Simpler, More Flexible Authentication

We've revamped the way that components connect to third-party apps and services. The new concept is called connections, and they make authentication simpler, more flexible, and easier to support.

We'll be updating our built-in components to use connections in the coming weeks, and credentials will eventually be phased out in favor of connections (but don't worry - credentials won't be sunset immediately!).

For a full run-down how connections improve integration development and support and customer self-deployment, check out our blog announcement. Here's a quick summary:

• Component developers have more flexibility when declaring what information their components need to connect to a third party. They can define custom connections that include any number of fields, like username, password, API key, tenant ID, endpoint URL or other fields that are unique to the service they're integrating with.
• The OAuth 2.0 flow got much simpler and cleaner for both integration builders and customers who deploy the integration - customers see a single button to click when they need to authenticate with OAuth.
• Authorization got simpler in general - connections live within the integration designer or a deployed instance. You don't need to create credentials from the organization or customer settings pages, nor juggle credential types. Components know what connections they're compatible with, and can only be paired with those connection config variables.
• Connections are easier to support. You can now configure alert monitors to notify you when connections (OAuth or otherwise) expire or fail to authenticate in an integration.