Virgil Demo Backend for Node.js

This repository contains a sample backend code that demonstrates how to generate a Virgil JWT using the Javascript SDK

Do not use this authentication in production. Requests to a /virgil-jwt endpoint must be allowed for authenticated users. Use your application authorization strategy.

Prerequisites

• NodeJS from 10 to 13

Set up and run backend

Clone the repository from GitHub.

$ git clone https://github.com/VirgilSecurity/demo-backend-nodejs.git

Get Virgil Credentials

If you don't have an account yet, sign up for one using your e-mail.

You can download a ready-to-use .env file

1. Navigate to the Virgil Dashboard -> Your Application -> E3Kit Section.
2. Generate .env in the .env file section.
3. Download the generated file, paste it into the project root folder and rename it to .env.

Or you can add the parameters manually:

To generate a JWT the following values are required:

Variable Name	Description
APP_ID	ID of your Virgil Application.
APP_KEY	Private key of your App that is used to sign the JWTs.
APP_KEY_ID	ID of your App Key. A unique string value that identifies your account in the Virgil Cloud.

1. Copy and rename .env.example to .env.
2. Create Application in the Virgil Dashboard, copy its APP_ID to the .env file;
3. Create App Key and save it to APP_KEY line in the .env file;
4. Copy ID of the created key to APP_KEY_ID line in the .env file;

Install Dependencies and Run the Server

$ npm install
$ npm run start

Now, use your client code to make a request to get a JWT from the sample backend that is working on http://localhost:3000.

Specification

/authenticate endpoint

This endpoint is an example of users authentication. It takes user identity and responds with unique token.

POST https://localhost:3000/authenticate HTTP/1.1
Content-type: application/json;

{
    "identity": "string"
}

Response:

{
    "authToken": "string"
}

/virgil-jwt endpoint

This endpoint checks whether a user is authorized by an authorization header. It takes user's authToken, finds related user identity and generates a virgilToken (which is JSON Web Token) with this identity in a payload. Use this token to make authorized api calls to Virgil Cloud.

GET https://localhost:3000/virgil-jwt HTTP/1.1
Content-type: application/json;
Authorization: Bearer <authToken>

Response:

{
    "virgilToken": "string"
}

Virgil JWT Generation

To generate JWT, you need to use the JwtGenerator class from the SDK.

const virgilCrypto = new VirgilCrypto();

const generator = new JwtGenerator({
  appId: process.env.APP_ID,
  apiKeyId: process.env.APP_KEY_ID,
  apiKey: virgilCrypto.importPrivateKey(process.env.APP_KEY),
  accessTokenSigner: new VirgilAccessTokenSigner(virgilCrypto)
});

Then you need to provide an HTTP endpoint which will return the JWT with the user's identity as a JSON.

For more details take a look at the virgilToken.js file.

License

This library is released under the 3-clause BSD License.

Support

Our developer support team is here to help you. Find out more information on our Help Center.

You can find us on Twitter or send us email support@VirgilSecurity.com.

Also, get extra help from our support team on Slack.