Definition
OAuth is an open standard for giving an app limited access to your account at another service without handing over your password. The app sends you to the service's own sign-in page, for example Google's. You see which permissions it asks for and approve them. The app then receives tokens: a short-lived access token for calls, and often a refresh token to get new ones. You can withdraw that access at any time from the service.
Why remote MCP servers use it
A remote MCP server acts for you from its own server. With OAuth your assistant connects after you sign in, so there is no API key to paste into a config file and nothing that can leak from a chat.
How mowteng uses OAuth
You add https://mowteng.app/mcp to your assistant and sign in with Google: no Google Cloud project, no API key and no OAuth client of your own. Leave the Search Console permission ticked; otherwise mowteng answers that it needs access to Google Search Console. Steps for each assistant are in connect mowteng.
mowteng stores your Google account ID and email, encrypted refresh tokens for Google and, if connected, Bing and Yandex, your subscription status, and a keyed hash of each site's host name. Search data is fetched live for each request and never stored. An unused connection is deleted after 45 days.
Revoking access
On the account page, disconnecting Google revokes Google access and signs out every assistant; Bing and Yandex stay connected. You can also remove mowteng at myaccount.google.com/permissions; your assistant then has to connect mowteng again. Deleting the account removes the stored credentials.
Which mowteng sources are connected right now? Give me the link to my account page.