Integration of Custom Third-Party Authentication in Wasp
I am currently developing an application using Wasp and aim to integrate a custom third-party authentication system. This system requires sending a combination of login and password to a specific API endpoint and receiving a DTO containing a user ID in response. My objective is to utilize this user ID to either log in existing users or create new accounts within my Wasp application, effectively replacing the default authentication methods.
Could you provide guidance on the best practices for implementing such a custom authentication flow in Wasp? Specifically, I am interested in:
The recommended approach to send user credentials to the external API securely and handle the response appropriately.
How to manage user sessions and state within Wasp when bypassing the built-in authentication mechanisms.
Any potential challenges or considerations to be aware of when integrating a custom authentication method that deviates from the standard social authentication providers supported by Wasp.
I appreciate your assistance and any documentation or examples you can provide to facilitate this integration.
Best regards,
13 Replies
Hi @Taha. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:
----------------------
To implement a custom third-party authentication system in Wasp, you'll need to create a custom sign-up action and potentially modify the login flow. While Wasp doesn't directly support custom third-party authentication out of the box, you can work around this limitation by customizing the authentication process. Here's a guide on how to approach this:
1. Create a custom sign-up action:
You'll need to create a custom sign-up action that communicates with your external API. This can be done as described in the Username & Password Authentication docs.
Here's an outline of how your custom sign-up action might look:
2. Modify the login flow:
You'll need to create a custom login action as well, which will authenticate against your external API and then create a session in Wasp.
3. Use custom UI components:
Since you're using a custom authentication flow, you'll need to create your own UI components for login and signup, rather than using Wasp's built-in Auth UI components.
4. Session management:
Wasp uses JWT for session management. After successful authentication with your external API, you should create a session using Wasp's internal mechanisms. This part might require some lower-level modifications to Wasp's auth system.
It's important to note that implementing a fully custom authentication system in Wasp is not straightforward and may require significant workarounds. The current auth system in Wasp is designed to work with its built-in methods and social auth providers.
As mentioned in a Discord conversation, Wasp doesn't currently have
onLogin
and onSignup
hooks, which would make this process easier. There's an open issue to add these features in the future.
For now, one alternative approach suggested by the Wasp team is to use a custom job that periodically checks for new users and syncs them with your external system. However, this might not be suitable for real-time authentication needs.
Given the complexity of implementing a fully custom third-party authentication system, you might want to consider using one of Wasp's supported auth methods if possible, or reach out to the Wasp team directly for more specific guidance on your use case.
Remember that security is paramount when dealing with authentication, so ensure that all communication with your external API is done securely, preferably over HTTPS, and that you're following best practices for handling sensitive user data.
----------------------
Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:
----------------------
Sorry @Taha, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist:
Perhaps try again in 15mins?how to config main.wasp file for this ?
@kapa.ai am working on integrating a custom third-party authentication system (TeamDoc) into my Wasp application. The system requires sending a combination of login and password to an external API in a specific way, along with additional parameters (hashed tokens, UUIDs, etc.). The API responds with a JSON payload containing detailed user information, including a unique user ID (userId), and other fields such as email, firstName, lastName, phoneNumber, and others. This user ID will be used to either create a new user in the Wasp database or log in an existing user.
Here's what I need guidance on:
Custom Authentication Flow: How can I replace or extend Wasp's default authentication system to implement this custom flow, ensuring that only this method is used for authentication (no email/password or social providers)?
User Management:
How do I use the userId and other fields from the JSON response to check if a user exists in Wasp's database and either log them in or create a new user?
What are the best practices for syncing external user data with Wasp's database during this process?
Session Management: After a successful authentication with the external API, how can I programmatically create a session for the authenticated user within Wasp?
Replacing Default UI Components: Since this custom method differs from Wasp's built-in email or social authentication methods, how can I adapt or replace the default UI components to support this custom flow?
Security Considerations: Are there any specific security recommendations for implementing a custom authentication system in Wasp?
I’ve reviewed the documentation and understand that Wasp doesn’t natively support third-party authentication systems like this. However, I’m looking for the best approach to implement this flow seamlessly within the Wasp framework.
Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books:
----------------------
Based on the knowledge sources provided and your specific requirements for integrating a custom third-party authentication system (TeamDoc) into your Wasp application, I can offer the following guidance:
1. Custom Authentication Flow:
To implement your custom authentication flow, you'll need to create custom sign-up and login actions. This approach is outlined in the Username & Password Authentication docs.
Here's a basic outline of how your custom login action might look:
2. User Management:
As shown in the example above, you'll need to create functions to check if a user exists in your Wasp database based on the external userId. If they don't exist, create a new user with the data from the TeamDoc API response.
3. Session Management:
After successful authentication, you can create a session using Wasp's internal
createSession
function, as demonstrated in the example above.
4. Replacing Default UI Components:
You'll need to create your own UI components for login and signup, rather than using Wasp's built-in Auth UI components. These components should send the necessary data to your custom login and signup actions.
5. Security Considerations:
Ensure all communication with your external API is done securely over HTTPS. Handle sensitive data (like passwords) carefully, never storing them in plain text. Use environment variables for storing sensitive configuration data.
It's important to note that implementing a fully custom authentication system in Wasp is not straightforward and may require significant workarounds. As mentioned in a Discord conversation, Wasp doesn't currently have onLogin
and onSignup
hooks, which would make this process easier.
Given the complexity of your requirements, you might want to consider reaching out to the Wasp team directly for more specific guidance. They might be able to provide more tailored advice or even consider adding features to support such use cases in future versions of Wasp.
Remember, this implementation will require careful testing and may need adjustments as you work through the details of integrating with your specific third-party system.
----------------------
Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:
----------------------
Sorry @Taha, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist:
Perhaps try again in 15mins?It sounds to me that you want to not use Wasp's built-in auth and use a custom auth solution? Then you'll need to manage the users yourself and somehow implement custom middleware with every request. I'm not sure if you'll be able to get the fully custom auth working with operations since you can't access the raw Express
request
. You might need to use custom APIs to for everything then.
We have a guide for creating a custom OAuth provider that integrates with Wasp auth: We talked about implementing a custom OAuth provider here: https://gist.github.com/infomiho/3c63de7d53aba59d6293bcb59501a029Gist
Implementing custom OAuth provider with Wasp 0.14.1+ (Spotify in th...
Implementing custom OAuth provider with Wasp 0.14.1+ (Spotify in this case) - .env.server
Thank you, that's helpful!
Wohooo @Taha, you just became a Waspeteer level 1!
@kapa.ai ’ve implemented the changes, but I still see this in my logs: GET /auth/me 401 2.709 ms - 43, which means the user is not authenticated, even though I’ve created a session linked to an account. What could be the issue?
Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books:
----------------------
Based on the information provided in the knowledge sources and your question, it appears you're encountering a common issue related to authentication in Wasp. The 401 error you're seeing for the
/auth/me
endpoint is actually expected behavior in certain situations. Let me explain:
1. Expected Behavior:
As mentioned in a Discord support thread, this 401 response is not necessarily an error. It's the Wasp server's way of communicating that the user is not authenticated. A Wasp team member explained:
"This is actually ok -> this is just Wasp client asking Wasp server 'hey get me user's profile' and server says 'no can't do, user is not authenticated'. However, Wasp server communicates that with 401."
2. Possible Causes:
There could be several reasons why you're seeing this 401 response:
a. Token Issues: The session token might not be properly set or transmitted in the request.
b. Session Expiration: If the session has expired, you'll get a 401 response.
c. Multiple Tabs: As discussed in another Discord thread, if you have multiple tabs open, one without authentication can cause issues with authenticated tabs.
3. Troubleshooting Steps:
- Ensure that the session token is being properly set after successful authentication.
- Check if the token is being included in the headers of subsequent requests.
- Verify that the session hasn't expired.
- If you're testing with multiple tabs, be aware that they share localStorage, which can lead to unexpected behavior.
4. Additional Considerations:
There's an open issue in the Wasp GitHub repository (Issue #1227) discussing the behavior of clearing auth tokens on 401 responses. This might be relevant to your situation, especially if you're experiencing unexpected logouts.
To further diagnose the issue, you might want to:
- Check the client-side code to ensure the auth token is being stored and sent correctly.
- Implement more detailed server-side logging to understand why the authentication is failing.
- Use browser developer tools to inspect the network requests and ensure the auth token is being sent with each request.
If you continue to face issues after checking these points, it might be helpful to share more details about your implementation, particularly how you're handling the session creation and token storage on the client side. The Wasp team is generally very responsive on their Discord channel, so that might be a good place to seek further assistance with your specific implementation.
----------------------
Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:
----------------------
Sorry @Taha, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist:
Perhaps try again in 15mins?@kapa.ai I'm implementing a custom authentication flow with Wasp. The session is successfully created (I can see it in the logs with a valid ID and expiration date), but immediately after, the GET /auth/me endpoint returns 401. Here are my logs:
[Include les logs détaillés]
I'm using the createSession function from 'wasp/auth/session' and returning the sessionId in the response. What could be causing this disconnect between session creation and authentication state? Is there something specific I need to do to ensure the session is properly registered with Wasp's auth system?
Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books:
----------------------
Based on the information provided in the knowledge sources and your specific question, it seems you're encountering a common issue with custom authentication flows in Wasp. Let's analyze the potential causes and solutions:
1. Session Creation vs. Client-Side Storage:
While you've successfully created a session on the server-side using
createSession
, the issue might be related to how the session information is being handled on the client-side.
2. Token Storage:
Wasp uses sessions stored in localStorage
on the client, as mentioned in the Auth Overview documentation. Make sure that after creating the session, you're properly storing the session information in the client's localStorage
.
3. Token Transmission:
Ensure that the session token is being sent with subsequent requests. The /auth/me
endpoint expects an authenticated request, so the token needs to be included in the request headers.
4. Potential Race Condition:
There might be a race condition between session creation and the /auth/me
request. Ensure that you're not making the /auth/me
request immediately after session creation without giving time for the client to process and store the session information.
5. Custom Auth Flow Integration:
As discussed in a GitHub issue, Wasp's authentication system is designed to work with its built-in methods. When implementing a custom flow, you might need to manually handle some aspects that Wasp usually manages automatically.
To address these issues, try the following:
1. After creating the session, ensure you're sending the session information back to the client in a way that Wasp's client-side auth system can understand and process.
2. On the client-side, implement logic to store the received session information in localStorage
. You might need to mimic how Wasp's built-in auth system stores this data.
3. Implement a mechanism to ensure the session token is included in the headers of subsequent requests, including the /auth/me
request.
4. Add a small delay or use a promise chain to ensure the /auth/me
request is only made after the session information has been properly stored on the client-side.
5. Double-check that your custom login action is properly integrated with Wasp's auth system. You might need to manually trigger some of Wasp's internal auth mechanisms.
If you continue to face issues, it would be helpful to share more details about your implementation, particularly how you're handling the session creation response on the client-side and how you're making the subsequent /auth/me
request.
Given the complexity of implementing custom auth flows in Wasp, you might want to consider reaching out to the Wasp team directly through their Discord channel for more specific guidance tailored to your implementation.
Remember, as mentioned in one of the GitHub issues, Wasp is planning to add features like onLogin
and onSignup
hooks in the future, which would make custom auth flows easier to implement. For now, you might need to implement some workarounds to fully integrate your custom auth system with Wasp's existing auth mechanisms.
----------------------
Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:
----------------------
Sorry @Taha, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist:
Perhaps try again in 15mins?how to config the main.wasp file ? @kapa.ai
Let me check the knowledge base for you again. One moment! :books:
----------------------
To configure the
main.wasp
file for authentication, you need to add the auth
field to your app
declaration. Here's a basic example of how to set up the main.wasp
file for authentication:
Here's a breakdown of the important parts:
1. userEntity
: Specify the entity representing the user in your application.
2. methods
: Choose one or more authentication methods you want to enable.
3. onAuthFailedRedirectTo
: Specify where to redirect if authentication fails.
4. onAuthSucceededRedirectTo
: Specify where to redirect after successful authentication.
You can find more details about configuring authentication in the Auth Overview documentation.
Remember to also define the User
entity in your main.wasp
file, as shown in the example above.
If you're using email authentication, you might need additional configuration, such as specifying the email sender details:
For social authentication methods like Google or GitHub, you'll need to set up the respective OAuth apps and add the necessary environment variables to your project.
Always refer to the latest Wasp documentation for the most up-to-date configuration options, as they may change with new versions of Wasp.
----------------------
Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon:
----------------------
Sorry @Taha, I seem to be having a bit of trouble. Don't worry though, I've pinged my support and they will try to fix me up! :technologist:
Perhaps try again in 15mins?Please share steps you took and what is your auth system doing. Are you setting the sessionId in the
localStorage
after you get the response on the client?