Authentic-server NPM

AuthenticServer

This is the server component of authentic. This provides endpoints for signup, login, confirm, and password change.

Example

const fs = require('fs')
const http = require('http')
const Authentic = require('authentic-server')

const auth = Authentic({
  dbUsers: __dirname + '/users/',
  dbExpiry: __dirname + '/expiry',
  publicKey: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/rsa-public.pem'),
  privateKey: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/rsa-private.pem'),
  sendEmail: function (emailOpts, cb) {
    // send email however you'd like (nodemailer, powerdrill, etc...)
    // emailOpts.type is either 'signup' or 'change-password-request'
    // emailOpts.email is where to send the email
    // see API docs for more properties like confirmToken and changeToken
    setImmediate(cb)
  },
  // use below if you want Google sign-in
  googleClientId,
  googleClientSecret,
  googleRedirectUrl
})

const server = http.createServer(auth)

server.listen(1337)
console.log('Authentic enabled server listening on port', 1337)

Installation

npm install --save authentic-server

Module API

Authentic(opts)

This is the main entry point. Accepts an options object and returns a handler function.

const auth = Authentic({
  dbUsers: __dirname + '/users/',
  dbExpiry: __dirname + '/expiry/',
  privateKey: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/rsa-private.pem'),
  publicKey: fs.readFileSync(__dirname + '/rsa-public.pem'),
  sendEmail: function (emailOpts, done) {
    console.log(emailOpts)
    setImmediate(done)
  }
})

// auth is now a function that accepts req, res, and optional next arguments
const server = http.createServer(function(req, res, next){
  auth(req, res, next)

  function next (req, res) {
    // authentic-server will call next if none of its routes match
    // useful if you want to have other routes on the server
    res.end('Not an authentic route')
  }
})

// or simply
const server = http.createServer(auth)

options

Authentic() takes an options object as its first argument, several of them are required:

dbUsers: any of the following:
- a string location of where to open (or create if it doesn't exist) a levelDB on disk
- a levelDB compatible db instance (e.g. supports the abstract-level interface)
- an object that has get and put methods that follow this form (see example/custom-db.js for an example):
  - get: function (key, cb) { ... }
  - put: function (key, value, cb) { ... }
dbExpiry: Optional, use only if you want the /auth/expired endpoint. One of the following
- a string location of where to open (or create if it doesn't exist) a levelDB on disk
- a levelDB compatible db instance (e.g. supports the abstract-level
- a custom object with put and iterator functions that behave like abstract-level (not recommended)
privateKey: RSA private key in PEM format. Can be created with the command: openssl genrsa 4096 > rsa-private.pem
publicKey: RSA public key in PEM format. Can be created with the command: openssl rsa -in rsa-private.pem -pubout > rsa-public.pem
sendEmail(emailOpts, done): please provide function that sends email how you'd like. Use the provided emailOpts to craft an email, send it, and call done(err) when finished.
- Here's an example using Mandrill/powerdrill, but nodemailer or anything else would work great too.
- Any additional data sent in the POST will be available -- if you'd like to customize the "from" address or provide a "subject" from the client to use here, you may.
- If err is null or undefined, authentic-server will treat it as a success.
- emailOpts will come in one of two flavors depending on if it's a signup or a change password request:

{ type: 'signup',
  email: 'david@scalehaus.io',
  confirmToken: '9a1dccd9f...',
  confirmUrl: 'https://scalehaus.io/confirm?confirmToken=9a1dccd9f...', // if provided with POST to /signup
  from: 'Authentic Accounts <auth@authentc.com>' // if provided with the POST to /signup
}

{ type: 'change-password-request',
  email: 'david@scalehaus.io',
  changeToken: '0b4fa5904752b...',
  changeUrl: 'https://scalehaus.io/change-password?changeToken=0b4fa5904752b...', // if provided with the POST to /change-password-request
  from: 'Authentic Accounts <auth@authentc.com>' // if provided with the POST to /change-password-request
} }

Optional:

prefix: defaults to /auth. This is the path prefix for all authentic-server API endpoints. For example if you set prefix to /awesome, the endpoints will be /awesome/signup, /awesome/login, /awesome/confirm, etc...
expiresIn: defaults to "30d". This is how long it takes before the token expires. Expressed in seconds or a string describing a time span rauchg/ms. Eg: 60, "2 days", "10h", "7d"

Server API

POST `/auth/signup`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "david@scalehaus.io", // required
    "password": "notswordfish", // required
    "confirmUrl": "https://yourwebapp.com/path/to/confirmation", // optional, if included will have ?email=${email}&confirmToken=${confirmToken} automatically added
    "from": "Authentic Accounts <auth@authentc.com>", // additional data will be provided to sendEmail
    "provide": "anything you'd like" // you can pass anything you'd like
}

This endpoint will create the user in an "unconfirmed" state (can't login), and it will email the user with the specified url with an additional ?confirmToken=d619f2d02... parameter added. On success will respond:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "User created. Check email for confirmation link.",
    "data": {
        "email": "david@scalehaus.io",
        "createdDate": "2015-11-05T22:39:22.994Z"
    }
}

POST `/auth/confirm`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "david@scalehaus.io",
    "confirmToken": "d619f2d02aea5b091afba5ae01b8183203215c880b327cbc290562ecbd66"
}

If the confirmToken is correct, will set the user as "confirmed" (can now login), and will also respond with an authToken for immediate use:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "User confirmed.",
    "data": { "authToken": "eyJ0e..." }
}

POST `/auth/login`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "david@scalehaus.io",
    "password": "notswordfish"
}

This endpoint will check the email/password and will respond with an authToken if correct:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "Login successful.",
    "data": {
        "authToken": "eyJ0eXAiOiJ..."
    }
}

POST `/auth/change-password-request`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "david@scalehaus.io", // required
    "changeUrl": "https://yourwebapp.com/path/to/change-password", // optional, if included will have ?email=${email}&confirmToken=${confirmToken} automatically added
    "from": "Authentic Accounts <auth@authentc.com>", // additional data will be provided to sendEmail
    "provide": "anything you'd like" // you can pass anything you'd like
}

This endpoint will add a changeToken to the user, and it will email the user with the specified url with an additional ?changeToken=560ada2... parameter added. On success will respond:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "Change password request received. Check email for confirmation link."
}

POST `/auth/change-password`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "david@scalehaus.io",
    "password": "newawesomepassword",
    "changeToken": "560ada2..."
}

This endpoint will check if the changeToken is correct, and if it is it will change the user's password to the one provided and will respond with an authToken:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "Password changed.",
    "data": {
        "authToken": "eyJ0eXAiOiJ..."
    }
}

POST `/auth/magic-request`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "user@example.com",
    "magicUrl": "https://yourwebapp.com/path/to/magic-action",
    "from": "Your Service Name <no-reply@yourdomain.com>",
    "provide": "anything you'd like"
}

This endpoint generates a magicToken for the user, and if a magicUrl is provided, it appends this token along with the user's email to the URL. It then sends an email to the user with the magicUrl or instructions for the next steps. On success, it responds with:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "Magic login request received. Check email for confirmation link."
}

This functionality allows for a seamless login or action confirmation process without the need for the user to remember a password, enhancing the user experience by leveraging a "magic link" sent via email.

POST `/auth/magic-login`

Accepts a JSON object:

{
    "email": "david@scalehaus.io",
    "magicToken": "ada2..."
}

This endpoint will check if the magicToken is correct, and if it is it will respond with an authToken:

{
    "success": true,
    "message": "Magic login successful.",
    "data": {
        "authToken": "eyJ0eXAiOiJ..."
    }
}

GET `/auth/public-key`

Responds with the server's public key. This is what allows your other services to decrypt the authToken and know who the user is and that the data was encrypted by this server.

{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "publicKey": "-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMIICIjANB..."
    }
}

GET `/auth/google?redirectUrl=&redirectParam=jwt`

Redirects to the Google sign in screen. Requires googleClientId, googleSecret, and googleRedirectUrl to be set.

Accepts a redirectUrl query parameter. This is not the same thing as the googleRedirectUrl which is not dynamic and must be whitelisted in your Google Console config. This query parameter is where authentic-server will redirect the user after all the Google auth is finished and creates an authentic JWT. authentic-server will redirect the user back to this url and append the JWT for use in the client application.

An example of how this works in practice is that you would have a web app that wants to authenticate a user. If the web app's domain is webapp.com, the web app creates a "Sign In With Google" button and it will link to authentic-server.com/auth/google?redirectUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwebapp.com%2F%23%2Fauth%2Fjwt (redirectUrl is https://webapp.com/#/auth/jwt).

The user clicks that link and goes to authentic-server. authentic-server redirects the user to Google to sign in. Google redirects the user back to authentic-server with the Google code. authentic-server uses the Google code to get a Google token. authentic-server uses the Google token to get the user's email. authentic-server creates a JWT with their email. Finally authentic-server redirects the user back to https://webapp.com/?jwt=eyJhbG...#/auth/jwt (the redirectUrl with jwt query parameter specified by redirectParam ).

GET `/auth/expired`

Returns an object of email hashes and expiration time pairs. Services can use this to deny access to any token that has been issued before the expiration time. Example:

{
  '733e02770582a9c8898ddf61cfc1b0a0128f9105e8e17dc1d24e7623158014ef': 1718648699,
  '4a681d808e8868e50f9aee342083a98a5343e451e5caa611d9324293656b6a0a': 1718648700
}

Email hashes are sha256. For example:

  email = 'pwchange@example.com'
  require('crypto').createHash('sha256').update(email).digest('hex')
  // '4a681d808e8868e50f9aee342083a98a5343e451e5caa611d9324293656b6a0a'