Configuration
Authagonal is configured via appsettings.json or environment variables. Environment variables use __ as the section separator (e.g., Storage__ConnectionString).
Required Settings
Storage can be configured one of two ways — supply either Storage:ConnectionString or Storage:TableServiceUri (the managed-identity path, preferred in production).
| Setting | Env Variable | Description |
|---|---|---|
Storage:ConnectionString |
Storage__ConnectionString |
Azure Table Storage connection string with an account key. Suitable for dev / Azurite. |
Storage:TableServiceUri |
Storage__TableServiceUri |
Managed-identity Table Storage endpoint, e.g. https://{account}.table.core.windows.net/. Alternative to Storage:ConnectionString and preferred in production — authenticates via DefaultAzureCredential so no access key ever lands in a secret. The host must grant the workload identity the Storage Table Data Contributor role. |
Issuer |
Issuer |
The public base URL of this server (e.g., https://auth.example.com) |
Storage
| Setting | Env Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Storage:ConnectionString |
Storage__ConnectionString |
(none) | Connection string with account key (see Required Settings). |
Storage:TableServiceUri |
Storage__TableServiceUri |
(none) | Managed-identity Table Storage URI (see Required Settings). Takes precedence over Storage:ConnectionString when both are set. |
Storage:NameIndexesEnabled |
Storage__NameIndexesEnabled |
true |
Whether to maintain the UserFirstNames / UserLastNames prefix-search index tables that back admin name-prefix search. Set false on hosts that don’t expose admin name search to skip those writes. Scaling note: these indexes use a single hot partition and cap throughput at roughly 2,000 ops/sec at scale — disable them if you don’t need name search. |
LoginAppUrl |
LoginAppUrl |
/login |
Base URL the /connect/authorize endpoint redirects to for the login SPA (login, step-up, and consent screens). Set this when the login UI is served from a different origin than the server; defaults to the relative /login path served by the bundled SPA. |
Authentication
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
Authentication:CookieLifetimeHours |
48 |
Cookie session lifetime (sliding) |
Auth:MaxFailedAttempts |
5 |
Failed login attempts before account lockout |
Auth:LockoutDurationMinutes |
10 |
Account lockout duration after max failed attempts |
Auth:MaxRegistrationsPerIp |
5 |
Maximum registrations per IP address within the window |
Auth:RegistrationWindowMinutes |
60 |
Registration rate limiting window |
Auth:EmailVerificationExpiryHours |
24 |
Email verification link lifetime |
Auth:PasswordResetExpiryMinutes |
60 |
Password reset link lifetime |
Auth:MfaChallengeExpiryMinutes |
5 |
MFA challenge token lifetime |
Auth:MfaSetupTokenExpiryMinutes |
15 |
MFA setup token lifetime (for forced enrollment) |
Auth:Pbkdf2Iterations |
100000 |
PBKDF2 iteration count for password hashing |
Auth:RefreshTokenReuseGraceSeconds |
0 |
Opt-in grace window (seconds) for concurrent refresh token reuse. 0 (default) keeps the strict posture: any reuse of a consumed refresh token revokes all tokens for that user+client. Set > 0 to treat a reuse within the window as an idempotent retry (re-delivers the successor tokens) — useful for mobile clients with connectivity flaps. |
Auth:DynamicClientRegistrationEnabled |
false |
Enable the POST /connect/register dynamic client registration endpoint (RFC 7591). Off by default because open registration can be abused in multi-tenant deployments. See Dynamic Client Registration. |
Auth:SigningKeyLifetimeDays |
90 |
RSA signing key lifetime before automatic rotation |
Auth:SigningKeyCacheRefreshMinutes |
60 |
How often signing keys are reloaded from storage |
Auth:KeyRotationEnabled |
false |
Enable automatic signing key rotation |
Auth:KeyRotationCheckIntervalMinutes |
360 |
How often to check if the active key needs rotation |
Auth:KeyRotationLeadTimeDays |
14 |
Rotate when the active key expires within this many days |
Auth:SecurityStampRevalidationMinutes |
30 |
Interval between cookie security stamp checks |
DataProtection:BlobUri |
(none) | Azure Blob URI for persisting data protection keys across instances |
Cache and Timeouts
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
Cache:CorsCacheMinutes |
60 |
How long CORS allowed origins are cached |
Cache:OidcDiscoveryCacheMinutes |
60 |
OIDC discovery document cache duration |
Cache:SamlMetadataCacheMinutes |
60 |
SAML IdP metadata cache duration |
Cache:OidcStateLifetimeMinutes |
10 |
OIDC authorization state parameter lifetime |
Cache:SamlReplayLifetimeMinutes |
10 |
SAML AuthnRequest ID lifetime (replay prevention) |
Cache:HealthCheckTimeoutSeconds |
5 |
Table Storage health check timeout |
Background Services
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
BackgroundServices:TokenCleanupDelayMinutes |
5 |
Initial delay before first expired token cleanup |
BackgroundServices:TokenCleanupIntervalMinutes |
60 |
Expired token cleanup interval |
BackgroundServices:GrantReconciliationDelayMinutes |
10 |
Initial delay before first grant reconciliation |
BackgroundServices:GrantReconciliationIntervalMinutes |
30 |
Grant reconciliation interval |
Clients
Clients are defined in the Clients array and seeded on startup. Each client can have:
{
"Clients": [
{
"ClientId": "my-app",
"ClientName": "My Application",
"ClientSecretHashes": ["sha256-hash-here"],
"AllowedGrantTypes": ["authorization_code"],
"RedirectUris": ["https://app.example.com/callback"],
"PostLogoutRedirectUris": ["https://app.example.com"],
"AllowedScopes": ["openid", "profile", "email", "custom-scope"],
"AllowedCorsOrigins": ["https://app.example.com"],
"RequirePkce": true,
"RequireClientSecret": false,
"AllowOfflineAccess": true,
"AlwaysIncludeUserClaimsInIdToken": false,
"AccessTokenLifetimeSeconds": 1800,
"IdentityTokenLifetimeSeconds": 300,
"AuthorizationCodeLifetimeSeconds": 300,
"AbsoluteRefreshTokenLifetimeSeconds": 2592000,
"SlidingRefreshTokenLifetimeSeconds": 1296000,
"RefreshTokenUsage": "OneTime",
"MfaPolicy": "Enabled",
"RequireConsent": false,
"BackChannelLogoutUri": "https://app.example.com/logout-callback",
"ProvisioningApps": ["my-backend"]
}
]
}
Grant Types
| Grant Type | Use Case |
|---|---|
authorization_code |
Interactive user login (web apps, SPAs, mobile) |
client_credentials |
Service-to-service communication |
refresh_token |
Token renewal (requires AllowOfflineAccess: true) |
urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code |
Device authorization grant (RFC 8628) for input-constrained devices |
Refresh Token Usage
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
OneTime (default) |
Each refresh issues a new refresh token and invalidates the old one. By default (Auth:RefreshTokenReuseGraceSeconds = 0) any reuse of a consumed token immediately revokes all tokens for that user+client — there is no grace window on by default. Set Auth:RefreshTokenReuseGraceSeconds to a positive value to opt into a retry-tolerance window. |
ReUse |
Same refresh token is reused until expiry. |
Provisioning Apps
The ProvisioningApps array references app IDs defined in the ProvisioningApps configuration section. When a user authorizes through this client, they are provisioned into those apps via TCC. See Provisioning for details.
Provisioning Apps
Define downstream applications that users should be provisioned into:
{
"ProvisioningApps": {
"my-backend": {
"CallbackUrl": "https://api.example.com/provisioning",
"ApiKey": "secret-api-key"
},
"analytics": {
"CallbackUrl": "https://analytics.example.com/provisioning",
"ApiKey": "another-key"
}
}
}
See Provisioning for the full TCC protocol specification.
MFA Policy
Multi-factor authentication is enforced per-client via the MfaPolicy property:
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
Disabled (default) |
No MFA challenge, even if the user has MFA enrolled |
Enabled |
Challenge users who have MFA enrolled; don’t force enrollment |
Required |
Challenge enrolled users; force enrollment for users without MFA |
{
"Clients": [
{
"ClientId": "secure-app",
"MfaPolicy": "Required"
}
]
}
When MfaPolicy is Required and the user hasn’t enrolled MFA, login returns { mfaSetupRequired: true, setupToken: "..." }. The setup token authenticates the user to the MFA setup endpoints (via X-MFA-Setup-Token header) so they can enroll before getting a cookie session.
Federated logins (SAML/OIDC) skip MFA — the external identity provider handles it.
IAuthHook Override
The IAuthHook.ResolveMfaPolicyAsync method can override the client policy per-user:
public Task<MfaPolicy> ResolveMfaPolicyAsync(
string userId, string email, MfaPolicy clientPolicy,
string clientId, CancellationToken ct)
{
// Force MFA for admin users regardless of client setting
if (email.EndsWith("@admin.example.com"))
return Task.FromResult(MfaPolicy.Required);
return Task.FromResult(clientPolicy);
}
Password Policy
Customize password strength requirements:
{
"PasswordPolicy": {
"MinLength": 10,
"MinUniqueChars": 3,
"RequireUppercase": true,
"RequireLowercase": true,
"RequireDigit": true,
"RequireSpecialChar": false
}
}
| Property | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
MinLength |
8 |
Minimum password length |
MinUniqueChars |
2 |
Minimum number of distinct characters |
RequireUppercase |
true |
Require at least one uppercase letter |
RequireLowercase |
true |
Require at least one lowercase letter |
RequireDigit |
true |
Require at least one digit |
RequireSpecialChar |
true |
Require at least one non-alphanumeric character |
The policy is enforced on password reset and admin user registration. The login UI fetches the active policy from GET /api/auth/password-policy to display requirements dynamically.
SAML Providers
Define SAML identity providers in configuration. These are seeded on startup:
{
"SamlProviders": [
{
"ConnectionId": "azure-ad",
"ConnectionName": "Azure AD",
"EntityId": "https://auth.example.com",
"MetadataLocation": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant}/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml",
"AllowedDomains": ["example.com", "example.org"]
}
]
}
| Property | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
ConnectionId |
Yes | Stable identifier (used in URLs like /saml/{connectionId}/login) |
ConnectionName |
No | Display name (defaults to ConnectionId) |
EntityId |
Yes | SAML Service Provider entity ID |
MetadataLocation |
Yes | URL to the IdP’s SAML metadata XML |
AllowedDomains |
No | Email domains routed to this provider via SSO |
OIDC Providers
Define OIDC identity providers in configuration. These are seeded on startup:
{
"OidcProviders": [
{
"ConnectionId": "google",
"ConnectionName": "Google",
"MetadataLocation": "https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration",
"ClientId": "your-client-id",
"ClientSecret": "your-client-secret",
"RedirectUrl": "https://auth.example.com/oidc/callback",
"AllowedDomains": ["example.com"]
}
]
}
| Property | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
ConnectionId |
Yes | Stable identifier (used in URLs like /oidc/{connectionId}/login) |
ConnectionName |
No | Display name (defaults to ConnectionId) |
MetadataLocation |
Yes | URL to the IdP’s OpenID Connect discovery document |
ClientId |
Yes | OAuth2 client ID registered with the IdP |
ClientSecret |
Yes | OAuth2 client secret (protected via ISecretProvider at startup) |
RedirectUrl |
Yes | OAuth2 redirect URI registered with the IdP |
AllowedDomains |
No | Email domains routed to this provider via SSO |
Note: Providers can also be managed at runtime via the Admin API. Config-seeded providers are upserted on every startup, so config changes take effect on restart.
Secret Provider
Upstream OIDC client secrets and TOTP / MFA seeds can be stored in Azure Key Vault instead of in plaintext:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
SecretProvider:VaultUri |
Key Vault URI (e.g., https://my-vault.vault.azure.net/). If not set, the plaintext provider is used and secrets are stored as-is in Table Storage. |
When configured, secret values that look like Key Vault references are resolved at runtime. Uses DefaultAzureCredential for authentication.
⚠️ Production: set
SecretProvider:VaultUri. The default secret provider is plaintext. WhenSecretProvider:VaultUriis unset, upstream OIDC client secrets and TOTP / MFA seeds are written to Azure Table Storage in cleartext — and therefore appear in cleartext in any backup. For any production deployment, configureSecretProvider:VaultUriso these secrets are stored in Key Vault.
Admin API
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
AdminApi:Enabled |
true |
Enabled by default. Set to false to disable all admin endpoints (they won’t be registered). |
AdminApi:Scope |
authagonal-admin |
JWT scope required to access admin endpoints. Change this to match your existing scope name (e.g., projects-identity-admin for IdentityServer migrations). |
⚠️ The admin API is enabled by default and is highly privileged. The admin scope grants full management and user impersonation — anyone holding a token with
AdminApi:Scopecan mint tokens for any user, manage clients, and read/write all configuration. Network-restrict the admin endpoints (the/api/v1/*admin routes), and tightly control who can be issued the admin scope. As a defence-in-depth measure the scope is reserved: it can never be granted to an OAuth client (see Admin API) and cannot be issued through the impersonation endpoint. SetAdminApi:Enabled = falseentirely if the admin API is not used.
Consent
Per-client consent can be enabled with the RequireConsent property:
| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
false (default) |
Authorization proceeds immediately after authentication |
true |
User is shown a consent screen listing requested scopes. Consent is persisted for 5 years and re-prompted only when new scopes are requested. |
Users can view and revoke their consent grants at GET /consent/grants and DELETE /consent/grants/{clientId}.
Back-Channel Logout
Register a BackChannelLogoutUri on a client to receive OIDC Back-Channel Logout 1.0 notifications. When a user logs out, Authagonal sends a signed logout token (JWT) to each client’s registered URI.
{
"Clients": [
{
"ClientId": "my-app",
"BackChannelLogoutUri": "https://app.example.com/logout-callback"
}
]
}
By default, Authagonal uses a no-op email service that silently discards all emails. To enable email delivery, register an IEmailService implementation before calling AddAuthagonal().
The built-in EmailService uses Resend. To use it, register it explicitly:
services.AddSingleton<IEmailService, EmailService>();
services.AddAuthagonal(configuration);
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
Email:ResendApiKey |
Resend API key for sending emails |
Email:SenderEmail |
Sender email address |
Email:SenderName |
Sender display name (defaults to "Authagonal") |
Emails to @example.com addresses are silently skipped (useful for testing).
Cluster
Authagonal instances automatically form a cluster to share rate limit state. Clustering is enabled by default with zero configuration.
| Setting | Env Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Cluster:Enabled |
Cluster__Enabled |
true |
Master switch for clustering. Set to false for local-only rate limiting. |
Cluster:MulticastGroup |
Cluster__MulticastGroup |
239.42.42.42 |
UDP multicast group for peer discovery |
Cluster:MulticastPort |
Cluster__MulticastPort |
19847 |
UDP multicast port for peer discovery |
Cluster:InternalUrl |
Cluster__InternalUrl |
(none) | Load-balanced fallback URL for gossip when multicast is unavailable |
Cluster:Secret |
Cluster__Secret |
(none) | Shared secret required on the internal-only endpoints (/_internal/cluster/gossip and /_internal/backchannel-logout). When set, callers must present it in the X-Cluster-Secret header (compared in constant time). When unset, those endpoints are reachable only from loopback / private (RFC 1918 / link-local / ULA) source IPs — an external request carrying a public IP is rejected. Recommended whenever InternalUrl routes gossip through a load balancer. |
Cluster:GossipIntervalSeconds |
Cluster__GossipIntervalSeconds |
5 |
How often instances exchange rate limit state |
Cluster:DiscoveryIntervalSeconds |
Cluster__DiscoveryIntervalSeconds |
10 |
How often instances announce themselves via multicast |
Cluster:PeerStaleAfterSeconds |
Cluster__PeerStaleAfterSeconds |
30 |
Drop peers not heard from after this many seconds |
Zero-config (default): Instances discover each other via UDP multicast. Works in Kubernetes, Docker Compose, or any shared network.
Multicast disabled (e.g., some cloud VPCs):
{
"Cluster": {
"InternalUrl": "http://authagonal-auth.svc.cluster.local:8080",
"Secret": "shared-secret-here"
}
}
Clustering fully disabled:
{
"Cluster": {
"Enabled": false
}
}
See Scaling for more details on how distributed rate limiting works.
Forwarded Headers (trusted proxy)
Authagonal keys rate limiting and account lockout on the client IP, and only emits HSTS on HTTPS requests. Behind a reverse proxy / ingress, the real client IP and scheme arrive in the X-Forwarded-For / X-Forwarded-Proto headers. These settings control which proxy hops are trusted to set those values, so a caller can’t spoof X-Forwarded-For to forge the client IP.
| Setting | Env Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
ForwardedHeaders:ForwardLimit |
ForwardedHeaders__ForwardLimit |
1 |
Number of proxy hops to honour from the right of the X-Forwarded-For chain. The default of 1 trusts only the single hop your ingress appends and ignores anything further left in the chain. |
ForwardedHeaders:KnownNetworks |
ForwardedHeaders__KnownNetworks__0 (array) |
(empty) | CIDR ranges (string array, e.g. "10.0.0.0/8") permitted to set forwarded headers. Strongest guarantee: set this to your ingress / pod CIDR so only that network may set the client IP. |
ForwardedHeaders:KnownProxies |
ForwardedHeaders__KnownProxies__0 (array) |
(empty) | Individual proxy IP addresses (string array) permitted to set forwarded headers. Use alongside or instead of KnownNetworks. |
{
"ForwardedHeaders": {
"ForwardLimit": 1,
"KnownNetworks": ["10.244.0.0/16"],
"KnownProxies": []
}
}
⚠️ TLS-terminating proxy required. Authagonal must run behind a TLS-terminating reverse proxy. The session cookie uses
SecurePolicy = SameAsRequestand HSTS (Strict-Transport-Security) is only emitted on HTTPS requests, so the proxy must forwardX-Forwarded-Proto: httpsfor cookies to be markedSecureand HSTS to be sent. ConfigureForwardedHeaders:KnownNetworks/ForwardedHeaders:KnownProxiesto your trusted proxy so the scheme and client IP cannot be spoofed.
Rate Limiting
Built-in per-IP rate limits are enforced across all instances via the cluster gossip protocol:
| Endpoint | Limit | Window |
|---|---|---|
POST /api/auth/register |
5 registrations | 1 hour |
When clustering is enabled, these limits are consolidated across all instances. When disabled, each instance enforces its own limit independently.
CORS
CORS is configured dynamically. Origins from all registered clients’ AllowedCorsOrigins are automatically allowed, with a 60-minute cache.
HashiCorp Vault Transit
Authagonal can sign JWTs using HashiCorp Vault’s Transit secrets engine. Private keys never leave Vault — only the signing operation is delegated remotely. Public keys are cached locally for verification.
This is configured programmatically when hosting as a library. See Extensibility for details.
Full Example
{
"Storage": {
"TableServiceUri": "https://myaccount.table.core.windows.net/",
"NameIndexesEnabled": true
},
"Issuer": "https://auth.example.com",
"LoginAppUrl": "/login",
"Auth": {
"MaxFailedAttempts": 5,
"LockoutDurationMinutes": 10,
"MaxRegistrationsPerIp": 5,
"RegistrationWindowMinutes": 60,
"EmailVerificationExpiryHours": 24,
"PasswordResetExpiryMinutes": 60,
"Pbkdf2Iterations": 100000,
"RefreshTokenReuseGraceSeconds": 0,
"DynamicClientRegistrationEnabled": false,
"SigningKeyLifetimeDays": 90
},
"SecretProvider": {
"VaultUri": "https://my-vault.vault.azure.net/"
},
"ForwardedHeaders": {
"ForwardLimit": 1,
"KnownNetworks": ["10.244.0.0/16"]
},
"Cluster": {
"Enabled": true,
"Secret": "shared-secret-here"
},
"AdminApi": {
"Enabled": true,
"Scope": "authagonal-admin"
},
"Authentication": {
"CookieLifetimeHours": 48
},
"PasswordPolicy": {
"MinLength": 8,
"RequireUppercase": true,
"RequireLowercase": true,
"RequireDigit": true,
"RequireSpecialChar": true
},
"Email": {
"ResendApiKey": "re_xxx",
"SenderEmail": "noreply@example.com",
"SenderName": "Example Auth"
},
"SamlProviders": [
{
"ConnectionId": "azure-ad",
"ConnectionName": "Azure AD",
"EntityId": "https://auth.example.com",
"MetadataLocation": "https://login.microsoftonline.com/{tenant}/FederationMetadata/2007-06/FederationMetadata.xml",
"AllowedDomains": ["example.com"]
}
],
"OidcProviders": [
{
"ConnectionId": "google",
"ConnectionName": "Google",
"MetadataLocation": "https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration",
"ClientId": "...",
"ClientSecret": "...",
"RedirectUrl": "https://auth.example.com/oidc/callback",
"AllowedDomains": ["gmail.com"]
}
],
"ProvisioningApps": {
"backend": {
"CallbackUrl": "https://api.example.com/provisioning",
"ApiKey": "secret"
}
},
"Clients": [
{
"ClientId": "web",
"ClientName": "Web App",
"AllowedGrantTypes": ["authorization_code"],
"RedirectUris": ["https://app.example.com/callback"],
"PostLogoutRedirectUris": ["https://app.example.com"],
"AllowedScopes": ["openid", "profile", "email"],
"AllowedCorsOrigins": ["https://app.example.com"],
"RequirePkce": true,
"RequireClientSecret": false,
"AllowOfflineAccess": true,
"MfaPolicy": "Enabled",
"RequireConsent": false,
"BackChannelLogoutUri": "https://app.example.com/logout-callback",
"ProvisioningApps": ["backend"]
}
]
}