How to transition from Personal Access Token to JWT in Zitadel Integration

Hi there,

Transitioning from using Personal Access Tokens to JWT JSON Web Tokens for authentication in Zitadel integration would require quite a bit of refactoring.

You will need to set up JWT-based authentication in your application and modifying your API calls to use JWTs instead of Personal Access Tokens.

Here’s a basic guide on how this might look:

Implementing the JWT-Based Authentication Flow

1. Initiate User Authentication:

   • Direct users to sign in or sign up on auth.example.com.
   • Authenticate these requests against Zitadel’s authentication service.
   • On successful authentication, Zitadel will issue a JWT.

2. Set Up OAuth 2.0 Flow: If you’re using OAuth 2.0 flows, you’ll redirect users to Zitadel’s authorization endpoint:

   • Redirect users to Zitadel’s OAuth 2.0 authorization endpoint.
   • Upon successful login, Zitadel redirects to your callback URL with an authorization code.
   • Exchange this code for a JWT at Zitadel’s token endpoint.

Handling JWT in Your Application

Next, once you have the JWT token, you’ll need to handle it in your application:

1. Store the JWT securely in your application context (e.g., in memory, session storage, or a secure cookie). Ensure it’s only accessible by the necessary parts of your application.

2. After that you can start using JWT in API Calls:

   • Replace the Personal Access Token with the JWT in your API calls.
   • Typically, the JWT is sent in the HTTP Authorization header using the Bearer schema:

     Authorization: Bearer <JWT_token>
     

Code Snippet for API Calls with JWT

Here’s an example of how you might modify an API call to use JWT in JavaScript:

const jwt = 'your_jwt_token'; // Replace with the actual JWT token
const apiUrl = 'https://api.zitadel.com/some_endpoint';

fetch(apiUrl, {
  method: 'GET', // or 'POST', 'PUT', etc.
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${jwt}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
})
.then(response => response.json())
.then(data => console.log(data))
.catch(error => console.error('Error:', error));

Always transmit JWTs over secure channels (HTTPS) and be cautious about where you store the JWT in the client-side environment. Consider using HTTPOnly cookies if applicable.

The Zitadel’s official documentation might be helpful for specific endpoints and detailed examples:

https://zitadel.com/docs/concepts/structure/jwt_idp

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

Bobby