Authentication

User Password Authentication

Loco simplifies the user authentication process, allowing you to set up a new website quickly. This feature not only saves time but also provides the flexibility to focus on crafting the core logic of your application.

Authentication Configuration

The auth feature comes as a default with the library. If desired, you can turn it off and handle authentication manually.

Getting Started with a SaaS App

Create your app using the loco-cli and select the SaaS app (with DB and user auth) option.

To explore the out-of-the-box auth controllers, run the following command:

$ cargo loco routes
 .
 .
 .
[POST] /api/auth/forgot
[POST] /api/auth/login
[POST] /api/auth/register
[POST] /api/auth/reset
[POST] /api/auth/verify
[GET] /api/user/current
 .
 .
 .

Registering a New User

The /api/auth/register endpoint creates a new user in the database with an email_verification_token for account verification. A welcome email is sent to the user with a verification link.

Example Curl Request:
curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/auth/register' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data-raw '{
         "name": "Loco user",
         "email": "user@loco.rs",
         "password": "12341234"
     }'

For security reasons, if the user is already registered, no new user is created, and a 200 status is returned without exposing user email details.

Login

After registering a new user, use the following request to log in:

Example Curl Request:
curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/auth/login' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data-raw '{
         "email": "user@loco.rs",
         "password": "12341234"
     }'

The response includes a JWT token for authentication, user ID, name, and verification status.

{
    "token": "...",
    "pid": "2b20f998-b11e-4aeb-96d7-beca7671abda",
    "name": "Loco user",
    "is_verified": false
}
  • Token: A JWT token enabling requests to authentication endpoints. Refer to the configuration documentation to customize the default token expiration and ensure that the secret differs between environments.
  • pid - A unique identifier generated when creating a new user.
  • Name - The user's name associated with the account.
  • Is Verified - A flag indicating whether the user has verified their account.

Account Verification

Upon user registration, an email with a verification link is sent. Visiting this link updates the email_verified_at field in the database, changing the is_verified flag in the login response to true.

Example Curl request:

curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/auth/verify' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data '{
         "token": "TOKEN"
     }'

Reset Password Flow

Forgot Password

The forgot endpoint requires only the user's email in the payload. An email is sent with a reset password link, and a reset_token is set in the database.

Example Curl request:
curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/auth/forgot' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data-raw '{
         "email": "user@loco.rs"
     }'

Reset Password

To reset the password, send the token generated in the forgot endpoint along with the new password.

Example Curl request:
curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/auth/reset' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data '{
         "token": "TOKEN",
         "password": "new-password"
     }'

Get current user

This endpoint is protected by auth middleware.

curl --location --request GET '127.0.0.1:3000/user/current' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer TOKEN'

Creating an Authenticated Endpoint

To establish an authenticated endpoint, import controller::middleware from the loco_rs library and incorporate the auth middleware into the function endpoint parameters.

Consider the following example in Rust:

use axum::{extract::State, Json};
use loco_rs::{
    app::AppContext,
    controller::middleware,
    Result,
};

async fn current(
    auth: middleware::auth::Auth,
    State(ctx): State<AppContext>,
) -> Result<Response> {
    let user = users::Model::find_by_pid(&ctx.db, &auth.claims.pid).await?;
    /// Some response
}

API Authentication

Creating new app

For this time, let create your rest app using the loco-cli and select the Rest app option. To create new app, run the following command and follow the instructions:

$ loco new

To explore the out-of-the-box auth controllers, run the following command:

$ cargo loco routes
 .
 .
 .
[POST] /api/auth/forgot
[POST] /api/auth/login
[POST] /api/auth/register
[POST] /api/auth/reset
[POST] /api/auth/verify
[GET] /api/user/current
 .
 .
 .

Registering new user

The /api/auth/register endpoint creates a new user in the database with an api_key for request authentication. api_key will be used for authentication in the future requests.

Example Curl Request:

curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/auth/register' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --data-raw '{
         "name": "Loco user",
         "email": "user@loco.rs",
         "password": "12341234"
     }'

After registering a new user, make sure you see the api_key in the database for the new user.

Creating an Authenticated Endpoint with API Authentication

To set up an API-authenticated endpoint, import controller::middleware from the loco_rs library and include the auth middleware in the function endpoint parameters using middleware::auth::ApiToken.

Consider the following example in Rust:

use loco_rs::prelude::*;
use loco_rs::controller::middleware;
use crate::{models::_entities::users, views::user::CurrentResponse};

async fn current_by_api_key(
    auth: middleware::auth::ApiToken<users::Model>,
    State(_ctx): State<AppContext>,
) -> Result<Response> {
    format::json(CurrentResponse::new(&auth.user))
}

pub fn routes() -> Routes {
    Routes::new()
        .prefix("user")
        .add("/current-api", get(current_by_api_key))
}

Requesting an API Authenticated Endpoint

To request an authenticated endpoint, you need to pass the API_KEY in the Authorization header.

Example Curl Request:

curl --location '127.0.0.1:3000/api/user/current-api' \
     --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
     --header 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY'

If the API_KEY is valid, you will get the response with the user details.