What is a connected app for an AI worker?
A connected app is an account you have signed in to WorkerKit once, which workers can then be granted access to per app and per level.
Connecting an app happens once, at the account level. Granting a worker access to it happens per worker, per app, per level. Keeping those two steps separate is what makes a fleet safe to run.
Connecting is not granting
| Connecting an app | Granting a worker access | |
|---|---|---|
| Happens | Once, on the Connected apps page | Per worker |
| Scope | The account | One worker's key |
| Choice you make | Which account to sign in as | Off, Read or Write for this worker |
| Undo | Disconnect the account | Narrow or revoke, worker keeps running |
| Effect of skipping it | No worker can reach the app | The worker cannot reach it |
The important consequence: **connecting Gmail does not give every worker your inbox.** It makes the inbox available to be granted. A worker holds only what you gave it, which is the whole point of the app firewall.
What counts as one connection
An email account is one Google or Microsoft account a worker signs in as, Gmail or Outlook, and it brings the calendar, files and tasks that come with that account. So one Google sign-in can serve four app surfaces.
That matters for the plan limits, which count accounts rather than surfaces:
| Plan | Email accounts |
|---|---|
| Free | 1 |
| Pro | 5 |
| Team | 10 |
| Enterprise | Custom |
One connected Google account on Free covers Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive and Tasks. The limit binds when you need a second identity: a shared support inbox alongside your own, or a second Microsoft tenant.
How apps are connected
Three shapes, and they behave differently enough to be worth knowing:
- Granted by sign-in. Google and Microsoft accounts. You sign in and approve the scopes; there is no credential to paste.
- Installed. The GitHub App, where you choose which repositories it can see at install time, so the narrowing happens in GitHub as well as here.
- Pasted. Most other vendors, where you supply a key or token from that product.
You can also register a custom MCP gateway so a worker reaches a system WorkerKit ships no integration for. That is MCP used as the wiring, with the same per-worker access model on top.
Which apps a kit needs, before you take it
Every kit states the apps it uses and the exact access each one needs while you are still deciding. Three real examples:
| Kit | Connections it needs | Levels |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering Pulse | GitHub | Read |
| Executive Daily Briefing | One Google or Microsoft account | Read on calendar, email, tasks |
| Company Knowledge Concierge | Drive and SharePoint | Read |
The middle row is the useful one: it looks like three connections and is one account. That is why counting apps overestimates what a fleet actually needs connected.
Some kits leave an app slot open rather than pinning a vendor, so the same kit works whether your mail is Gmail or Outlook. School Email to Calendar is built that way: it names the surfaces and you fill them when you take it.
The failure mode: the connection that expires
A connection is a credential, and credentials lapse. A password changes, an admin revokes an OAuth grant, a token expires, a tenant policy tightens.
What goes wrong is not the error, it is the timing. The connection breaks at some point, and the next scheduled run of every worker depending on it fails or degrades. Nobody typed anything, so nobody is watching, and the first signal is usually a digest that did not arrive or a queue that stopped being triaged.
Two things make it survivable. A worker with a broken connection degrades rather than dying, doing the parts of its job it still has access for, and the receipt records what it could not do. And an account needing attention is shown as such on the Connected apps page rather than being hidden, so reconnecting is a visible task rather than an archaeology exercise.
The reasonable objection
"Connecting my email to a third party is the risk. Everything downstream is detail."
That is the right thing to worry about, and the answer is what happens after the connection rather than a promise about it. Access is granted per worker and per level, so a connected inbox is not an inbox every worker can write to. Contact rules decide which people a worker may see and reach, redaction decides what may leave, every run is on a receipt, and any of it can be narrowed later with the worker still running.
The honest part: you are still trusting the platform with a credential. The mitigations reduce blast radius; they do not eliminate the trust decision, and anyone claiming otherwise is selling something.
When not to connect an app
- No kit you run needs it. A connection nothing uses is standing risk for no benefit.
- You would have to over-grant. If the only available account is an admin identity with far more reach than the job needs, connect a narrower one instead.
- The data should not leave the source system. Some material belongs where it is, and the right answer is not a worker.
- You are evaluating. Connect what the one kit you are testing asks for, not everything you might eventually want.
FAQ
What is a connected app in WorkerKit?
An account you have signed in to once at the account level, which workers can then be granted access to individually, per app and per level. Connecting makes an app available; it does not give any worker access by itself.
Does connecting Gmail give every worker access to my inbox?
No. Connecting makes the account available; each worker is then granted Off, Read or Write for that app separately. A worker holds only what you gave it, and a kit cannot reach an account you have not connected.
How many accounts can I connect?
Email accounts are limited by plan: 1 on Free, 5 on Pro, 10 on Team, custom on Enterprise. One Google or Microsoft account covers the calendar, files and tasks that come with it, so a single sign-in usually serves several app surfaces. See /pricing.
What happens if a connection expires or is revoked?
Workers depending on it degrade rather than dying: they do the parts of their job they still have access for and record what they could not do on the receipt. The account is shown as needing attention on the Connected apps page so reconnecting is a visible task.
Can I connect a system WorkerKit does not integrate with?
Yes, by registering a custom MCP gateway, which lets a worker reach that system through the Model Context Protocol with the same per-worker access model applied on top.