[EngineerBetter]

It makes me sad that in 2018 that it is entirely reasonable for such a simple and common question to elicit so many answers. Of course no one solution fits all use cases, but skimming the comments there seems to be a very diverse range of suggestions. Wouldn't it be lovely if there was one stand-out solution that was so good it was a no-brainer?

FWIW I have ended up using OAuth2 for this situation a few times, and it always feels more complicated than I'd like.

[liquidise]

This is arguably self-serving but I am happy there isn’t one. The appeal to coding is that it hasn’t matured to being computerized LEGO’s, where I spend my time connecting prebuilt components unspecialized for my application.

But we are not alone in this regard. Bridge building is centuries more mature than software engineering and their shapes, materials and construction methods still change regularly. I would expect to see this trend remain for a long time. Engineering is an inherently creative practice, often staffed by appropriately creative people. The continued evolution, including the trial and error approach, are likely to continue for decades.

[trevor-e]

I do agree with your sentiment, but is creativity something we want to encourage with security? Security is hard, and most developers won't know when they've made a mistake implementing something. The laws of physics haven't changed for bridge builders. In the end, everyday consumers are the ones suffering from the recent hacks.