docs/auth: rename overview to README
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# User Authentication and Authorization in Backstage
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## Summary
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The purpose of the Auth APIs in Backstage are to identify the user, and to
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provide a way for plugins to request access to 3rd party services on behalf of
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the user (OAuth). This documentation focuses on the implementation of that
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solution and how to extend it. For documentation on how to consume the Auth APIs
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in a plugin, see [TODO](#TODO).
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### Accessing Third Party Services
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The main pattern for talking to third party services in Backstage is
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user-to-server requests, where short-lived OAuth Access Tokens are requested by
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plugins to authenticate calls to external services. These calls can be made
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either directly to the services or through a backend plugin or service.
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By relying on user-to-server calls we keep the coupling between the frontend and
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backend low, and provide a much lower barrier for plugins to make use of third
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party services. This is in comparison to for example a session-based system,
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where access tokens are stored server-side. Such a solution would require a much
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deeper coupling between the auth backend plugin, its session storage, and other
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backend plugins or separate services. A goal of Backstage is to make it as easy
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as possible to create new plugins, and an auth solution based on user-to-server
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OAuth helps in that regard.
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The method with which frontend plugins request access to third party services is
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through [Utility APIs](../getting-started/utility-apis.md) for each service
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provider. For a full list of providers, see [TODO](#TODO).
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### Identity - TODO
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This documentation currently only covers the OAuth use-case, as identity
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management is not settled yet and part of an
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[upcoming milestone](https://github.com/spotify/backstage/milestone/12).
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## Further Reading
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More details are provided in dedicated sections of the documentation.
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- [OAuth](./oauth): Description of the generic OAuth flow implemented by the
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[auth-backend](../../plugins/auth-backend).
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- [Glossary](./glossary): Glossary of some common terms related to the auth
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flows.
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