diff --git a/scopes/api/auth/config.py b/scopes/api/auth/config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9b63f8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scopes/api/auth/config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# scopes.api.auth.config
+
+from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
+from typing import Any
+from scopes.storage.db.postgres import StorageFactory
+
+class Settings(BaseSettings):
+    model_config = SettingsConfigDict(env_file='.env', extra='ignore') 
+    #, env_prefix='SCOPES_')
+    auth_method: str = 'oauth2'
+    jwt_key: str | None = None
+    jwt_atlgorithm: str = 'HS256'
+
+settings = Settings()
+
+auth_methods: dict[str, Any] = {}
+
diff --git a/scopes/api/deps.py b/scopes/api/deps.py
index 01349e5..13fd638 100644
--- a/scopes/api/deps.py
+++ b/scopes/api/deps.py
@@ -6,15 +6,17 @@ from fastapi import Depends
 from typing import Annotated
 
 from scopes import config
+from scopes.api.auth import config as auth_config
 from scopes.storage import common
 
 type Storage = Annotated[common.Storage, Depends(storage)]
-type Auth = Annotated[str, Depends(authenticator)]
+type Auth = Annotated[str, Depends(auth_method())]
 
 def storage():
     stf = config.StorageFactory(config.settings)
     return stf(config.settings.dbschema)
 
-def authenticator():
-    return config.Authenticator()
+def auth_method():
+    auth = auth_config.auth_methods.get(auth_config.settings.auth_method)
+    return auth
 
diff --git a/scopes/config.py b/scopes/config.py
index 077f008..0b4ab24 100644
--- a/scopes/config.py
+++ b/scopes/config.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # scopes.config.py
+
 from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings, SettingsConfigDict
 from scopes.storage.db.postgres import StorageFactory
 
diff --git a/tests/test.env b/tests/test.env
index 0433048..b8a1832 100644
--- a/tests/test.env
+++ b/tests/test.env
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ DBUSER=testuser
 DBPASSWORD=secret
 DBSCHEMA=testing
 
-AUTHENTICATOR=testing
+AUTH_METHOD=testing
 
 # openssl rand -hex 32:
 JWT_KEY=391a521ee5ba2b6ce67b8fdbb9f0ca88f40a87d3bc1e82974381b647bb0fc776
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index fc8c354..60d584f 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
 from httpx2 import ASGITransport, AsyncClient
 
 from scopes.api import main
+from scopes.api.auth import config as auth_config
 from scopes.api.main import app
 from scopes.storage import tracking, user as st_user
 from scopes.api.auth import user as api_user
@@ -22,6 +23,10 @@ def storage():
     storage.commit()
     return storage
 
+def dummy_auth():
+    return api_user.User(name='tester', login='tester', display_name='Tester')
+auth_config.auth_methods['testing'] = dummy_auth
+
 def async_client():
     return AsyncClient(transport=ASGITransport(app=app), base_url='http://test')
 
@@ -72,11 +77,20 @@ def test_user(storage, caplog):
         assert len(users) == 1
         u01i = users[0]
         assert u01i.get(pw_hash) is None
-        resp = clt.post('/users', json={'name': 'jane', 'login': 'jane',
-                    'display_name': 'Jane', 'email': 'jane@xmpl.org',
-                    'password': 'secret'})
+        inp = {'name': 'jane', 'login': 'jane', 'display_name': 'Jane', 
+               'email': 'jane@xmpl.org', 'password': 'secret'}
+        resp = clt.post('/users', json=inp)
         assert resp.status_code == 200
         u02 = resp.json()
         assert u02['uid'] == 'user-2'
-        assert u02.get('timeStamp') is not None
+        ts02 = u02.get('timeStamp')
+        assert ts02 is not None
+        del inp['password']
+        inp['display_name'] = 'Jane Doe'
+        resp = clt.post('/users', json=inp)
+        assert resp.status_code == 200
+        u02a = resp.json()
+        assert u02a['uid'] == 'user-2'
+        ts02a = u02a.get('timeStamp')
+        assert ts02a is not None