Glossary
The words these docs use, one line each.
A client connects a provider, which covers one or more services, and you call those services with your API key.
The people and the link
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Client | A business you build automations for. They never make an account: they only open their link. |
| Link | The one address a client opens to connect, check or remove access. It keeps working; Make a new link replaces it. |
What gets connected
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Provider | The company a client signs in with, such as Google, Microsoft or Slack. One sign-in covers all its services. |
| Service | One tool you can ask for, such as Google Sheets or Gmail. You select services when you add a client. |
| Connection | A client's access to one provider, held encrypted by Operate As. Connected, waiting or expired. |
| Permission | What a service is allowed to do, shown to the client in plain words such as "Send email as you". |
Using it
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| API key | Your oa_… secret for n8n, code or MCP. Shown once, can be limited to some clients, services and actions, revoked any time. |
| Action | One call to a service with named inputs, such as sheets.read_rows, generated from the service's API description or written by hand. Agents see actions as MCP tools. |
| Pass-through | Calling any endpoint of a service's own API, with the client's access attached for you. |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol: how AI agents such as Claude or Cursor get your clients' tools from the Operate As server. |
Staying informed
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Webhook | An HTTPS address of yours we POST to when a client connects, removes access or loses access, signed with Operate-As-Signature. |
| Allowance | The API calls your plan includes each period. Past it, paid plans bill extra calls per 1,000 and the free plan gets 429 until it resets. |
Statuses
| On a service | On a client | On the client's own page |
|---|---|---|
| Waiting not connected yet | Waiting nothing connected | "Not connected yet" |
| Connected ready to call | Partly connected some services | "Connected" |
| Expired must reconnect | Ready everything connected | "Needs reconnecting" |
| Needs reconnecting access ended |