Automating Authentication Flows with JavaScript and Open Source Tools

Source: Dev.to

Introduction

In modern web development, building seamless and secure authentication workflows is critical for user experience and security compliance. Leveraging open‑source tools with JavaScript can significantly streamline and automate these processes. This guide explores how to automate authentication flows effectively, focusing on open‑source solutions such as OAuth 2.0 libraries, token management, and API integrations.

Tools

• Node.js – runtime environment
• Passport.js – handling various authentication protocols
• openid-client – OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect integrations
• Axios – API calls
• dotenv – environment variable management

Project Setup

npm init -y
npm install passport passport-oauth2 openid-client axios dotenv

Create a .env file to securely store credentials:

CLIENT_ID=your-client-id
CLIENT_SECRET=your-client-secret
ISSUER_URL=https://your-identity-provider.com
REDIRECT_URI=https://yourapp.com/callback

Discovering Provider Configuration

// openid-client discovery
const { Issuer } = require('openid-client');
require('dotenv').config();

(async () => {
  const issuer = await Issuer.discover(process.env.ISSUER_URL);
  const client = new issuer.Client({
    client_id: process.env.CLIENT_ID,
    client_secret: process.env.CLIENT_SECRET,
    redirect_uris: [process.env.REDIRECT_URI],
    response_types: ['code'],
  });
  // Continue with authentication flow...
})();

Generating the Authorization URL

const authorizationUrl = client.authorizationUrl({
  scope: 'openid profile email',
  state: 'some-random-state',
});
console.log('Visit this URL to authenticate:', authorizationUrl);

Handling the Callback and Token Exchange

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/callback', async (req, res) => {
  const params = client.callbackParams(req);
  const tokenSet = await client.callback(
    process.env.REDIRECT_URI,
    params,
    { state: 'some-random-state' }
  );
  console.log('Tokens:', tokenSet);
  res.send('Authentication successful!');
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

Refreshing Tokens with Axios

async function refreshTokens(refreshToken) {
  const tokenEndpoint = client.issuer.token_endpoint;
  const response = await axios.post(
    tokenEndpoint,
    new URLSearchParams({
      grant_type: 'refresh_token',
      refresh_token: refreshToken,
      client_id: process.env.CLIENT_ID,
      client_secret: process.env.CLIENT_SECRET,
    })
  );
  return response.data; // Contains new access and refresh tokens
}

Automation in DevOps Pipelines

By integrating these steps into your DevOps pipeline, you can create fully automated authentication workflows. Scripts can be triggered to:

• Refresh tokens periodically
• Handle user sessions without manual intervention

This modular setup also enables easy adaptation for different identity providers and protocols, making it a versatile solution for diverse enterprise needs.

Conclusion

Automating authentication flows with open‑source JavaScript tools enhances scalability and security. Leveraging libraries like openid-client and Axios within Node.js allows DevOps teams to streamline complex authentication procedures, reduce errors, and free resources for innovation.

References

• openid-client Documentation
• Passport.js
• OAuth 2.0 Framework

To test safely without using real user data, services such as TempoMail USA can be used.