Can I use AI coding tools like Claude or Codex to build this faster?

AI tools can accelerate the initial build, but they don't change the fundamental problem. You still need to implement OAuth infrastructure, handle SCIM protocol guarantees, and build eventual consistency logic. More importantly, AI doesn't maintain the system. When the app changes its UI or bot detection catches your automation, someone on your team is still debugging it at 2am.

How long does it really take to build a SCIM integration for a non-SCIM app?

For an experienced engineering team: 40+ days for the first two apps. That includes OAuth setup, read/write path logic, the SCIM API, and testing. Each additional app adds 1-2 weeks. This doesn't include ongoing maintenance time.

What's the real cost of building it myself?

Engineering time for the build, plus ongoing maintenance, plus on-call burden, plus incident response when it breaks. Most teams hit $5K in engineering time within the first few months, before counting opportunity cost. And unlike paying for a service, those costs never stop. For context, manual provisioning already costs ~$12K per app per year in labor and waste - DIY adds engineering costs on top.

What happens when the target app changes something?

Your automation breaks. Okta keeps sending provisioning requests. They fail silently until someone notices, usually when a new hire can't access the app or an ex-employee still can. With Stitchflow, our team updates the integration before you know anything changed.

Does Stitchflow actually show up in Okta like native SCIM?

Yes. You configure it in the Okta admin console like any other SCIM-enabled app. Assign users and groups, and provisioning happens automatically. From Okta's perspective, it's a standard SCIM integration.

DIY SCIM Integration: Why Building Your Own Is a Trap

TL;DR

Building your own looks tempting. Don't do it.

The build takes 40+ engineering days for just two apps - OAuth infrastructure, SCIM protocol compliance, write path logic. Then comes maintenance:

UI changes break your automation
Bot detection evolves
Failures need humans at 2 AM
Every bug is a security incident

You're not saving money. You're signing up to own a production system forever.

Stitchflow handles both the build and maintenance for <$5K per app per year. Configure it in Okta like native SCIM. Forget about it.

You built it. Now you own the 2 AM alerts.

The gap every Okta admin runs into

You've got Okta running smoothly. Most apps provision and deprovision automatically through SCIM. Users get access on day one, lose it the moment they're offboarded.

Then there's that one app. No SCIM support. Every new hire, someone manually creates an account. Every departure, someone remembers to revoke access (hopefully).

The instinct is to fix it yourself. Some browser automation, a webhook from Okta, done.

But here's the thing: it's not "that one app." We analyzed 721 SaaS apps. 57% have no SCIM at any price. Another 42% lock it behind enterprise pricing. That's 98.8% where this gap exists. You're not building one integration - you're signing up to build dozens.

Here's why DIY doesn't work.

Why building it yourself is harder than it looks

You're not building a script. You're building a system that needs to meet the same guarantees Okta expects from native SCIM, while operating through browser automation against an app you don't control.

What actually needs to be built

OAuth 2.0 infrastructure. Okta authenticates against your bridge. That means OAuth flows, token management, secure credential storage. No shortcuts without security vulnerabilities.
Read path logic. Okta queries for users. You translate that into calls to the target app, normalize the response into SCIM format, return it how Okta expects. Every app is different.
Write path logic. The hard part. Create, update, delete operations need to meet SCIM timing guarantees. But you're driving them through browser automation against an app that's slow, unreliable, and changes without notice.
A public API handling sensitive data. You're exposing a SCIM endpoint to the internet. Security isn't optional. This isn't something to AI-code and hope for the best.
Eventual consistency handling. You can't guarantee synchronous success. You need background retries, state reconciliation, monitoring. Okta shows success before your automation finishes.

An experienced engineering team estimates 40+ days for the first two apps. Each additional app adds more.

Why maintaining it yourself is worse

The build is the easy part. Then you're operating a production system.

You don't control the target app. They change their UI. Your automation breaks. Okta keeps sending provisioning requests. They silently fail. You find out when someone complains or when an ex-employee still has access.

Bot detection evolves. What you worked around during the build gets flagged next month.

Failures need humans. CAPTCHAs, MFA prompts, unexpected modals. Someone handles them. At 2am. On a holiday.

Bugs are critical. You're directly responding to Okta provisioning events. A bug could deprovision the wrong user or grant access to someone who shouldn't have it.

Someone on your team owns this. Forever. This is why workflow automation fails in IT - the maintenance burden always exceeds the build effort.

The DIY trap

The problem isn't capability. Your team probably could build this. The problem is that building it means owning it. Forever.

Someone has to maintain the OAuth infrastructure. Someone has to update the automation when the app changes. Someone has to be on-call when Okta provisioning starts failing. Someone has to handle the CAPTCHAs at 2am. Someone has to ensure the eventual consistency logic is actually working.

That someone has a roadmap. Actual projects. Things that matter more than babysitting user provisioning for an app that should have just supported SCIM in the first place.

This is the hidden cost of the SCIM Tax - it doesn't just cost money, it costs engineering attention.

The alternative: Stitchflow

We handle both parts. The build and the maintenance.

We've already built the OAuth infrastructure Okta expects. We've already implemented read and write path logic for hundreds of apps. We've already battle-tested the background reconciliation.

We run 24/7 human-in-the-loop operations. CAPTCHA appears? A real person solves it. UI changes? We update the integration before you notice. MFA prompt fires unexpectedly? We handle it.

You configure it in Okta just like any other SCIM app. Assign users and groups. Forget about it.

Less than $5K/year per app. You're not paying for automation. You're paying to never think about it again.

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