Overview

Create authenticated browser sessions for your automations

Managed Auth is currently in public beta. Features are subject to change.

Managed Auth creates and maintains authenticated browser profiles for your AI agents and web automations. Store credentials once, and Kernel re-authenticates automatically when needed. When you launch a browser with the managed profile, you’re already logged in and ready to go.

How It Works

1. Create a Connection

   A Managed Auth Connection links a profile to a website domain. Create one for each domain + profile combination you want to keep authenticated.

   TypeScript

   const auth = await kernel.auth.connections.create({
     domain: 'netflix.com',
     profile_name: 'netflix-user-123',
   });
   
2. Start a Login Session

   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 to enable re-authentication without user input.

   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!');
   }
   
3. Use the Profile

   Once the auth connection completes, create browsers with the profile and navigate to the site. The browser session will already be authenticated.

   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');
   

Choose Your Integration

Hosted UI

Start here - Simplest integration

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

Programmatic

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?

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 via allowed_domains
• 2FA/OTP handling - TOTP codes automated, 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 - 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