overview.mdx

title	Overview
description	Maintain authenticated browser sessions for agents

Managed Auth creates and maintains authenticated browser sessions for your AI agents. Store credentials once, and Kernel re-authenticates automatically when needed. When you launch Kernel browsers with Managed Auth connections, your agent starts already logged in and ready to go.

How It Works

A **Managed Auth Connection** attaches an authenticated domain to a browser [profile](/auth/profiles) so you can automatically be logged in when you launch future browsers. A single profile can have multiple auth connections — one per domain you want to keep authenticated. ```typescript TypeScript const auth = await kernel.auth.connections.create({ domain: 'netflix.com', profile_name: 'netflix-user-123', }); ```

auth = await kernel.auth.connections.create(
    domain="netflix.com",
    profile_name="netflix-user-123",
)

A **Managed Auth Session** is the corresponding login flow for the specified connection. Users provide credentials via a Kernel-hosted page or your own UI.

Specify a [Credential](/auth/credentials) to enable re-authentication without user input.

```typescript TypeScript const login = await kernel.auth.connections.login(auth.id);

// Send user to login page console.log('Login URL:', login.hosted_url);

// Poll until complete let state = await kernel.auth.connections.retrieve(auth.id); while (state.flow_status === 'IN_PROGRESS') { await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000)); state = await kernel.auth.connections.retrieve(auth.id); }

if (state.status === 'AUTHENTICATED') { console.log('Authenticated!'); }

```python Python
login = await kernel.auth.connections.login(auth.id)

# Send user to login page
print(f"Login URL: {login.hosted_url}")

# Poll until complete
state = await kernel.auth.connections.retrieve(auth.id)
while state.flow_status == "IN_PROGRESS":
    await asyncio.sleep(2)
    state = await kernel.auth.connections.retrieve(auth.id)

if state.status == "AUTHENTICATED":
    print("Authenticated!")

Once the auth connection completes, the authenticated session is saved to the browser [profile](/auth/profiles) specified in step 1. You can attach additional auth connections to the same profile for other domains. When you create a browser with the profile, all of its auth connections are available — the browser session will already be logged in to every connected domain. ```typescript TypeScript const browser = await kernel.browsers.create({ profile: { name: 'netflix-user-123' }, stealth: true, });

// Navigate to the site—you're already logged in await page.goto('https://netflix.com');

```python Python
browser = await kernel.browsers.create(
    profile={"name": "netflix-user-123"},
    stealth=True,
)

# Navigate to the site—you're already logged in
await page.goto("https://netflix.com")

The steps above are the integration loop — what you wire up once per connection. After the initial login, the connection enters its runtime loop of periodic health checks and automatic re-authentication; see Connection Lifecycle for how that works and how to tune it.

Choose Your Integration

**Start here** - Simplest integration

Redirect users to Kernel's hosted page. Add features incrementally: save credentials for auto-reauth, custom login URLs, SSO support.

**Embed in your app** - Drop-in component

Mount `<KernelManagedAuth />` on a route in your own app. Same flow as Hosted UI, rendered on your origin and trivial to restyle to match your brand.

**Full control** - Custom UI or headless

Build your own credential collection. Handle login fields, SSO buttons, MFA selection, and external actions (push notifications, security keys).

Why Managed Auth?

Managed Auth automates login flows — navigating login pages, filling credentials, handling SSO redirects, and completing MFA challenges. It keeps your profiles logged in across sessions.

The most valuable workflows live behind logins. Managed Auth provides:

• Works on any website - Login pages are discovered and handled automatically
• SSO/OAuth support - "Sign in with Google/GitHub/Microsoft" buttons work out-of-the-box, with common SSO provider domains automatically allowed
• 2FA/OTP handling - TOTP codes automated with automatic retry on expiry, SMS/email/push OTP are supported
• Post-login URL - Get the URL where login landed (post_login_url) so you can start automations from the right page
• Session monitoring - Periodic health checks and automatic re-authentication when sessions expire with stored credentials
• Secure by default - Credentials encrypted at rest, never exposed in API responses, or passed to LLMs

Security

Feature	Description
Encrypted credentials	Values encrypted with per-organization keys
No credential exposure	Never returned in API responses or passed to LLMs
Encrypted profiles	Browser session state encrypted end-to-end
Isolated execution	Each login runs in an isolated browser environment