Auth0 for AI Agents (Token Vault) vs Anlyon: tokens, and what the agent may do with them

Auth0 for AI Agents gives your users a login, keeps their third-party tokens in Token Vault, and can ask them to approve a step on their phone through CIBA. Anlyon also keeps each user's token, then makes the call itself, under a limit counted for that user, with an approval bound to the exact request and a graded receipt for each write.

If your agent mostly reads, or you already run Auth0 and want a token store next to it, Auth0 is a natural fit. If your agent writes in your users' HubSpot, Slack, Linear, GitHub or Notion and a wrong write would be your problem, read on. Facts about Auth0 below come from Auth0's own docs and site, checked on 2026-11-02.

What Auth0 for AI Agents does

Auth0's AI docs describe four features: user authentication, Token Vault, asynchronous authorization and FGA for RAG (auth0.com/ai/docs, as of 2026-11-02). The product went GA in a post dated Nov 19, 2025, which cites "35+ supported app integrations" and custom OAuth connections (Auth0 blog, as of 2026-11-02).

Per-user tokens. A user connects an account through the My Account API's connected accounts flow, and Auth0 "stores the provider's access and refresh tokens in Token Vault" (Token Vault, as of 2026-11-02). The AI docs say Token Vault "manages obtaining, storing, and refreshing API tokens." To act, "the agent then performs a token exchange to retrieve an external access token" and "uses the external access token to call the third-party API on the user's behalf" (call third-party APIs, as of 2026-11-02). So your agent's process holds the provider token for the call.

Approvals through CIBA. Your backend sends a request to /bc-authorize, the user approves on a trusted device (Guardian push by default, email if you enable it), and your backend polls /token (async authorization, as of 2026-11-02). Auth0's AI SDK wraps a tool with withAsyncAuthorization() and a bindingMessage built from the tool's arguments; on approval "the Auth0 AI SDK retrieves an access token to call the shop's API" (get started, as of 2026-11-02).

What a CIBA approval binds to. This is the part worth being precise about. Per Auth0's CIBA reference, the request carries a binding message ("required and up to 64 characters"), a scope that must include openid, an audience, and optional authorization_details, which Guardian renders on the consent screen. On approval, Auth0 returns an access token with authorization_details in the response (user authorization with CIBA, as of 2026-11-02). Auth0's RAR page says it supports validating authorization_details types, and lists "validating RAR objects beyond checking that they have a type property" under what Auth0 does not support (RAR, as of 2026-11-02). In short: the approval yields a token for your API, and your API enforces what it means. We did not find in Auth0's docs, as of 2026-11-02, a step where Auth0 compares the request your agent later sends with what the user approved.

Limits, audit, deletion, self-host, pricing. We did not find a limit you set per user on agent writes in Auth0's AI docs as of 2026-11-02. The marketing page mentions "built-in audit trails" (auth0.com/ai, as of 2026-11-02). Deleting a connected account "does not automatically revoke the external provider's tokens" (connected accounts, as of 2026-11-02). Pricing is per monthly active user. The GA post says the Free plan includes "two connected apps in our Token Vault", the pricing page shows no CIBA on Free, CIBA needs Enterprise or an add-on, and Private Deployment is an Enterprise add-on (pricing, as of 2026-11-02).

What Anlyon does

Your agent names an action, such as hubspot-update-deal-stage. Your server names the user with anlyon.forUser(session.user.id). Anlyon holds that user's token and makes the call. Because the call goes through Anlyon, four things happen on every governed write: it counts against that user's limit before it is sent, it can wait for that user's yes in your app, it comes back with a graded receipt, and it is filed under that user.

await ops.approvalPolicies.create({
  name: 'User approves closing a deal',
  matchKind: 'action',
  matchActionName: 'hubspot-update-deal-stage',
  condition: "input.dealstage == 'closedwon' || input.dealstage == 'closedlost'",
  effect: 'require_approval',
  decidedBy: 'end_user',
});

// In your app, the signed-in user decides:
await anlyon.endUsers.approvals.decide(user.id, approvalId, { decision: 'approve' });

Moving a decision from your team to the user counts as loosening a control, so when this policy is created with an API key, the call throws SignOffRequiredError and the policy waits until a workspace admin approves it at error.signOffUrl. An admin can also create it directly in the console under Controls → Policies. An agent can never loosen its own guardrails.

The approval is bound to a SHA-256 digest of the exact request: request, target, versions, preconditions and expiry. Anlyon recomputes it before dispatch and refuses on any difference, so what the user approved is what runs.

Side by side

Anlyon's limits, stated once: the list of integrations is shorter, and Gmail, Google Calendar and Salesforce are not live yet. End users are supported over the HTTP API and the TypeScript and Python SDKs, not yet over MCP or the CLI. Anlyon is a small company.

When to choose Auth0 for AI Agents

• You already run Auth0 for sign-in and want tokens, login and fine-grained access for RAG from one vendor.
• Your agent needs Google or Microsoft accounts today, or a custom OAuth connection.
• You are happy for your agent's process to hold the provider token and call the API, and your own API will enforce what a CIBA approval allows.
• You want approvals on the user's phone through Guardian, outside your app.
• You need Auth0's scale, enterprise contracts and private deployment.

When to choose Anlyon

• Your agent writes in your users' accounts, and one user's runaway session must not spend another user's allowance.
• You want the user's yes in your own app, and the request that runs to be the request they saw.
• You need a receipt per write that says whether the provider's own record matched.
• You want a prompt to have no way to name a different user, and a forwarded connect link to attach nothing.
• You want to erase a user in one call. See acting for your users, per-user limits and user approvals in your app.

Using both

Many teams will keep Auth0 as their identity provider. Your server reads the signed-in user's id from the Auth0 session and passes it to anlyon.forUser(). For the integrations Anlyon supports, each user connects their account to Anlyon, and Anlyon makes those calls. For anything else, your agent can keep using Token Vault. The two do not share tokens: a connection in Token Vault is not available to Anlyon, and the reverse. For a wider view, see agent auth platforms compared and Arcade, Composio and Anlyon.

Sources

All checked on 2026-11-02.

• Auth0 for AI Agents docs: https://auth0.com/ai/docs
• Auth0 for AI Agents GA post: https://auth0.com/blog/auth0-for-ai-agents-generally-available/
• Token Vault: https://auth0.com/docs/secure/tokens/token-vault
• Connected accounts for Token Vault: https://auth0.com/docs/secure/tokens/token-vault/connected-accounts-for-token-vault
• Call third-party APIs on a user's behalf: https://auth0.com/ai/docs/intro/call-third-party-apis-on-users-behalf
• Asynchronous authorization: https://auth0.com/ai/docs/intro/asynchronous-authorization
• Async authorization quickstart: https://auth0.com/ai/docs/get-started/asynchronous-authorization
• User authorization with CIBA: https://auth0.com/docs/get-started/authentication-and-authorization-flow/client-initiated-backchannel-authentication-flow/user-authorization-with-ciba
• Authorization code flow with RAR: https://auth0.com/docs/get-started/authentication-and-authorization-flow/authorization-code-flow/authorization-code-flow-with-rar
• Auth0 for AI marketing page: https://auth0.com/ai
• Auth0 pricing: https://auth0.com/pricing
• Anlyon docs: https://docs.anlyon.com/guides/act-for-your-users