Ask HN: Any way to access gmail IMAP through openid/oauth?

2 pointsfjabre3 comments

Been scouring through google trying to find an answer to this. I suspect to access a user's email through IMAP one currently needs the credentials..

I've seen a few ways to get at contacts and such through openid/oauth but not email IMAP access.

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Yep.. I think I've verified it is currently impossible to access IMAP without asking for user credentials.

It would be nice to though. I can see all kinds of use cases for web apps integrating with gmail and other email providers in this way - without having to ask the user for their login/password.

In general, OpenID/OAuth don't do well with non-browser clients and don't do non-HTTP protocols at all.

Yeah got that. This actually is for a web app as ironic as that sounds.

I wondered if IMAP could be authenticated using openid/oauth without having to make the user fork over their credentials.

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