PATs vs script keys

I am mostly wondering about a standalone app we use for publishing versions.I find myself giving out this app to freelancers and partner companies more these days and thus was reconsidering security.
Currently I am leaning towards keeping the script and obfuscating/encrypting the saved key. For PATs I’d still have to protect the user’s password when saving it so they don’t have to log in all the time. I guess I could use the operating system’s password manager in both cases. I’m not too experienced with this. I have done it once and it was a bit of a PITA.

So yeah, just wondering about that part, hence my contemplation to switch.