# Set Up Authentication

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/llms.txt). Component-specific: [agentic-data-plane-full.txt](https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane-full.txt)

---
title: Set Up Authentication
latest-operator-version: v26.2.1
latest-console-tag: v3.9.0
latest-connect-version: 4.104.0
latest-redpanda-tag: v26.2.1
docname: authentication
page-component-name: agentic-data-plane
page-version: master
page-component-version: master
page-component-title: Agentic Data Plane
page-relative-src-path: authentication.adoc
page-edit-url: https://github.com/redpanda-data/adp-docs/edit/main/modules/connect/pages/authentication.adoc
description: Configure OAuth providers, user-delegated OAuth, and client connections so agents and tools authenticate securely.
page-git-created-date: "2026-06-01"
page-git-modified-date: "2026-07-30"
---

<!-- Source: https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane/connect/authentication.md -->

Agents and tools authenticate through OAuth. Enable user-delegated access so agents act as the signed-in user, register an OAuth provider when you want to manage one yourself, and connect remote MCP clients.

-   [Configure an OAuth Provider](https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane/connect/oauth-providers/)

    Register an OAuth provider in Agentic Data Plane so MCP servers can authenticate users (or service accounts) against an upstream system like Slack, Jira, GitHub, or Salesforce.

-   [Configure User-Delegated OAuth](https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane/connect/user-delegated-oauth/)

    Have each end-user authenticate against the MCP server's upstream system with their own credentials. Redpanda stores their token in the vault and injects it at call time.

-   [Set Up GitHub OAuth Provider and MCP Server](https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane/connect/github-oauth-tutorial/)

    Complete walkthrough for configuring GitHub as an OAuth provider and creating a user-delegated GitHub MCP server.

-   [Connect Remote MCP Clients](https://docs.redpanda.com/agentic-data-plane/connect/remote-mcp-clients/)

    Connect external MCP clients to MCP servers in AI Gateway using client metadata documents, dynamic client registration, or manual registration.