TapAuth

OAuth token provider for OpenClaw agents — Google Calendar, Gmail, GitHub, Slack, Linear, Notion, Vercel, Sentry, Asana, Discord, or Apify — plus user-entered passwords/API keys through the manual secret provider. Integrates with OpenClaw's exec secrets provider so values are resolved at startup and held in memory — no shell commands or inline credentials needed at runtime. Configure once in openclaw.json, reference tokens/secrets via SecretRef.

TapAuth — OAuth Tokens and Manual Secrets via OpenClaw Secrets Manager

TapAuth provides OAuth tokens and user-approved manual secrets through OpenClaw's exec secrets provider. Values are resolved at gateway startup and held in memory — they never appear in shell commands or config files as plaintext.

You must NEVER use tapauth.sh --token directly in shell commands, curl calls, or $(...) substitutions. Tokens are always resolved through the secrets manager. Your job as an agent is to configure the secrets provider, not to fetch tokens yourself.

When a user asks you to do something that needs an OAuth token or fixed secret

Follow these steps in order. Do not skip to step 3. Do not run --token yourself.

1. Create a grant and show the approval URL

Run the script without --token to create a grant. Set TAPAUTH_HOME so the grant cache is stored in a stable location that the exec provider can also find:

bash

TAPAUTH_HOME=/home/node/.tapauth /home/node/.openclaw/skills/tapauth/scripts/tapauth.sh <provider> <scopes>

Example for Google Calendar:

bash

TAPAUTH_HOME=/home/node/.tapauth /home/node/.openclaw/skills/tapauth/scripts/tapauth.sh google calendar.readonly

Example for a manual API key:

bash

TAPAUTH_HOME=/home/node/.tapauth /home/node/.openclaw/skills/tapauth/scripts/tapauth.sh secret "Stripe Secret Key" "^sk_" "Use a Stripe secret key that starts with sk_"

Output:

text

Approve access: https://tapauth.ai/approve/abc123

Show this URL to the user, then start --token immediately; it waits until approval completes.

Show the approval URL to the user, then proceed immediately. Do not ask the user to reply "done." The exec secrets provider will run tapauth.sh --token and wait while the user approves in the browser.

2. Configure the exec secrets provider in openclaw.json

Immediately after sharing the approval URL, edit ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json to add an exec provider under secrets.providers:

json

{
  "secrets": {
    "providers": {
      "tapauth_google_calendar": {
        "source": "exec",
        "command": "/home/node/.openclaw/skills/tapauth/scripts/tapauth.sh",
        "args": ["--token", "google", "calendar.readonly"],
        "passEnv": ["HOME"],
        "env": {"TAPAUTH_HOME": "/home/node/.tapauth"},
        "jsonOnly": false
      }
    }
  }
}

Key fields:

• command: Absolute path to scripts/tapauth.sh in this skill directory
• args: ["--token", "<provider>", "<scopes>"] — must match the grant you created in step 1
• args for manual secrets: ["--token", "secret", "<description>", "<validation_regex>", "<validation_hint>"] — description, regex, and hint must match the grant you created in step 1. Use a short, unique, stable, human-readable description because it is part of the lookup key; put formatting instructions in the hint.
• jsonOnly: false: The script outputs a raw token or secret string, not JSON
• passEnv: Must include HOME
• env.TAPAUTH_HOME: Must be /home/node/.tapauth — the same path used when creating the grant in step 1

Use the naming convention tapauth_<provider> or tapauth_<provider>_<scope> for the provider key.

Add a matching SecretRef wherever the OpenClaw config field accepts secrets for the user's task. The SecretRef must use the provider key above and id: "value".

3. Reload secrets while the user approves

After editing openclaw.json, run:

bash

openclaw secrets reload

This tells the gateway to re-resolve referenced secrets. When a SecretRef points at the TapAuth provider, the exec provider runs tapauth.sh --token in the background and stores the result in the in-memory secrets snapshot.

Run this immediately after sending the approval URL. If approval is still pending, the command waits up to 10 minutes; keep the process running or track it as a background command. Once it completes, fulfill the user's original request without requiring a separate confirmation message.

One-time verification (optional): Since the grant is now approved and cached, you may run the script once to verify and fulfill the user's immediate request:

bash

TAPAUTH_HOME=/home/node/.tapauth /home/node/.openclaw/skills/tapauth/scripts/tapauth.sh --token <provider> <scopes>

After this, all future token access must come from the secrets manager via SecretRef — do not use --token directly again.

Rules

• NEVER run tapauth.sh --token directly. Do not use it in $(...), do not capture its output, do not pipe it to curl. The secrets manager runs it for you.
• NEVER wait for a "done" reply before configuring OpenClaw. Always create the grant first (step 1), show the URL, configure the provider, then let openclaw secrets reload poll while the user approves.
• No TapAuth API key needed. TapAuth is zero-config. Do not look for TapAuth API keys, client secrets, or environment variables.
• Manual secrets are browser-encrypted before TapAuth receives them. Validation regexes are checked in-browser as a UX guard; validate the retrieved secret too if format matters.
• Manual secret expiry is TapAuth-side only. Expiry stops TapAuth from returning the value; it does not rotate or revoke the underlying password/API key.
• Always use absolute paths for the command field in the exec provider config.

Quick Reference — Provider + Scopes

Provider	Args for exec provider	Scopes Reference
Google Calendar	["--token", "google", "calendar.readonly"]	references/google.md
Google Drive	["--token", "google", "drive.readonly"]	references/google.md
Google Sheets	["--token", "google", "spreadsheets.readonly"]	references/google.md
Gmail	["--token", "google", "gmail.send"]	references/gmail.md
GitHub	["--token", "github", "repo"]	references/github.md
Vercel	["--token", "vercel", "deployment"]	references/vercel.md
Notion	["--token", "notion", "read_content"]	references/notion.md
Slack	["--token", "slack", "users:read"]	references/slack.md
Asana	["--token", "asana", "tasks:read"]	references/asana.md
Linear	["--token", "linear", "read"]	references/linear.md
Sentry	["--token", "sentry", "project:read"]	references/sentry.md
Discord	["--token", "discord", "identify"]	references/discord.md
Apify	["--token", "apify", "full_api_access"]	references/apify.md
Manual Secret	["--token", "secret", "Stripe Secret Key", "^sk_", "Use a Stripe secret key that starts with sk_"]	Built in

Multiple scopes: comma-separate in a single string, e.g. ["--token", "google", "calendar.readonly,drive.readonly"].

Token Lifecycle

• Resolution: Fresh tokens fetched at each gateway startup and openclaw secrets reload.
• Caching: tapauth.sh caches grant credentials locally. Bearer tokens and approved secrets are fetched on demand and are not written to disk.
• Refresh: Each --token call fetches a fresh value from the TapAuth API. TapAuth handles OAuth refresh server-side.
• Re-approval: If a grant is revoked or expired, re-run scripts/tapauth.sh <provider> <scopes> to create or re-show an approval URL.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
tapauth: cached grant is no longer usable	Grant revoked, denied, link-expired, or deleted	Re-run tapauth.sh <provider> <scopes> to create a new approval URL, then retry OpenClaw
Token works locally but not in OpenClaw	passEnv missing HOME	Add HOME to passEnv array
command must be absolute path	Relative path in command	Resolve scripts/tapauth.sh to its absolute path
Symlink error	Skill installed via symlink	Add allowSymlinkCommand: true and trustedDirs to provider config
tapauth: timed out	User did not approve within 10 minutes	Re-run scripts/tapauth.sh <provider> <scopes> to re-show the URL, then retry OpenClaw