verdaccio-mongodb

The MongoDB Authentication plugin for Verdaccio

This plugin enables you to use a MongoDB or compatible database (e.g., AWS DocumentDB - currently, compatible to MongoDB 3.6 and 4.0) as the store for your user data. This is especially useful if you want to use an existing user database, if you have other registries beside npm/verdaccio with the same users, if you want to store additional information with the users, or if you want to create users from an external system.

NOTE: This plugin includes a basic counting mechanism for activities which might be used as a "weekly download" indicator (currently this data is only available in the MongoDB)

Installation

Install MongoDB auth plugin into Verdaccio

Add the MongoDB auth plugin to your Verdaccio installation like this:

npm install -g verdaccio-mongodb

Setup Database

1. Create a MongoDB (or DocumentDB, etc.)
2. Create "admin" user with correct roles, rights, and password
3. Secure database with password, auth keys or secure VPN
4. Create or identify collections
   • Create or identify a collection for the users (must include a field for unique username/email, password (currently, only bcrypt), and usergroups)
   • Optional: Create a collection for the packages (will store counts for activities such as access, publish and unpublish)
5. Create indices as needed
   • The "users" collection could use a index on the field holding the "username"
   • The "packages" collection could use a index on the field holding the "packagename"

Configure Verdaccio to use MongoDB auth

Change the auth section in your config.yaml file to include the following. Replace the existing auth section or add it to an existing auth chain - but first replace placeholders with your specific values.

auth:
  mongodb:
    uri: "mongodb+srv://[username]:[password]@[host1][:port1]/[db]"
    db: "verdaccio"
    collections:
      users: "users"
      packages: "packages"
    encryption: "bcrypt"
    allowAddUser: true
    countActivity: true
    cacheTTL: 300000
    adminGroup: "&admin"
    fields:
      username:   "username"
      password:   "password"
      usergroups: "usergroups"
      packagename: "packagename"
    rights:
      access:     "user"
      publish:    "maintainer"
      unpublish:  "maintainer"

Configuration options

• uri: The MongoDB-like URI including admin username, password and database holding the user collection. [REQUIRED]
• database: The database in the MongoDB holding the user collection [REQUIRED]
• collections: (name of the collections in the mongodb database)
  • users: Name of the user collection used to store the unique user with passwords and additional information (e.g., username, email, access, etc.). Defaults to users [REQUIRED]
  • packages: Name of the packages collection used to store information on the packages (e.g., name, access, versions, etc.). Defaults to packages [OPTIONAL]
• encryption: The mechanism to encrypt the password (currently supported: none, bcrypt). Defaults to bcrypt [OPTIONAL]
• allowAddUser: Switch to allow or disallow adding users. Defaults to false [OPTIONAL]
• countActivity: Switch to enable or disable counting access, publish, or unpublish events. Defaults to false [OPTIONAL]
• cacheTTL: Time an entry lives in the cache measured in ms. Defaults to 300000 (5 minutes) [OPTIONAL]
• adminGroup: The name of the group of admins allowed to access, publish, or unpublish any package. Must be different from user or package names! Defaults to __admin__ [OPTIONAL]
• fields: (name of the fields in the mongodb collection)
  • username: Name of the field used to store the unique username (e.g., user, username, email, etc.). Defaults to username [OPTIONAL]
  • password: Name of the field used to store the password (e.g., pass, password, token, etc.). Defaults to password [OPTIONAL]
  • usergroups: Name of the field used to store the array of usergroups (e.g., groups, usergroups, roles, etc.). Defaults to usergroups [OPTIONAL]
• rights: (Definition of who is allowed to work with packages)
  • access: Name of people allowed to access a package (currently supported: maintainer, contributor, user). Defaults to user (if authenticated or anonymous user depends on 'packages' config) [OPTIONAL]
  • publish: Name of people allowed to publish a package (currently supported: maintainer, contributor, user). Defaults to user (if authenticated or anonymous user depends on 'packages' config) [OPTIONAL]
  • unpublish: Name of people allowed to unpublish a package (currently supported: maintainer, contributor, user). Defaults to user (if authenticated or anonymous user depends on 'packages' config) [OPTIONAL]

NOTES

An alternative verdaccio auth plugin exists called verdaccio-auth-mongo: see https://www.npmjs.com/package/verdaccio-auth-mongo and https://gitlab.com/stack-library-open/verdaccio-auth-mongo/-/blob/master/index.js

Debug Tipps

When encountering problems like:

• error--- undefined-mongodb plugin does not have the right code structure or
• plugin not found try to install the plugin into the global directory of verdaccio - see:
• https://github.com/n4bb12/verdaccio-github-oauth-ui/issues/13#issuecomment-643246372
• e.g., npm install verdaccio-mongodb in directory ~/.nvm/versions/node/v16.15.0/lib/node_modules/verdaccio (get your dir with which verdaccio)