A composable API for implementing multi-factor authentication.
The Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) API is intended to be a composable, unopinionated set of endpoints that can be integrated into existing application/session management strategies.
The available types of authentication factors are:
totp
– Time-based one-time passwordsms
– One-time password via SMS messageThe MFA API is not intended to be used with the WorkOS SSO feature. It’s recommended to leverage the MFA features of the Identity Provider that is powering your SSO implementation.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of enrolling new authentication factors for a user, and the challenge/verification process for existing authentication factors.
This guide will show you how to:
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As a best practice, your WorkOS API key should be kept secret and set as an environment variable on process start. The SDK is able to read the key automatically if you store it in an environment variable named WORKOS_API_KEY
; otherwise, you will need to set it manually. The Client ID should also be set dynamically based on the release environment.
WORKOS_API_KEY='sk_example_123456789' WORKOS_CLIENT_ID='client_123456789'
Use the TOTP type when the user is using a third-party authenticator app such as Google Authenticator or Authy.
import WorkOS from '@workos-inc/node'; const workos = new WorkOS('sk_example_123456789'); const factor = await workos.mfa.enrollFactor({ type: 'totp', issuer: 'Foo Corp', user: '[email protected]foo-corp.com', });
The response returns a qr_code
and a secret. The qr_code
value is a base64 encoded data URI that is used to display the QR code in your application for enrollment with an authenticator application.
The secret
can be entered into some authenticator applications in place of scanning a QR code.
Now that we’ve successfully created an authentication factor, we’ll need to save the ID for later use. It’s recommended that you persist the factor ID in your own user model according to your application’s needs.
Next we’ll initiate the authentication process for the newly created factor which we’ll refer to as a challenge.
import WorkOS from '@workos-inc/node'; const workos = new WorkOS('sk_example_123456789'); const challenge = await workos.mfa.challengeFactor({ authenticationFactorId: 'auth_factor_01FVYZ5QM8N98T9ME5BCB2BBMJ', });
Now that we’ve successfully challenged the authentication factor, we’ll need to save the challenge ID for the last step, challenge verification.
The last step in the authentication process is to verify the one time password provided by the end-user.
import WorkOS from '@workos-inc/node'; const workos = new WorkOS('sk_example_123456789'); const { challenge, valid } = await workos.mfa.verifyChallenge({ authenticationChallengeId: 'auth_challenge_01FVYZWQTZQ5VB6BC5MPG2EYC5', code: '123456', });
If the challenge is successfully verified valid
will return true
. Otherwise it will return false
and another verification attempt must be made.
{ "challenge": { "object": "authentication_challenge", "id": "auth_challenge_01FVYZWQTZQ5VB6BC5MPG2EYC5", "created_at": "2022-02-15T15:26:53.274Z", "updated_at": "2022-02-15T15:26:53.274Z", "expires_at": "2022-02-15T15:36:53.279Z", "authentication_factor_id": "auth_factor_01FVYZ5QM8N98T9ME5BCB2BBMJ" }, "valid": true }
If a challenge was already successfully verified, it cannot be used a second time. If further verification is needed in your application, create a new challenge.
{ "code": "authentication_challenge_previously_verified", "message": "The authentication challenge 'auth_challenge_01FVYZWQTZQ5VB6BC5MPG2EYC5' has already been verified." }
For SMS authentication factors, challenges are only available for verification for 10 minutes. After that they are expired and cannot be verified.
{ "code": "authentication_challenge_expired", "message": "The authentication challenge 'auth_challenge_01FVYZWQTZQ5VB6BC5MPG2EYC5' has expired." }
We’ve now successfully verified an end-user’s authentication factor. This authentication factor can now be used as a second factor of authentication in your application’s existing authentication strategy.
The ID of the authentication factor should be persisted in your application for future authentication challenges.