# What is MCP authorization? How OAuth works for AI agents

DevFeed: [What is MCP authorization? How OAuth works for AI agents](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/what-is-mcp-authorization-how-oauth-works-for-ai-agents-16071.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://workos.com/blog/what-is-mcp-authorization>)

Author: WorkOS

Published: 2026-09-03T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [WorkOS Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/workos-blog.md>)

Topics: [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/model-context-protocol-mcp.md>), [OAuth](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/oauth.md>), [MCP Server](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/mcp-server.md>), [AI Agent](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-agent.md>), [Authorization](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/authorization.md>), [Authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/authentication.md>)

Tags: [agents](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agents.md>), [authentication](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/authentication.md>), [authorization](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/authorization.md>), [discovery](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/discovery.md>), [mcp](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/mcp.md>), [oauth](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/oauth.md>), [scopes](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/scopes.md>), [token](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/token.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains MCP authorization as an OAuth 2.1 flow for allowing AI agents to call protected MCP servers on a user's behalf. It covers the roles of the MCP server, client, and authorization server; audience-bound tokens; discovery; deprecated Dynamic Client Registration; and step-up authorization for additional scopes.

## Source excerpt

MCP authorization is the OAuth 2.1 flow that lets an AI agent call a protected MCP server on a user's behalf. Here is how it works, step by step, under the 2026-07-28 spec.