This post is a condensed summary of my full article “ makes it almost absurdly easy to turn a Python script into a living web application, but unless your tool is a one-off demo, you need to know who’s using it. Below is a whistle-stop tour of the three approaches to authentication, distilled from a longer piece I just published. Use it to pick the right path, then head over to the full article for hands-on code and deeper trade-offs.
1. Open ID Connect (OIDC)
What it is
The protocol Streamlit now supports natively (≥ v1.32). Login is delegated to any OIDC-compliant identity provider — Google Identity, Auth0, Azure AD, Okta, Keycloak…
Why do teams like it
You reuse a single sign-on (SSO) system your company already trusts, so passwords stay out of your codebase.
Snags
- No IdP, no party — you must provision one and wire up every new app.
- Role metadata, SAML bridges, multi-tenant rules, etc., vary wildly by IdP, so feature parity across projects is hard.
2. Streamlit Authenticator
What it is
A community package that bakes username-and-password login directly into your Streamlit code with a handful of lines and a YAML file.
Why do teams like it
Zero external services; perfect for hack days or proof-of-concepts that won’t hit the public internet.
Snags
- No SSO, no social logins, no SAML.
- You must roll your own “forgot-password” flows, profile edits, audit logs… and redeploy for every user change.
- That innocuous YAML turns into a bookkeeping nightmare once you pass a dozen users.
3. Squadbase
What it is
One More Step — Deep Dive & Copy-Paste Code
This is just the appetizer. The full article walks through:
- Copy-ready code snippets for OIDC and Streamlit Authenticator
- Environment-variable tricks for portable deployments
- A look at how Squadbase wires up project roles and analytics under the hood
- A pros/cons matrix to help you defend the decision to your security team
👉 Read the complete guide here : 3 ways to implement user authentication with Streamlit
Feel free to drop questions or war stories in the comments — happy building!
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