Better Agent Auth — Bereket Habtemeskel & Paola Estefania, Better Auth
Jul 21, 2026 · 40:56
Paola Estefania of Better Auth presents Agent Auth, a protocol giving AI agents their own identity and fine-grained capabilities instead of impersonating users. She argues agents need principal-level security: discovery via a directory, authorization with scoped capabilities (e.g., read vs. send email), and identity through per-agent private keys for audit trails and revocation. A live demo shows an MCP-connected agent reading Gmail, requesting send-email permission, and being revoked mid-action. The protocol, now an open draft with a Better Auth plugin, treats agents as principals — contrasting with OAuth scopes and AI gateways that lack per-agent identity. Paola invites contributions, especially for enterprise IAM-style policies.
