Connector auth: shared, per-user, and delegated
How the gateway picks a credential per call: admin-connected vs delegated connectors, and the shared, per-user, and either identity modes.
Every connector resolves a credential in one of two ways - admin-connected or delegated - and delegated connectors then apply an identity mode. This decides whose account a tool call runs as.
Admin-connected vs delegated
- Admin-connected: an admin authenticates the connector once and every call uses that one credential. Per-request identity headers are ignored.
- Delegated: the caller supplies identity per request via X-Org-Id and (for per-user) X-User-Id, and the gateway acts on their behalf - so one agent key can serve many tenants and users.
Identity modes (delegated connectors)
- Shared (org): one org-wide credential for every caller.
- Per-user: each caller acts as themselves using their own stored token; if they have not connected, the call returns an authorization link.
- Either: the caller picks - defaults to per-user when an end user (X-User-Id) is present, otherwise shared.
How the credential is chosen
- Admin-connected → the connector's one stored credential.
- Delegated + shared → the org credential.
- Delegated + per-user → the X-User-Id's own stored token (or an auth link if missing).
- Delegated + either → per-user when X-User-Id is present, else shared; overridable per call.
On "either" connectors a single call can override the choice by passing a reserved "_identity" argument of "org" or "user"; it is stripped before the request reaches the downstream server. Pinned modes (shared or per-user) reject a conflicting override.
FAQ
When do I get an authorization link instead of a result?
On a per-user connector when the end user (X-User-Id) has no stored credential yet. The result carries authRequired and an authorizeUrl; after the user authorizes once, retries succeed.
Is identity ever assumed?
No. The gateway seals the verified caller, org, and user from the request; a per-user connector refuses to run without a verified X-User-Id.
Last updated 2026-06-09
