- In a WorkOS demo, an agent passed over two tools that needed a browser signup or an API key and joined a third on its own.
- The demo app publishes a file written for agents and gives its in-app agents scoped tokens, not the user's own.
WorkOS has built a demo app that publishes a front door written for machines. Isabelle Williams, a product manager at WorkOS, showed it on the AI Engineer show. In her demo, an agent could not get through two rival tools, one needing a browser signup and one needing an API key, and joined hers instead.
What was said
Williams's app, Waypoint, hosts auth.md. This is an open markdown file that tells agents how to register and use its API. Of it she said, "it's not meant for us. It's meant for agents." The file only describes access. Waypoint still enforces the rules.
It offers two routes. In anonymous mode, an agent takes limited actions to show the app has value. Later it gives the user a link and a one-time code, and the user signs up to claim the work. About that step she said, "if you know anything about product-led growth, you know this is where you lose your user." The term means letting people try a product before they buy.
The second route skips the form. The agent's provider, which has already verified the user in some way, tells Waypoint who they are. Waypoint decides whether to open an account and what permissions to grant. In the demo, the user consented, and the agent then made the account, booked dinner and produced a shareable itinerary.
Why it matters
Our reading: the demo shows signup turning into a test an agent can fail. A person may push through a form. An agent choosing for its user can only pick what it can finish. Williams did not claim this will happen across the market. It is our inference from what she showed.
Three questions follow for teams that own signup flows. Does your product have any route to an account other than a browser form or a key a person must fetch? What may an agent do before a person is tied to it? Whose word will you accept that an agent speaks for a real user?
Williams also gave Waypoint's in-app agents scoped tokens, not the user's own.
The other side
This was one demo, built by the speaker, with her own agent harness. She gave no figures on how many agents choose tools this way. Her anonymous route still ends with a person signing up. She said safe agent access will need open standards, and she described standardization work as still happening. The provider-vouching route depends on agent providers verifying their users. Whether many will vouch that way was not covered.
Written by the WebPulse Newsroom with AI assistance, and checked by our editorial review: every quotation was verified against the recording's transcript. How we use AI.
The conversation this talking point comes from
- AI Engineer: How to Let AI Agents Sign Up for Your App Safely — Isabelle Williams, WorkOS (2026-10-23)
