WorkOS 2022 Winter Release Recap

We’ve shipped a lot of exciting new updates to the WorkOS platform during the first quarter of 2022! We shared these updates during our Winter Release event which you can watch on YouTube. Here’s a summary of everything we’ve released so far:

New Java SDK

We’re excited to announce the official release of the WorkOS Java SDK. The SDK source is written in Kotlin and can be found on GitHub We’ve also created example Java applications to help with integration and troubleshooting.

The SDK can be installed from the Maven Central repository. Installation instructions for all supported package managers can be found on the Maven Central package.

New Support role

We’ve expanded our user roles to give you controlled access to your WorkOS Dashboard.

• We’ve renamed the “Member” role to “Developer” to better describe the scope. This role will continue to have environment and resource configuration privileges.
• The new Support role is scoped to creating, deleting, and modifying Connections and Directory resources. It’s intended for Support Specialists and Account Managers without exposing aspects of developer integration.

We recommend you revisit your workspace permissions and reassign users accordingly.

New SAML and SCIM providers

We’ve recently added support for multiple SAML and SCIM providers through the WorkOS SSO integration and Admin Portal.

SAML providers:

• Keycloack
• Salesforce
• miniOrange
• CAS
• ClassLink
• Oracle SAML

SCIM providers:

• HiBob
• PingFederate
• OneLogin
• CyberArk

A New Multi-Factor Authentication API

We released a new Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) API in preview. It will enable you to easily add support for the following authentication factors:

• Time-based one-time passwords (TOTP)
• One time password via SMS message

The API is composable so that it can fit within any authentication flow. Check out the demo down below to see what it looks like in action.

If you’re interested in having the MFA API enabled for your WorkOS account, contact our support team at support@workos.com

Easier onboarding using Setup Links

The Admin Portal is a setup experience that allows IT admins to easily set up and manage their Identity/ Directory Provider of choice. Previously, the only way to offer this experience was by programmatically integrating it within your app. You would need to generate a Setup Link via the API and redirect users to the Admin Portal.

  
    await workos.portal.generateLink({
      intent:'sso',
      organization:'org_123',
      returnUrl: 'https://example.com'
    });
  

This method still works, but we also introduced a new no-code solution that allows you to generate links from your WorkOS dashboard.

When sharing a generated link with an IT admin, it will be valid for 30 days or until an SSO/Directory connection is configured.

Check out the demo down below to see them in action.

Dynamic SAML configuration using Metadata

Configuring SAML generally requires you to collect multiple pieces of information: the IdP URI, IdP SSO URL, and an X.509 certificate. This certificate expires (usually after 1-2 years) and it must be kept up-to-date. Otherwise, the authentication flow will break.

In order to streamline onboarding, maintenance, and interoperability with Identity Providers, we’ve introduced Dynamic SAML configuration from Metadata: all of the necessary information is collected via the Metadata URL or XML files depending on the Identity Provider.

This greatly simplifies the setup process of a new SSO connection and means that you don’t have to worry about certificates expiring since they get automatically updated.

Check out the demo down below to see what the experience looks like.

Custom Attribute Mapping

By default, WorkOS maps core attributes such as name and email for Directory Sync. However, if developers needed to add more attributes from user profiles, they had to delve into “raw_attributes”, which varied by each directory provider.

Now we allow developers to define Custom Attributes which will be available on user Profile objects from WorkOS.

Check out the demo below to see how you can configure custom attribute mapping from the WorkOS dashboard.

Final thoughts

This quarter has been packed with a lot of awesome new updates! We look forward to launching more things next quarter.