authom

authom is an authentication library for node.js. It unifies authentication APIs for multiple services into a single EventEmitter, and works with both the built-in node.js HTTP module and as an Express/Connect app.

authom was designed to solve one problem and solve it well. It has an intuitive node.js-like API, no required dependencies, and doesn't force any particular persistence, session, or middleware approaches on you.

Example

For the built-in node.js HTTP module:

// Like socket.io, authom will intercept requests
// for you to help keep your routes clean.

var server = require("http").createServer()
  , authom = require("authom")

server.on("request", function() {
  // your usual server logic
})

// create servers for the services you'll be using
authom.createServer({ /* facebook credentials */ })
authom.createServer({ /* github credentials */ })
authom.createServer({ /* google credentials */ })
authom.createServer({ /* twitter credentials */ })
// ... et cetera

authom.on("auth", function(req, res, data) {
  // called when a user is authenticated on any service
})

authom.on("error", function(req, res, data) {
  // called when an error occurs during authentication
})

authom.listen(server)
server.listen(8000)

For Express/Connect:

var express = require("express")
  , app = express()
  , authom = require("authom")

// create servers for the services you'll be using
authom.createServer({ /* facebook credentials */ })
authom.createServer({ /* github credentials */ })
authom.createServer({ /* google credentials */ })
authom.createServer({ /* twitter credentials */ })
// ... et cetera

authom.on("auth", function(req, res, data) {
  // called when a user is authenticated on any service
})

authom.on("error", function(req, res, data) {
  // called when an error occurs during authentication
})

app.get("/auth/:service", authom.app)

app.listen(8000)

Supported services

37signals (by nodebiscut)

Bitbucket (by aslakhellesoy)

Dropbox (by cartuchogl)

Dwolla (by nodebiscut)

Facebook (by jed)

Fitbit (by pspeter3)

Foodspotting (by kimtaro)

Foursquare (by nodebiscut)

GitHub (by jed)

Google (by jed)

Gowalla (by jed)

Instagram (by jed)

LinkedIn (by shinecita)

Meetup (by softprops)

Reddit (by avidw)

SoundCloud (by jed)

Trello (by falexandrou)

Twitter (by jed)

Vkontakte (by molforp)

Windows Live (by jed)

Ninja Blocks (by thatguydan)

Installation and Setup

To install, enter:

$ npm install authom

To see the demo, enter:

$ npm start authom

And then head to http://authom.jedschmidt.com (which resolves to your local machine at 127.0.0.1). sudo is needed to bind to port 80, as many providers do not allow callback URLs with a port or localhost as the host.

FAQ

How can I add my own service?

See Extending authom below.

Why not just use everyauth/passport? How is authom different?

authom aims to solve a smaller problem, more agnostically. It trades convenience for simplicity and flexibility. Here are some key differences:

• authom was built for node, and can also work with Express, while everyauth is tied to Express and Connect. everyauth aims for a much more ambitious integration, but at the expense of locking you into a particular stack. authom takes a more UNIX approach; since it doesn't handle logins, persistence, sessions, or anything past authentication, it is more of a tool and less of a framework.

• authom uses native node.js conventions such as EventEmitters and objects, while everyauth uses promises and a chaining config API. This is of course subjective, but the authom API aims to be closer to the APIs of node.js itself.

API

authom.createServer(options, [function(req, res){}])

Creates an EventEmitter for the given authentication service. The service is specified by the service key of the options object, with all other keys differing based on the service. For example, github would be called like this:

var github = authom.createServer({
  service: "github",
  id: "7e38d12b740a339b2d31",
  secret: "116e41bd4cd160b7fae2fe8cc79c136a884928c3",
  scope: ["gist"]
})

An optional name member can also be passed to override that used for authom path matching. So if you had two GitHub apps, you could set them as name: github1 and name: github2, so that they could be accessed as /auth/github1 and /auth/github2.

You can listen for auth and error events by:

• listening to a specific service for service-specific events, or
• listening to authom for all service events

For example, use this to listen for events from GitHub, based on the code above:

github.on("auth", function(req, res, gitHubSpecificData){})
github.on("error", function(req, res, gitHubSpecificData){})

Or, use this to listen to events from all provders, since authom already listens and namespaces them for you:

authom.on("auth", function(req, res, data){})
authom.on("error", function(req, res, data){})

authom.on("auth", function(req, res, data){})

Listens for successful authentications across all services. The listener is called with the original request/response objects as well as a service-specific user object, which contains the following keys:

• token: the token resulting from authentication
• refresh_token: the refresh_token resulting from authentication, if implemented by auth service, otherwise undefined
• id: the ID of the user on the remote service
• data: the original data returned from the service, and
• service: the name of the service, given so that you can branch your code:

authom.on("auth", function(req, res, data) {
  switch(data.service) {
    case "github": ...
    case "google": ...
    .
    .
    .
  }
})

authom.on("error", function(req, res, data){})

Listens for failed authentications across all services. Like the auth event, the listener is called with the original request/response objects as well as an error object, allowing you to provide your own session scheme.

authom.listen(server)

Listens to an existing HTTP(S) server for request events. Like socket.io's .listen method, authom will intercept any request whose path starts with /auth.

authom.listener

A standard node.js listener. This can be used for more control over the path at which authom is used. For example, the following two are equivalent:

// socket.io-style
var server = require("http").createServer()
  , authom = require("authom")

server.on("request", function() {
  /* your usual server logic */
})

authom.listen(server)
server.listen(8000)

// route-style
var server = require("http").createServer()
  , authom = require("authom")

server.on("request", function(req, res) {
  if (req.url.slice(5) == "/auth") authom.listener(req, res)

  else {
	/* your usual server logic */
  }
})

server.listen(8000)

authom.registerService(serviceName, Service)

Authom-compliant services can be registered using this method. This is useful for adding custom authentication services not suited to be part of the /lib core services. (For example a business-specific in-house authentication service.) Custom services will override existing services of the same name.

var authom = require("authom")
  , EventEmitter = require("events").EventEmitter

//Custom authentication service
var IpAuth = function(options) {
  var server = new EventEmitter
  var whiteList = options.whiteList || ["127.0.0.1", "::1"]

  server.on("request", function(req, res) {
    if (~whiteList.indexOf(req.connection.remoteAddress)) {
      server.emit("auth", req, res, {status: "yay"})
    }
    else {
      server.emit("error", req, res, {status: "boo"})
    }
  })

  return server
}

authom.registerService("ip-auth", IpAuth)

auth.createServer({
  service: "ip-auth",
  whiteList : ["127.0.0.1", "::1", "192.168.0.1"]
})

authom.route

A regular expression that is run on the pathname of every request. authom will only run if this expression is matched. By default, it is /^\/auth\/([^\/]+)\/?$/.

authom.app

This is a convenience Express app, which should be mounted at a path containing a :service parameter.

Providers

37signals (create an app)

Options:

• service: "37signals"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client secret

Example:

var signals = authom.createServer({
  service: "37signals",
  id: "c2098292571a03070eb12746353997fb8d6f0e00",
  secret: "4cb7f46fa83f73ec99d37162b946522b9e7a4d5a"
})

Dropbox (create an app)

Options:

• service: "dropbox"
• id: the application's App key
• secret: the application's App secret
• info: specify true if you want to get the user info (a little slower - one extra request)

Example:

var dropbox = authom.createServer({
  service: "dropbox",
  id: "zuuteb2w7i82mdg",
  secret: "rj503lgqodxzvbp"
  info: true
})

Dwolla Live (create an app)

Options:

• service: "dwolla"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client secret
• scope: the scope requested.

Example:

var dwolla = authom.createServer({
  service: "dwolla",
  id: "0vNUP/9/GSBXEv69nqKZVfhSZbw8XQdnDiatyXSTM7vW1WzAAU",
  secret: "KI2tdLiRZ813aclUxTgUVyDbxysoJQzPBjHTJ111nHMNdAVlcs",
  scope: "AccountInfoFull"
})

Facebook (create an app)

Options:

• service: "facebook"
• id: the application's App ID
• secret: the application's App secret
• scope (optional): the scopes requested by your application
• fields (optional): the fields passed onto /users/me Example:

var facebook = authom.createServer({
  service: "facebook",
  id: "256546891060909",
  secret: "e002572fb07423fa66fc38c25c9f49ad",
  scope: [],
  fields: ["name", "picture"]
})

Fitbit (request api key)

Options:

• service: "fitbit"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client secret

Example:

var fitbit = authom.createServer({
  service: "fitbit",
  id: "45987d27b0e14780bb1a6f1769e679dd",
  secret: "3d403aaeb5b84bc49e98ef8b946a19d5"
})

Foodspotting (request api key)

Options:

• service: "foodspotting"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client secret

Example:

var foodspotting = authom.createServer({
  service: "foodspotting",
  id: "<api key>",
  secret: "<api secret>"
})

Foursquare (create an app)

Options:

• service: "foursquare"
• id: the application's CLIENT ID
• secret: the application's CLIENT SECRET

Example:

var foursquare = authom.createServer({
  service: "foursquare",
  id: "0DPGLE430Y2LFUCOSFXB0ACG3GGD5DNHH5335FLT4US1QDAZ",
  secret: "WLNCAVFHCMQGVYOZTNOLPXW0XL2KN0DRD1APOA45SRGEZSGK"
})

GitHub (create an app)

Full Docs

Options:

• service: "github"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Secret
• redirect_uri (optional): Alternative redirect url.
• scope (optional): the scopes requested by your application, as explained here.
• state (optional): Unguessable random string.

Example:

var github = authom.createServer({
  service: "github",
  id: "7e38d12b740a339b2d31",
  secret: "116e41bd4cd160b7fae2fe8cc79c136a884928c3",
  scope: "gist"
})

Make sure that the callback URL used by your application has the same hostname and port as that specified for your application. If they are different, you will get redirect_uri_mismatch errors.

Bitbucket (Go to https://bitbucket.org/account/user/YOURACCOUNT/api to create an app)

Options:

• service: "bitbucket"
• id: the application's Key
• secret: the application's Secret
• emails: specify true if you want to get the user's emails (a little slower - one extra request)

Example:

var bitbucket = authom.createServer({
  service: "bitbucket",
  id: "Fs7WNJSqgUSL8zBAZD",
  secret: "yNTv52kS7DWSztpLgbLWKD2AaNxGq2mB",
  emails: true
})

Google (create an app)

Options:

• service: "google"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client secret
• scope (optional): the scopes requested by your application

Example:

var google = authom.createServer({
  service: "google",
  id: "515913292583.apps.googleusercontent.com",
  secret: "UAjUGd_MD9Bkho-kazmJ5Icm",
  scope: ""
})

Gowalla (create an app)

Options:

• service: "gowalla"
• id: the application's API key
• secret: the application's Secret key

Example:

var gowalla = authom.createServer({
  service: "gowalla",
  id: "b8514b75c2674916b77c9a913783b9c2",
  secret: "34f713fdd6b4488982328487f443bd6d"
})

Make sure that the callback URL used by your application is identical to that specified for your application. With the default settings, you'll need a redirect URI of http://<your-host>/auth/google.

Instagram (create an app)

Options:

• service: "instagram"
• id: the application's CLIENT ID
• secret: the application's CLIENT SECRET
• scope (optional): the scopes requested by your application

Example:

var instagram = authom.createServer({
  service: "instagram",
  id: "e55497d0ebc24289aba4e715f1ab7d2a",
  secret: "a0e7064bfda64e57a46dcdba48378776"
})

Reddit (create an app)

Options:

• service: "reddit"
• id: the application's CLIENT ID
• secret: the application's CLIENT SECRET
• state: Unguessable random string.
• scope (optional): the scopes requested by your application

Example:

var reddit = authom.createServer({
  service: "reddit",
  id: "hG5c04ZOk0UngQ",
  secret: "mdJoGP4ayA9M7NdBiKxZUyewz7M",
  state: "unguessable-random-string",
  scope: "identity"
})

SoundCloud (create an app)

Options:

• service: "soundcloud"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client Secret

Example:

var soundcloud = authom.createServer({
  service: "soundcloud",
  id: "9e5e7b0a891b4a2b13aeae9e5b0c89bb",
  secret: "2f4df63c8ff10f466685c305e87eba6f"
})

Trello (create an app)

Options:

• service: "trello"
• id: the application's Consumer key
• secret: the application's Consumer secret
• app_name: the application's name
• expiration: optional - when the token expires (examples: never, 30days, 1day). Default is 30days
• scope: optional - by default the scope is set to read. Example: read,write

Example:

var trello = authom.createServer({
  service: "trello",
  id: "LwjCfHAugMghuYtHLS9Ugw",
  secret: "etam3XHqDSDPceyHti6tRQGoywiISY0vZWfzhQUxGL4",
  app_name: "Coolest app in the world",
  expiration: "never",
  scope: "read,write",
})

Twitter (create an app)

Options:

• service: "twitter"
• id: the application's Consumer key
• secret: the application's Consumer secret

Example:

var twitter = authom.createServer({
  service: "twitter",
  id: "LwjCfHAugMghuYtHLS9Ugw",
  secret: "etam3XHqDSDPceyHti6tRQGoywiISY0vZWfzhQUxGL4"
})

Notes: Since Twitter is still (!) using the old OAuth1.0a protocol, it requires @ciaranj's node-oauth library to be installed.

Vkontakte (create an app)

Options:

• service: "vkontakte"
• id: the application's App ID
• secret: the application's App secret
• scope (optional): the scopes requested by your application
• fields (optional): the fields passed onto /method/users.get

Example:

var vkontakte = authom.createServer({
  service: "vkontakte",
  id: "3793488",
  secret: "jZnIeU4nnQfqM5mfjkK0",
  scope: [],
  fields: ["screen_name", "sex", "photo"]
})

Windows Live (create an app)

Options:

• service: "windowslive"
• id: the application's Client ID
• secret: the application's Client secret
• scope: the scope requested.

Example:

var windowslive = authom.createServer({
  service: "windowslive",
  id: "000000004C06BA3A",
  secret: "2RsIhweMq6PxR8jc5CjTVoCqTvKZmctY",
  scope: "wl.basic"
})

LinkedIn (create an app)

Options:

• service: "linkedin"
• id: the application's Api key
• secret: the application's Secret key
• scopes: Optional. An array with the scopes, fe: ["r_fullprofile", "r_emailaddress"]. Default: r_fullprofile
• fields: Optional. Comma separated (no spaces) String with the linkedIn fields to include in the query, fe: "first-name,last-name,picture-url,industry,summary,specialties,skills,projects,headline,site-standard-profile-request"
• format: Optional. Format of the response, default "json".

Example:

var linkedin = authom.createServer({
  service: "linkedin",
  id: "AsjCfHAugMghuYtHLS9Xzy",
  secret: "arom3XHqDSDPceyHti6tRQGoywiISY0vZWfzhQUxXZ5"
})

Extending authom

To add an authentication service provider, add a javascript file for the service at the path /lib/services/<service-name>.js. This file should module.exports a constructor that returns an EventEmitter that listens for request events, and emits auth and error events to itself.

var EventEmitter = require("events").EventEmitter

module.exports = function(options) {
  var server = new EventEmitter

  server.on("request", function(req, res) {
    // respond to the request, redirecting the user as needed

    if (successful) {
      // pass an object containing the service's user data
      server.emit("auth", req, res, obj)
    }

    else {
      // pass an object containing an error message
      server.emit("error", req, res, obj)
    }
  })

  return server
}

To make sure that your code can recieve subsequent HTTP(S) calls from the service, use the inbound req.url as the callback URL, using the querystring to disambiguate different stages of the authentication process. See /lib/services/github.js for an example implementation.

Once you're done, and have written tests, make sure you open a pull request so that the rest of us can benefit!

License

Copyright (c) 2012 Jed Schmidt, http://jed.is/

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.