications that touch user data or third-party services. It helps them get identity and authorization right before going to production.
A guided overview of the capabilities that make agentic applications secure by design:
User authentication: verify who the agent is acting for, so every action is tied to a real, authenticated user.
Granular authorization for RAG: ensure agents retrieve only the documents each user is permitted to see, enforcing document-level access control in the RAG pipeline.
Token Vault: enable agents to call third-party APIs (Google, Slack, GitHub, and more) on the user's behalf, with tokens stored and refreshed securely, never exposed to the agent or its prompts.
Async authorization (human in the loop): keep users in control by requiring their explicit approval before an agent performs sensitive or high-impact actions.
Moving from concepts to working patterns teams can apply immediately:
Implementing secure, centralized authentication with Auth0 Universal Login
Configuring Token Vault and designing secure token exchange flows
Enabling asynchronous authorization with Client-Initiated Backchannel Authentication (CIBA)
Implementing fine-grained authorization with Auth0 FGA (Fine-Grained Authorization)
Securing MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers with Auth0
Organizations complete this advisory with a clear identity architecture for agentic applications, proven implementation patterns, and a team ready to ship secure, compliant AI agents that users can trust.