I get asked many variations of this question, “I don’t want to make my OAuth 2.0 app public (via Marketplace), but I do want other people to use it. How do I share my app?” Overall, I’m the first to complain that the overall structure of having all that tutorial, guidance, and reference on a single page is quite cumbersome. But I think people get confused most on the section about distributing apps. After explaining how to share an app, it also adds:
- OAuth 2.0 (3LO) apps are installed on a per-user basis, so you’ll have to send the link to all the users you want to grant access to.
That could be confusing because “the link” is a bit vague. Usually in OAuth 2.0, the authorization URL is embedded in an overall web flow. So that link is already shared through your web application. It is not necessary to share it on Marketplace. Which is also explained in the documentation:
- Enabling sharing doesn’t make your app available on the Atlassian Marketplace. Although OAuth 2.0 (3LO) apps can be listed on the Atlassian Marketplace, they will appear as informational listings only, with limited Marketplace features.
Let’s walk through this. If you have just created your OAuth 2.0 app in the developer console, then, by default, it is in developer mode. And it will only work for you, as the creator of that app. When you use the authorization URL in your browser, then you will see a warning about being in developer mode (see the yellow box below):
The same authorization URL will not work for anyone else, even if they are in the same site as you. So, to share with other people, regardless of same site or different, you will have to turn on “distribution” in the developer console:
That notion of distribution is separate from Marketplace. If you do want to get listed on Marketplace, you have to go through a separate process.
Hope that helps.