backend-api

description	layout
An API or service protected by Authgear	title description tableOfContents outline pagination visible true visible true visible true visible visible

Backend/API Integration

If your API or backend service needs authentication, you can validate the session in your application server code. Each request from the client to your application server should contain an access token or a cookie. Your backend server should validate them for each HTTP request.

There are different approaches to verify the requests based on whether you validate JWT (JSON Web Tokens) in your server, or forward authentication to Authgear Resolver Endpoint.

	Validate JSON Web Token (JWT) in your application server	Forward Authentication to Authgear Resolver Endpoint
Reliability	Medium JWT only updates when expire. That means before the token expiry, your application may see the user is valid even they has been disabled	High Update near real-time, based on your reserve proxy cache setting
Integration difficulties	Easy You only need to add code in your application to validate and decode JWT	Medium Need to setup extra reverse proxy to resolve authentication information
Transportation of session	Access Token in Authorization header	Session ID in Cookies or Access Token in Authorization header

Simple: Validate JWT in your server

Authgear uses JSON Web Token (JWT) for secure data transmission, authentication, and authorization.

sequenceDiagram
autonumber
participant app as Mobile/Single Page Application
app->>Authgear: User authenticates with Authgear
Authgear-->>app: Access token & refresh token
participant server as Your app server
app->>server: User sends request with access token
server->>server: Verify request
server -->> app: Server responds with requested information

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Authgear returns the access token and refresh token to the client app after authentication. Your client app should call the backend with the access token in the Authorization header. The tokens should be parsed and validated in the backend server to ensure they are not compromised and the signature is authentic.

Request example:

> GET /api_path HTTP/1.1
> Host: yourdomain.com
> Authorization: Bearer <AUTHGEAR_ACCESS_TOKEN_IN_JWT>

Read more on Validate JWT in your application server guide.

{% content-ref url="jwt.md" %} jwt.md {% endcontent-ref %}

Advanced: Forward Authentication to Authgear Resolver Endpoint

Forward Authentication is a process where an intermediate reverse proxy or API Gateway is responsible for authenticating a request before it reaches the intended application or service. This can add an extra layer of security and centralize the authentication logic. An intermediate service forwards each incoming HTTP request to the Authgear Resolver Endpoint to verify the access token or cookie in the HTTP header.

Read more on Forward Authentication to Authgear Resolver Endpoint guide.

Forward Access Token in Authorization Header

sequenceDiagram
  autonumber
  Browser ->> Authgear: User authenticate with Authgear
  Authgear -->> Browser: Access token and refresh token
  Browser ->> Reverse Proxy: Request with access token
  participant Resolver as Authgear Resolver Endpoint
  rect rgb(191, 223, 255)
  note left of Resolver: Verify access token
  Reverse Proxy ->> Resolver: Forward request authorization header
  Resolver -->> Reverse Proxy: Response with "x-authgear-headers"
  end
  participant App as Your app server
  Reverse Proxy ->> App: Pass request with updated headers
  App -->> Reverse Proxy: Response
  Reverse Proxy -->> Browser: Response
  

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Instead of validating the access token in the backend, a reverse proxy forwards the request to an Authgear Resolver Endpoint. This endpoint resolves and verifies the access token in the Authorization Header of the request.

Forward Cookie in HTTP header

sequenceDiagram
  autonumber
  Browser ->> Authgear: User authenticate with Authgear
  Authgear -->> Browser: Authgear sets cookies
  Browser ->> Reverse Proxy: Request with cookies
  participant Resolver as Authgear Resolver Endpoint
  rect rgb(191, 223, 255)
  note left of Resolver: Verify cookie
  Reverse Proxy ->> Resolver: Forward request cookie header
  Resolver -->> Reverse Proxy: Response with "x-authgear-headers"
  end
  participant App as Your app server
  Reverse Proxy ->> App: Pass request with updated headers
  App -->> Reverse Proxy: Response
  Reverse Proxy -->> Browser: Response
  

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In this approach, instead of validating the token in authorization header, Authgear returns Set-Cookie headers and sets cookies to the browser. The cookies are HTTP only and share under the same root domains. So you will need to setup the custom domain for Authgear, such as identity.yourdomain.com.

If you have multiple applications under yourdomain.com, all applications would share the same session cookie automatically. After that, you can verify the cookies using the Resolver Endpoint.

Request example:

> GET /api_path HTTP/1.1
> Host: yourdomain.com
> cookie: session=<AUTHGEAR_SESSION_ID>