Direct answer
What is OAuth?
- Short definition
-
OAuth is an authorization standard that lets one application access another service on a user's behalf without sharing the user's password with that application.
- Why it matters
- OAuth helps protect accounts while enabling integrations, social login, delegated API access, and scoped permissions between systems.
How teams use OAuth
Use this term when you need to describe the practical role it plays in a software project.
Common use cases
- Adding login with Google, Microsoft, or GitHub
- Granting third-party apps limited API access
- Connecting a SaaS product to customer accounts
- Issuing scoped access tokens for integrations
Examples of OAuth
These examples show the term in everyday product, platform, or operations work.
Real-world examples
- A user connecting their Google account to import calendar events
- A third-party app receiving read-only API access
- Laravel Passport providing an OAuth2 server for a platform API