Token-based authentication

Introduction

Token-based authentication allows users to verify their identity with a third-party server using a token. This is a more secure approach than basic authentication because username and password credentials are never passed in API requests.

How it works

Token-based authentication works by authenticating with a token that you already have available - perhaps it was given to you by a third-party application provider, or you have generated a token from the API - it doesn't matter how you obtain the token.

If you'd like more detailed information about how Token authentication works, there's some great background information on the Postman website.

User experience of token authentication

When a Patchworks user adds an instance of a connector and chooses to authenticate with token-based authentication, they will see something similar to the example below:

Token-based authentication examples

It can be useful to compare how existing connectors have been configured for token-based authentication. The Patchworks marketplace includes many connectors that are configured to use this authentication type - a few examples are linked below: