Getting started with Authress

Getting started only requires signing up for an account. In this process, you may choose a subdomain to access the Authress API. Each account gets its own Authress subdomain. After that is completed, follow these steps to implement authorization in any service.

Step 1: Register your identity provider or authentication provider with Authress.

You can use Authress out of the box with any identity provider that uses OIDC compliant JWTs. Grab a JWT from Auth0, Okta, Google, or your preferred provider and paste it in the Authress Management Portal.

Step 2: Download the SDK

After linking the identity provider, download the SDK for your service. Authress has SDKs for the most common languages, to make it easier to integrate without having to write any additional code. If we don’t have the one you are looking for, just let us know and we’ll work on releasing it. We know you want get authorization right, so we’ve done as much of the heavy lifting as possible.

We also offer a first-class API, if you would prefer to integrate with it directly: Authress API.

The integration allows you to authorize users in your application services. Normally your application receives an Authorization Header containing a Bearer token. Just pass that token to the Authress SDK and call the relevant AuthorizeUser method. This will verify that the user has the correct authorization to access the resource with the specified permission.

Step 3: Create access records

When your services create new resources, you’ll want to create an access record authorizing the user creating the resource with Authress. This provides the creating user ownership over the resource.

Going further

Authress has provided builtin roles to help carefully configure your access records exactly as you need them. Additional roles can be created in the Authress Management Portal, as well as access records, and service clients to match exactly what your services need.