diff --git a/app/controllers/concerns/authentication.rb b/app/controllers/concerns/authentication.rb
index 4cdbbdb69..b01bc8c0d 100644
--- a/app/controllers/concerns/authentication.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/concerns/authentication.rb
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ module Authentication
     end
 
     def resume_session
-      if session = find_session_by_cookie
+      if session = find_session_by_cookie || find_or_start_session_by_bearer_token
         set_current_session session
       end
     end
@@ -55,12 +55,30 @@ module Authentication
       Session.find_signed(cookies.signed[:session_token])
     end
 
-    def request_authentication
-      if Current.account.present?
-        session[:return_to_after_authenticating] = request.url
+    def find_or_start_session_by_bearer_token
+      if request_authorized_by_bearer_token?
+        Identity::AccessToken.find_by(token: authorization_bearer_token)&.session
       end
+    end
 
-      redirect_to_login_url
+    def request_authorized_by_bearer_token?
+      request.authorization.to_s.starts_with? "Bearer"
+    end
+
+    def authorization_bearer_token
+      request.authorization.to_s.split(" ", 2).second
+    end
+
+    def request_authentication
+      if request_authorized_by_bearer_token?
+        head :unauthorized
+      else
+        if Current.account.present?
+          session[:return_to_after_authenticating] = request.url
+        end
+
+        redirect_to_login_url
+      end
     end
 
     def after_authentication_url
diff --git a/app/models/identity.rb b/app/models/identity.rb
index bb69734b4..f6dd7d433 100644
--- a/app/models/identity.rb
+++ b/app/models/identity.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 class Identity < ApplicationRecord
   include Joinable, Transferable
 
+  has_many :access_tokens, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :magic_links, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :sessions, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :users, dependent: :nullify
diff --git a/app/models/identity/access_token.rb b/app/models/identity/access_token.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c5e3d6705
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/identity/access_token.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+class Identity::AccessToken < ApplicationRecord
+  belongs_to :identity
+
+  has_secure_token
+  enum :permission, %w[ read write ].index_by(&:itself), default: :read
+
+  def session
+    identity.sessions.find_or_create_by! user_agent: session_user_agent
+  end
+
+  private
+    # Overload the user_agent identification for access token session reuse.
+    # This allows us to easily reuse a single session record per access token.
+    def session_user_agent
+      "access-token-#{id}"
+    end
+end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20251201132341_create_identity_access_tokens.rb b/db/migrate/20251201132341_create_identity_access_tokens.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..0e455104d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20251201132341_create_identity_access_tokens.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+class CreateIdentityAccessTokens < ActiveRecord::Migration[8.2]
+  def change
+    create_table :identity_access_tokens, id: :uuid do |t|
+      t.uuid :identity_id, null: false
+      t.string :token
+      t.string :permission
+      t.text :description
+
+      t.timestamps
+
+      t.index ["identity_id"], name: "index_access_token_on_identity_id"
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 42458db17..85a8f8064 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -321,6 +321,16 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema[8.2].define(version: 2025_12_05_010536) do
     t.index ["email_address"], name: "index_identities_on_email_address", unique: true
   end
 
+  create_table "identity_access_tokens", id: :uuid, charset: "utf8mb4", collation: "utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci", force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.datetime "created_at", null: false
+    t.text "description"
+    t.uuid "identity_id", null: false
+    t.string "permission"
+    t.string "token"
+    t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+    t.index ["identity_id"], name: "index_access_token_on_identity_id"
+  end
+
   create_table "magic_links", id: :uuid, charset: "utf8mb4", collation: "utf8mb4_0900_ai_ci", force: :cascade do |t|
     t.string "code", null: false
     t.datetime "created_at", null: false
diff --git a/db/schema_sqlite.rb b/db/schema_sqlite.rb
index 1dd2b3e00..e2f65dccc 100644
--- a/db/schema_sqlite.rb
+++ b/db/schema_sqlite.rb
@@ -321,6 +321,16 @@ ActiveRecord::Schema[8.2].define(version: 2025_12_05_010536) do
     t.index ["email_address"], name: "index_identities_on_email_address", unique: true
   end
 
+  create_table "identity_access_tokens", id: :uuid, force: :cascade do |t|
+    t.datetime "created_at", null: false
+    t.text "description", limit: 65535
+    t.uuid "identity_id", null: false
+    t.string "permission", limit: 255
+    t.string "token", limit: 255
+    t.datetime "updated_at", null: false
+    t.index ["identity_id"], name: "index_access_token_on_identity_id"
+  end
+
   create_table "magic_links", id: :uuid, force: :cascade do |t|
     t.string "code", limit: 255, null: false
     t.datetime "created_at", null: false
diff --git a/test/controllers/api_test.rb b/test/controllers/api_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..51d0367f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/controllers/api_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+require "test_helper"
+
+class ApiTest < ActionDispatch::IntegrationTest
+  test "authenticate with valid access token" do
+    get boards_path(format: :json), env: bearer_token_env(identity_access_tokens(:jasons_api_token).token)
+    assert_response :success
+  end
+
+  test "fail to authenticate with invalid access token" do
+    get boards_path(format: :json), env: bearer_token_env("nonsense")
+    assert_response :unauthorized
+  end
+
+  private
+    def bearer_token_env(token)
+      { "HTTP_AUTHORIZATION" => "Bearer #{token}" }
+    end
+end
diff --git a/test/fixtures/identity/access_tokens.yml b/test/fixtures/identity/access_tokens.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..17089b6c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/identity/access_tokens.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+jasons_api_token:
+  identity: jason
+  token: 018cf1425682700098f24f0799e3fe20
+  description: My Superscript
+  permission: read
diff --git a/test/models/identity/access_token_test.rb b/test/models/identity/access_token_test.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..49f1c57ce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/models/identity/access_token_test.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+require "test_helper"
+
+class Identity::AccessTokenTest < ActiveSupport::TestCase
+  test "only one session at the time" do
+    assert_changes -> { Session.count }, +1 do
+      identity_access_tokens(:jasons_api_token).session
+    end
+
+    assert_no_changes -> { Session.count } do
+      identity_access_tokens(:jasons_api_token).session
+    end
+  end
+end