Integrating EdgeDB Auth's email and password provider

Along with using the built-in UI, you can also create your own UI that calls to your own web application backend.

UI considerations

Similar to how the built-in UI works, you can query the database configuration to discover which providers are configured and dynamically build the UI.

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select cfg::Config.extensions[is ext::auth::AuthConfig].providers {
    name,
    [is ext::auth::OAuthProviderConfig].display_name,
};

The name is a unique string that identifies the Identity Provider. OAuth providers also have a display_name that you can use as a label for links or buttons. In later steps, you’ll be providing this name as the provider in various endpoints.

Example implementation

We will demonstrate the various steps below by building a NodeJS HTTP server in a single file that we will use to simulate a typical web application.

We are in the process of publishing helper libraries that you can use with popular languages and web frameworks. The details below show the inner workings of how data is exchanged with the Auth extension from a web app using HTTP. You can use this as a guide to integrate with your application written in any language that can send and receive HTTP requests.

We secure authentication tokens and other sensitive data by using PKCE (Proof Key of Code Exchange).

Start the PKCE flow

Your application server creates a 32-byte Base64 URL-encoded string (which will be 43 bytes after encoding), called the verifier. You need to store this value for the duration of the flow. One way to accomplish this bit of state is to use an HttpOnly cookie when the browser makes a request to the server for this value, which you can then use to retrieve it from the cookie store at the end of the flow. Take this verifier string, hash it with SHA256, and then base64url encode the resulting string. This new string is called the challenge.

If you are familiar with PKCE, you will notice some differences from how RFC 7636 defines PKCE. Our authentication flow is not an OAuth flow, but rather a strict server-to-server flow with Proof Key of Code Exchange added for additional security to avoid leaking the authentication token. Here are some differences between PKCE as defined in RFC 7636 and our implementation:

We do not support the plain value for code_challenge_method, and therefore do not read that value if provided in requests.
Our parameters omit the code_ prefix, however we do support code_challenge and code_verifier as aliases, preferring challenge and verifier if present.

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import http from "node:http";
import { URL } from "node:url";
import crypto from "node:crypto";

/**
 * You can get this value by running `edgedb instance credentials`.
 * Value should be:
 * `${protocol}://${host}:${port}/branch/${branch}/ext/auth/
 */
const EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL = process.env.EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL;
const SERVER_PORT = 3000;

/**
 * Generate a random Base64 url-encoded string, and derive a "challenge"
 * string from that string to use as proof that the request for a token
 * later is made from the same user agent that made the original request
 *
 * @returns {Object} The verifier and challenge strings
 */
const generatePKCE = () => {
   const verifier = crypto.randomBytes(32).toString("base64url");

   const challenge = crypto
      .createHash("sha256")
      .update(verifier)
      .digest("base64url");

   return { verifier, challenge };
};

Next, we implement routes that handle registering a new user and authenticating an existing user.

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const server = http.createServer(async (req, res) => {
  const requestUrl = getRequestUrl(req);

  switch (requestUrl.pathname) {
    case "/auth/callback": {
      await handleCallback(req, res);
      break;
    }

    case "/auth/signup": {
      await handleSignUp(req, res);
      break;
    }

    case "/auth/signin": {
      await handleSignIn(req, res);
      break;
    }

    case "/auth/verify": {
      await handleVerify(req, res);
      break;
    }

    case "/auth/send-password-reset-email": {
      await handleSendPasswordResetEmail(req, res);
      break;
    }

    case "/auth/ui/reset-password": {
      await handleUiResetPassword(req, res);
      break;
    }

    case "/auth/reset-password": {
      await handleResetPassword(req, res);
      break;
    }

    default: {
      res.writeHead(404);
      res.end("Not found");
      break;
    }
  }
});

/**
 * Handles sign up with email and password.
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleSignUp = async (req, res) => {
  let body = "";
  req.on("data", (chunk) => {
    body += chunk.toString();
  });
  req.on("end", async () => {
    const pkce = generatePKCE();
    const { email, password, provider } = JSON.parse(body);
    if (!email || !password || !provider) {
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(
        `Request body malformed. Expected JSON body with 'email', 'password', and 'provider' keys, but got: ${body}`,
      );
      return;
    }

    const registerUrl = new URL("register", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
    const registerResponse = await fetch(registerUrl.href, {
      method: "post",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        challenge: pkce.challenge,
        email,
        password,
        provider,
        verify_url: `http://localhost:${SERVER_PORT}/auth/verify`,
      }),
    });

    if (!registerResponse.ok) {
      const text = await registerResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
    }

    res.writeHead(204, {
      "Set-Cookie": `edgedb-pkce-verifier=${pkce.verifier}; HttpOnly; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Strict`,
    });
    res.end();
  });
};

/**
 * Handles sign in with email and password.
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleSignIn = async (req, res) => {
  let body = "";
  req.on("data", (chunk) => {
    body += chunk.toString();
  });
  req.on("end", async () => {
    const pkce = generatePKCE();
    const { email, password, provider } = JSON.parse(body);
    if (!email || !password || !provider) {
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(
        `Request body malformed. Expected JSON body with 'email', 'password', and 'provider' keys, but got: ${body}`,
      );
      return;
    }

    const authenticateUrl = new URL("authenticate", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
    const authenticateResponse = await fetch(authenticateUrl.href, {
      method: "post",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        challenge: pkce.challenge,
        email,
        password,
        provider,
      }),
    });

    if (!authenticateResponse.ok) {
      const text = await authenticateResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
    }

    const { code } = await authenticateResponse.json();

    const tokenUrl = new URL("token", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
    tokenUrl.searchParams.set("code", code);
    tokenUrl.searchParams.set("verifier", pkce.verifier);
    const tokenResponse = await fetch(tokenUrl.href, {
      method: "get",
    });

    if (!tokenResponse.ok) {
      const text = await authenticateResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
    }

    const { auth_token } = await tokenResponse.json();
    res.writeHead(204, {
      "Set-Cookie": `edgedb-auth-token=${auth_token}; HttpOnly; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Strict`,
    });
    res.end();
  });
};

Email verification

When a new user signs up, by default we require them to verify their email address before allowing the application to get an authentication token. To handle the verification flow, we implement an endpoint:

💡 If you would like to allow users to still log in, but offer limited access to your application, you can check the associated ext::auth::EmailPasswordFactor for the ext::auth::Identity to see if the verified_at property is some time in the past. You’ll need to set the require_verification setting in the provider configuration to false.

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/**
 * Handles the link in the email verification flow.
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleVerify = async (req, res) => {
  const requestUrl = getRequestUrl(req);
  const verification_token = requestUrl.searchParams.get("verification_token");
  if (!verification_token) {
    res.status = 400;
    res.end(
      `Verify request is missing 'verification_token' search param. The verification email is malformed.`,
    );
    return;
  }

  const cookies = req.headers.cookie?.split("; ");
  const verifier = cookies
    ?.find((cookie) => cookie.startsWith("edgedb-pkce-verifier="))
    ?.split("=")[1];
  if (!verifier) {
    res.status = 400;
    res.end(
      `Could not find 'verifier' in the cookie store. Is this the same user agent/browser that started the authorization flow?`,
    );
    return;
  }

  const verifyUrl = new URL("verify", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
  const verifyResponse = await fetch(verifyUrl.href, {
    method: "post",
    headers: {
      "Content-Type": "application/json",
    },
    body: JSON.stringify({
      verification_token,
      verifier,
      provider: "builtin::local_emailpassword",
    }),
  });

  if (!verifyResponse.ok) {
    const text = await verifyResponse.text();
    res.status = 400;
    res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
    return;
  }

  const { code } = await verifyResponse.json();

  const tokenUrl = new URL("token", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
  tokenUrl.searchParams.set("code", code);
  tokenUrl.searchParams.set("verifier", verifier);
  const tokenResponse = await fetch(tokenUrl.href, {
    method: "get",
  });

  if (!tokenResponse.ok) {
    const text = await tokenResponse.text();
    res.status = 400;
    res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
    return;
  }

  const { auth_token } = await tokenResponse.json();
  res.writeHead(204, {
    "Set-Cookie": `edgedb-auth-token=${auth_token}; HttpOnly; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Strict`,
  });
  res.end();
};

Retrieve `auth_token`

Once the request to auth/authenticate completes, the EdgeDB server response with a JSON body with a single property: code. You take that code and look up the verifier in the edgedb-pkce-verifier cookie, and make a request to the EdgeDB Auth extension to exchange these two pieces of data for an auth_token.

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/**
 * Handles the PKCE callback and exchanges the `code` and `verifier
 * for an auth_token, setting the auth_token as an HttpOnly cookie.
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleCallback = async (req, res) => {
   const requestUrl = getRequestUrl(req);

   const code = requestUrl.searchParams.get("code");
   if (!code) {
      const error = requestUrl.searchParams.get("error");
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(
         `OAuth callback is missing 'code'. \
OAuth provider responded with error: ${error}`,
      );
      return;
   }

   const cookies = req.headers.cookie?.split("; ");
   const verifier = cookies
      ?.find((cookie) => cookie.startsWith("edgedb-pkce-verifier="))
      ?.split("=")[1];
   if (!verifier) {
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(
         `Could not find 'verifier' in the cookie store. Is this the \
same user agent/browser that started the authorization flow?`,
      );
      return;
   }

   const codeExchangeUrl = new URL("token", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
   codeExchangeUrl.searchParams.set("code", code);
   codeExchangeUrl.searchParams.set("verifier", verifier);
   const codeExchangeResponse = await fetch(codeExchangeUrl.href, {
      method: "GET",
   });

   if (!codeExchangeResponse.ok) {
      const text = await codeExchangeResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
   }

   const { auth_token } = await codeExchangeResponse.json();
   res.writeHead(204, {
      "Set-Cookie": `edgedb-auth-token=${auth_token}; Path=/; HttpOnly`,
   });
   res.end();
};

Password reset

To allow users to reset their password, we implement three endpoints. The first one sends the reset email. The second is the HTML form that is rendered when the user follows the link in their email. And, the final one is the endpoint that updates the password and logs in the user.

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/**
 * Request a password reset for an email.
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleSendPasswordResetEmail = async (req, res) => {
  let body = "";
  req.on("data", (chunk) => {
    body += chunk.toString();
  });
  req.on("end", async () => {
    const { email } = JSON.parse(body);
    const reset_url = `http://localhost:${SERVER_PORT}/auth/ui/reset-password`;
    const provider = "builtin::local_emailpassword";
    const pkce = generatePKCE();

    const sendResetUrl = new URL("send-reset-email", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
    const sendResetResponse = await fetch(sendResetUrl.href, {
      method: "post",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        email,
        provider,
        reset_url,
        challenge: pkce.challenge,
      }),
    });

    if (!sendResetResponse.ok) {
      const text = await sendResetResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
    }

    const { email_sent } = await sendResetResponse.json();

    res.writeHead(200, {
      "Set-Cookie": `edgedb-pkce-verifier=${pkce.verifier}; HttpOnly; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Strict`,
    });
    res.end(`Reset email sent to '${email_sent}'`);
  });
};

/**
 * Render a simple reset password UI
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleUiResetPassword = async (req, res) => {
  const url = new URL(req.url);
  const reset_token = url.searchParams.get("reset_token");
  res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
  res.end(`
    <html>
      <body>
        <form method="POST" action="http://localhost:${SERVER_PORT}/auth/reset-password">
          <input type="hidden" name="reset_token" value="${reset_token}">
          <label>
            New password:
            <input type="password" name="password" required>
          </label>
          <button type="submit">Reset Password</button>
        </form>
      </body>
    </html>
  `);
};

/**
 * Send new password with reset token to EdgeDB Auth.
 *
 * @param {Request} req
 * @param {Response} res
 */
const handleResetPassword = async (req, res) => {
  let body = "";
  req.on("data", (chunk) => {
    body += chunk.toString();
  });
  req.on("end", async () => {
    const { reset_token, password } = JSON.parse(body);
    if (!reset_token || !password) {
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(
        `Request body malformed. Expected JSON body with 'reset_token' and 'password' keys, but got: ${body}`
      );
      return;
    }
    const provider = "builtin::local_emailpassword";
    const cookies = req.headers.cookie.split("; ");
    const verifier = cookies
      .find((cookie) => cookie.startsWith("edgedb-pkce-verifier="))
      .split("=")[1];
    if (!verifier) {
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(
        `Could not find 'verifier' in the cookie store. Is this the same user agent/browser that started the authorization flow?`
      );
      return;
    }
    const resetUrl = new URL("reset-password", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
    const resetResponse = await fetch(resetUrl.href, {
      method: "post",
      headers: {
        "Content-Type": "application/json",
      },
      body: JSON.stringify({
        reset_token,
        provider,
        password,
      }),
    });
    if (!resetResponse.ok) {
      const text = await resetResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
    }
    const { code } = await resetResponse.json();
    const tokenUrl = new URL("token", EDGEDB_AUTH_BASE_URL);
    tokenUrl.searchParams.set("code", code);
    tokenUrl.searchParams.set("verifier", verifier);
    const tokenResponse = await fetch(tokenUrl.href, {
      method: "get",
    });
    if (!tokenResponse.ok) {
      const text = await tokenResponse.text();
      res.status = 400;
      res.end(`Error from the auth server: ${text}`);
      return;
    }
    const { auth_token } = await tokenResponse.json();
    res.writeHead(204, {
      "Set-Cookie": `edgedb-auth-token=${auth_token}; HttpOnly; Path=/; Secure; SameSite=Strict`,
    });
    res.end();
  });
};

Back to the EdgeDB Auth guide

Integrating EdgeDB Auth's email and password provider​

UI considerations​

Example implementation​

Start the PKCE flow​

Sign-in and sign-up​

Email verification​

Retrieve auth_token​

Password reset​

Integrating EdgeDB Auth's email and password provider

UI considerations

Example implementation

Start the PKCE flow

Sign-in and sign-up

Email verification

Retrieve `auth_token`

Password reset