explaingit

go-oauth2/oauth2

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

3,615GoAudience · developerComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

A Go library for running your own OAuth 2.0 authorization server, handling client registration and access token issuing following the standard spec.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((go-oauth2))
    What it does
      Issue access tokens
      Register clients
      Follows RFC 6749
    Tech stack
      Go
      net http
      JWT
    Use cases
      Build login server
      Protect an API
      Issue scoped tokens
    Audience
      Backend developers

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Run your own OAuth 2.0 server that issues access tokens to client apps

USE CASE 2

Protect an API by requiring clients to exchange credentials for a token first

USE CASE 3

Generate signed JWT access tokens instead of random opaque strings

USE CASE 4

Swap the in-memory token store for Redis, MySQL, or another database in production

What is it built with?

Gonet/httpJWT

How does it compare?

go-oauth2/oauth2dave/jenniferdatadog/datadog-agent
Stars3,6153,6173,612
LanguageGoGoGo
Setup difficultymoderateeasyhard
Complexity3/52/54/5
Audiencedeveloperdeveloperops devops

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

The built-in store is in-memory only, a real deployment needs a separate database-backed store package.

MIT licensed, free to use, modify, and distribute, including for commercial projects, as long as the copyright notice is kept.

In plain English

This repository is a library for building an OAuth 2.0 authorization server in the Go programming language. OAuth 2.0 is a standard way for one application to let a user log in and grant limited access to their data without sharing a password directly, and this library follows the official RFC 6749 specification for how that process should work. Using the library, you create a manager that issues and checks access tokens, and you register the client applications that are allowed to request them. The README's example server sets up an in-memory store for both tokens and registered clients, then wires up two HTTP routes, one for the authorization step and one for exchanging a grant for an access token, using Go's standard net/http package. A short example shows a client requesting authorization and then exchanging it for a token, receiving back a JSON response with the access token, its scope, and how long it stays valid. Stated features include support for setting a time-to-live on stored tokens, custom expiration times, custom scopes, custom extension fields on a token, and generating tokens as signed JWTs instead of random strings. The built-in store keeps everything in memory, which is fine for trying the library out, but the project also lists several separate community packages that connect it to Redis, MongoDB, MySQL, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Firestore, and a few other databases for real deployments. Installation is a single go get command. The project is released under the MIT license, and a complete working example simulating the authorization code flow is included in the repository's example folder for anyone who wants to see a fuller setup than the quick start.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Help me set up this library's example server.go and test the authorize and token endpoints
Prompt 2
Show me how to swap the in-memory token store for a Redis-backed one from the linked packages
Prompt 3
Configure this library to issue JWT access tokens instead of random strings
Prompt 4
Explain the authorization code flow shown in this repo's example folder step by step

Frequently asked questions

What is oauth2?

A Go library for running your own OAuth 2.0 authorization server, handling client registration and access token issuing following the standard spec.

What language is oauth2 written in?

Mainly Go. The stack also includes Go, net/http, JWT.

What license does oauth2 use?

MIT licensed, free to use, modify, and distribute, including for commercial projects, as long as the copyright notice is kept.

How hard is oauth2 to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is oauth2 for?

Mainly developer.

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