What exactly is OAuth, and how can you use it to access data on sites like Facebook? This introductory video explains the basic flow behind OAuth 2 and how OAuth Clients are implemented.

If you’re using OAuth, you’ll likely want to use a pre-built client library to help with the process. For Ruby you’ll likely want to use Omniauth or Koala, though understanding the process is still important.

This is being posted from Singapore, where I’m about to give a talk at Red Dot Ruby Conf. Have fun learning about OAuth, i’ll post slides from my talk as soon as they’re ready. Wish me luck!