MCP Night 4 recap: agent auth, auth.md, and the rise of agentic registration

MCP Night's fourth event, themed "Agent Mode," highlighted the rapid evolution of software engineering, focusing on the rise of agents that autonomously write and manage code. Over the past year, coding with large language models has transformed from advanced autocomplete to systems capable of running independently and making decisions about software stacks. With companies like Ramp, Stripe, and WorkOS developing autonomous systems, the concept of agents as new users has emerged, necessitating new primitives for agent registration, as traditional signup methods are inadequate for these non-human entities. In response, WorkOS introduced Auth.md, a specification allowing agents to register and interact with services as first-class users, bypassing traditional barriers like CAPTCHA and email verification through a process involving Identity Assertion JWT Authorization Grants (ID Jags). During a live demo, the potential of Auth.md was showcased with an agent autonomously deploying a website using Cloudflare, emphasizing the need for open and adaptable registration frameworks as agents increasingly become significant consumers of software products.