Authentication and authorization are crucial in building secure web and mobile applications, with JSON Web Tokens (JWT) and Open Authorization (OAuth) being key components in this domain. JWT is a compact, URL-safe token format used for securely transmitting claims, while OAuth is a framework for granting access without sharing passwords. Although they have different primary purposes—JWT for claim transport and verification, and OAuth for secure access management—they can be used separately or together depending on the application's requirements. JWT is often used for stateless authentication and API access, whereas OAuth is preferred for delegated access to resources with fine-grained control. Combining them leverages OAuth’s secure access model with JWT’s self-contained structure, especially in systems like OAuth 2.0 with OpenID Connect, which issues ID and access tokens as JWTs. However, each has its own security considerations, such as strict token management and validation practices. Platforms like Descope offer tools to simplify the implementation of these protocols, ensuring secure and scalable authentication and authorization flows.