(Technically, this is a blogpost about Oauth2 and not OpenID Connect) Are you using Slack as a central communication tool? Did you know that you can also use it as your identity provider for other apps you make or buy? For informal organizations like user groups and volunteer based conferences, Slack is perhaps already your communication hub. This means that the information you have about your users here is as good as you have anywhere.

The advantage of OpenID Connect is the fact that it’s standardized and widely adopted. This means that a library or tool designed to work with, e.g. Google accounts, can easily be adopted to work with e.g. Microsoft’s Active Directory or the Norwegian national ID provider ID-porten. Different Identity providers can support different levels of trust between you and your users. In my next few blogposts, I will explore different OpenID Connect providers and what they can offer you as an application developer.

The advantage of OpenID Connect is the fact that it’s standardized and widely adopted. This means that a library or tool designed to work with, e.g. Google accounts, can easily be adopted to work with e.g. Microsoft’s Active Directory or the Norwegian national ID provider ID-porten. Different Identity providers can support different levels of trust between you and your users. The protocol is perceived with an air of mystery by many developers, but it’s surprisingly simple to master.