OAuth 2.0 was designed for delegated human authorization. AIM was purpose-built for autonomous AI agent identity. Understand which approach fits your AI security requirements.
Agent Identity Management
Purpose-built identity for AI agents. Cryptographic Ed25519 keypairs, capability-based access control, continuous trust scoring, and MCP server attestation. Open source and self-hosted.
Industry Standard Protocol
Delegated authorization framework designed for human users granting third-party app access. Bearer tokens, scopes, and redirect-based flows for web and mobile apps.
OAuth 2.0 answers “which human granted this app permission?” AIM answers “which agent is this, what can it do, and should it be trusted right now?” OAuth tokens are bearer credentials—anyone holding the token has access. AIM binds identity cryptographically to each agent, enforces capabilities at runtime, and continuously evaluates trust based on behavior.
OAuth identifies the human who granted access, not the agent using the token. Any process holding a bearer token is indistinguishable from any other.
OAuth scopes are granted at authorization time and remain fixed. There is no mechanism to revoke or adjust capabilities based on real-time agent behavior.
OAuth has no concept of trust scoring. A compromised agent with a valid token has the same access as a legitimate one—there is no continuous risk evaluation.
OAuth knows nothing about MCP servers, tool attestation, or AI supply chains. It cannot verify that the tools an agent connects to are authentic and untampered.
OAuth requires user interaction (consent screens, redirects). Autonomous agents operating without a human in the loop cannot complete standard OAuth authorization flows.
OAuth bearer tokens grant access to whoever holds them. If leaked, there is no way to prove which agent used the token. AIM's cryptographic signatures are non-transferable.
| Feature | AIM | OAuth 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Designed For | Autonomous AI agents | Human-delegated app access |
| Identity Model | Ed25519 cryptographic keypair per agent | Bearer tokens (no inherent identity) |
| Access Control | Capability-based, runtime-enforced | Scope-based, grant-time only |
| Trust Evaluation | 8-factor continuous scoring | None |
| Token Security | Cryptographic proof of identity | Bearer tokens (theft = access) |
| Autonomous Operation | No human in loop required | Requires human consent flow |
| MCP Server Attestation | Native support | Not applicable |
| AI Framework Support | LangChain, CrewAI, LangChain4j | No AI-specific integrations |
| Audit Trail | Cryptographic, per-agent | Token usage logs (resource server dependent) |
| Non-Repudiation | Ed25519 signed actions | Bearer tokens are transferable |
| Licensing | Apache-2.0 (open source) | Open standard (implementations vary) |
| Setup Complexity | One line: secure("my-agent") | Auth server + client registration + flows |
AIM gives each agent a unique cryptographic identity. OAuth gives apps a borrowed token from a human.
from aim_sdk import secure
# Agent gets cryptographic identity
agent = secure(
"research-agent",
capabilities=[
"database:read",
"api:call"
]
)
# Identity is bound to THIS agent
# Capabilities enforced at runtime
# Trust scored continuously
# Actions are cryptographically signed// Human must authorize the app
const authUrl = `${issuer}/authorize?`
+ `client_id=${clientId}`
+ `&scope=read+write`
+ `&redirect_uri=${callback}`;
// Redirect user to consent screen
window.location = authUrl;
// Token identifies the HUMAN,
// not the agent or process.
// Anyone with the token has access.
// No behavioral trust evaluation.AIM is not a replacement for OAuth—it builds on top of proven standards where appropriate:
AIM extends OAuth with agent-specific primitives: cryptographic identity, capability enforcement, trust scoring, and MCP attestation—none of which exist in the OAuth specification.
OAuth 2.0 can authenticate API access, but it does not provide agent identity, behavioral trust scoring, capability enforcement, or MCP attestation. For basic API access you can use OAuth tokens, but for production AI agent security you need purpose-built tooling like AIM that understands the unique challenges of autonomous non-human identities.
No. AIM and OAuth solve different problems. OAuth handles human-delegated authorization— use it for user login, social sign-in, and SSO. AIM handles AI agent identity—use it for cryptographic agent verification, capability enforcement, and continuous trust evaluation. Many organizations use both: OAuth for human users, AIM for their AI agents.
The Client Credentials grant provides a shared secret for server-to-server auth, but still lacks per-agent identity, behavioral trust, capability enforcement, and audit non-repudiation. It works for static service accounts but does not scale to dynamic, autonomous AI agent workloads where each agent needs its own verifiable identity and continuously evaluated permissions.
Yes. AIM is fully open source under the Apache-2.0 license. You can self-host it, audit the code, and contribute. There are no licensing fees or per-agent costs.
OAuth was designed for humans. AIM was designed for agents. Get cryptographic identity, capability enforcement, and continuous trust scoring for your AI workloads.
Apache-2.0 license • Self-hosted • Works alongside your existing OAuth infrastructure