OAuth 2.0 Flow Selector Guide
Select correct OAuth 2.0 grant type from application type and use case
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About OAuth 2.0 Flow Selector Guide
Choose the Right OAuth 2.0 Flow for Your Application
OAuth 2.0 is the industry standard for authorization, but it offers multiple grant types, and picking the wrong one can introduce security vulnerabilities or unnecessary complexity. The OAuth 2.0 Flow Selector Guide asks targeted questions about your application architecture, user interaction model, and security requirements, then recommends the most appropriate OAuth flow with a clear explanation of why it fits your situation.
The specification defines several flows, each designed for different scenarios. Using the Authorization Code flow with PKCE for a machine-to-machine integration is overkill. Using the Implicit flow for a server-side application is insecure. Using Client Credentials for a user-facing mobile app is fundamentally wrong. These mistakes happen more often than the industry likes to admit, and this tool prevents them.
The Flows Explained
Authorization Code with PKCE is the recommended flow for most modern applications, including single-page apps, mobile apps, and traditional server-rendered websites. It provides the strongest security by keeping tokens out of the browser's URL bar and protecting against authorization code interception attacks.
Authorization Code (without PKCE) is the classic server-side flow where the client secret is stored securely on the server. It remains valid for confidential clients but PKCE is increasingly recommended even for server-side apps.
Client Credentials is for machine-to-machine communication where no user is involved. Background services, cron jobs, and API-to-API integrations use this flow because there's no human to redirect through a login page.
Device Authorization serves devices with limited input capabilities, like smart TVs, game consoles, and IoT devices. The user authorizes the device by visiting a URL on a separate device like their phone.
Resource Owner Password Credentials is generally discouraged but still used in legacy migrations where users provide their username and password directly to the client application. The guide explains when this might be acceptable and when it absolutely isn't.
How the Selector Guide Works
Rather than expecting you to already understand the flows before choosing one, the tool presents a series of plain-language questions. Is your application a web app, mobile app, desktop app, or backend service? Does a human user interact with it, or does it run autonomously? Can your application securely store a client secret? Does the application run in a browser where source code is visible to the user?
Based on your answers, the guide narrows down to one or two recommended flows. Each recommendation includes a visual diagram of the flow, a step-by-step explanation of what happens at each stage, security considerations specific to your scenario, and implementation guidance with links to relevant RFC sections.
Who Should Use This Guide?
Developers implementing authentication for the first time will save hours of confused specification reading. The OAuth 2.0 spec is dense and assumes familiarity with security concepts that many developers haven't encountered before. This guide translates those concepts into practical decisions.
Architects designing new systems benefit from the structured decision framework. When presenting an auth design to stakeholders, being able to explain why you chose a particular flow, backed by a systematic evaluation of alternatives, strengthens your proposal.
Security reviewers auditing existing implementations can use the tool to verify whether the implemented flow matches the application's actual requirements. A mismatch is a red flag worth investigating.
Product managers and technical leads who need to understand OAuth at a conceptual level without diving into implementation details can walk through the selector to build intuition about which scenarios call for which approaches.
Real-World Decision Scenarios
A startup building a React SPA with a Node.js backend answers the questions and learns that Authorization Code with PKCE is their best option, replacing the Implicit flow they had initially planned based on outdated blog posts.
A DevOps team building an automated deployment pipeline discovers that Client Credentials is the right choice for their CI/CD service accounts, simplifying their auth implementation significantly.
A healthcare company developing a smart device learns about Device Authorization flow, which they hadn't encountered before, solving a UX problem they had been struggling with.
The OAuth 2.0 Flow Selector Guide runs entirely in your browser with no data transmission. Your architecture details stay private, and the tool is always available when you need to make or revisit authorization decisions.