djangorestframework-simplejwt 2.1

A minimal JSON Web Token authentication plugin for Django REST Framework

A JSON Web Token authentication plugin for the Django REST Framework.

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Simple JWT provides a JSON Web Token authentication backend for the Django REST Framework. It aims to provide an out-of-the-box solution for JWT authentication which avoids some of the common pitfalls of the JWT specification. Below, we list some of the major goals of the project:

Discourage crypto negotiation

Protocols which allow for negotiation of crypto algorithms (this includes JWT) are generally considered to be weak by design. Simple JWT assumes that most use cases will be covered by sha-256 HMAC signing with a shared secret.

Object-oriented API

Simple JWT strives to implement its functionality in an object-oriented way. Some behavior can be customized through settings variables, but it is expected that the rest will be handled through subclassing. Following from this, people wishing to customize the finer details of Simple JWT’s behavior are expected to become familiar with the library’s classes and the relationships there between.

Safe defaults, predictability

Assuming users of the library don’t extensively and invasively subclass everything, Simple JWT’s overall behavior shouldn’t be surprising. Settings variable defaults should be safe. Where authentication and authorization are concerned, it should be hard to shoot oneself in the foot.

Installation

Simple JWT can be installed with pip:

pip install djangorestframework_simplejwt

Then, your django project must be configured to use the library. In settings.py, add rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTAuthentication to the list of authentication classes:

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    ...
    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
        ...
        'rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTAuthentication',
    )
    ...
}

Also, in your root urls.py file (or any other url config), include routes for Simple JWT’s TokenObtainPairView and TokenRefreshView views:

from rest_framework_simplejwt.views import (
    TokenObtainPairView,
    TokenRefreshView,
)

urlpatterns = [
    ...
    url(r'^api/token/$', TokenObtainPairView.as_view(), name='token_obtain_pair'),
    url(r'^api/token/refresh/$', TokenRefreshView.as_view(), name='token_refresh'),
    ...
]

Usage

To verify that Simple JWT is working, you can use curl to issue a couple of test requests:

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username": "davidattenborough", "password": "boatymcboatface"}' \
  http://localhost:8000/api/token/

...
{
  "access":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyX3BrIjoxLCJ0b2tlbl90eXBlIjoiYWNjZXNzIiwiY29sZF9zdHVmZiI6IuKYgyIsImV4cCI6MTIzNDU2LCJqdGkiOiJmZDJmOWQ1ZTFhN2M0MmU4OTQ5MzVlMzYyYmNhOGJjYSJ9.NHlztMGER7UADHZJlxNG0WSi22a2KaYSfd1S-AuT7lU",
  "refresh":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyX3BrIjoxLCJ0b2tlbl90eXBlIjoicmVmcmVzaCIsImNvbGRfc3R1ZmYiOiLimIMiLCJleHAiOjIzNDU2NywianRpIjoiZGUxMmY0ZTY3MDY4NDI3ODg5ZjE1YWMyNzcwZGEwNTEifQ.aEoAYkSJjoWH1boshQAaTkf8G3yn0kapko6HFRt7Rh4"
}

You can use the returned access token to prove authentication for a protected view:

curl \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyX3BrIjoxLCJ0b2tlbl90eXBlIjoiYWNjZXNzIiwiY29sZF9zdHVmZiI6IuKYgyIsImV4cCI6MTIzNDU2LCJqdGkiOiJmZDJmOWQ1ZTFhN2M0MmU4OTQ5MzVlMzYyYmNhOGJjYSJ9.NHlztMGER7UADHZJlxNG0WSi22a2KaYSfd1S-AuT7lU" \
  http://localhost:8000/api/some-protected-view/

When this short-lived access token expires, you can use the longer-lived refresh token to obtain another access token:

curl \
  -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"refresh":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyX3BrIjoxLCJ0b2tlbl90eXBlIjoicmVmcmVzaCIsImNvbGRfc3R1ZmYiOiLimIMiLCJleHAiOjIzNDU2NywianRpIjoiZGUxMmY0ZTY3MDY4NDI3ODg5ZjE1YWMyNzcwZGEwNTEifQ.aEoAYkSJjoWH1boshQAaTkf8G3yn0kapko6HFRt7Rh4"}' \
  http://localhost:8000/api/token/refresh/

...
{"access":"eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJ1c2VyX3BrIjoxLCJ0b2tlbl90eXBlIjoiYWNjZXNzIiwiY29sZF9zdHVmZiI6IuKYgyIsImV4cCI6MTIzNTY3LCJqdGkiOiJjNzE4ZTVkNjgzZWQ0NTQyYTU0NWJkM2VmMGI0ZGQ0ZSJ9.ekxRxgb9OKmHkfy-zs1Ro_xs1eMLXiR17dIDBVxeT-w"}

Settings

Some of Simple JWT’s behavior can be customized through settings variables in settings.py:

# Django project settings.py

from datetime import timedelta

...

SIMPLE_JWT = {
    'ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME': timedelta(minutes=5),
    'REFRESH_TOKEN_LIFETIME': timedelta(days=1),

    'SECRET_KEY': SECRET_KEY,  # Defaults to django project secret key

    'AUTH_HEADER_TYPE': 'Bearer',
    'USER_ID_FIELD': 'id',
    'USER_ID_CLAIM': 'user_id',

    'AUTH_TOKEN_CLASS': 'rest_framework_simplejwt.tokens.AccessToken',
    'TOKEN_TYPE_CLAIM': 'token_type',

    'SLIDING_TOKEN_LIFETIME': timedelta(minutes=5),
    'SLIDING_TOKEN_REFRESH_LIFETIME': timedelta(days=1),
    'SLIDING_TOKEN_REFRESH_EXP_CLAIM': 'refresh_exp',
}

Above, the default values for these settings are shown.

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ACCESS_TOKEN_LIFETIME

A datetime.timedelta object which specifies how long access tokens are valid. This timedelta value is added to the current UTC time during token generation to obtain the token’s default “exp” claim value.

REFRESH_TOKEN_LIFETIME

A datetime.timedelta object which specifies how long refresh tokens are valid. This timedelta value is added to the current UTC time during token generation to obtain the token’s default “exp” claim value.

SECRET_KEY

The secret key which is used to sign the content of generated tokens. This setting defaults to the value of the SECRET_KEY setting for your django project. Although this is the most reasonable default that Simple JWT can provide, it is recommended that developers change this setting to a value which is independent from the django project secret key. This will make changing the secret key used for tokens easier in the event that it is compromised.

AUTH_HEADER_TYPE

The authorization header type that will be checked for views that require authentication. For example, a value of 'Bearer' means that views requiring authentication would look for a header with the following format: Authorization: Bearer <token>.

USER_ID_FIELD

The database field from the user model that will be included in generated tokens to identify users. It is recommended that the value of this setting specifies a field which does not normally change once its initial value is chosen. For example, specifying a “username” or “email” field would be a poor choice since an account’s username or email might change depending on how account management in a given service is designed. This could allow a new account to be created with an old username while an existing token is still valid which uses that username as a user identifier.

USER_ID_CLAIM

The claim in generated tokens which will be used to store user identifiers. For example, a setting value of 'user_id' would mean generated tokens include a “user_id” claim that contains the user’s identifier.

AUTH_TOKEN_CLASS

A dot path to a class which specifies the type of token that is expected to prove authentication. More about this in the “Token types” section below.

TOKEN_TYPE_CLAIM

The claim name that is used to store a token’s type. More about this in the “Token types” section below.

SLIDING_TOKEN_LIFETIME

A datetime.timedelta object which specifies how long sliding tokens are valid to prove authentication. This timedelta value is added to the current UTC time during token generation to obtain the token’s default “exp” claim value. More about this in the “Sliding tokens” section below.

SLIDING_TOKEN_REFRESH_LIFETIME

A datetime.timedelta object which specifies how long sliding tokens are valid to be refreshed. This timedelta value is added to the current UTC time during token generation to obtain the token’s default “exp” claim value. More about this in the “Sliding tokens” section below.

SLIDING_TOKEN_REFRESH_EXP_CLAIM

The claim name that is used to store the exipration time of a sliding token’s refresh period. More about this in the “Sliding tokens” section below.

Token types

Simple JWT provides a number of token types which can be used for authorization. In a token’s payload, its type can be identified by the value of its token type claim, which is “token_type” by default. This may have a value of “access”, “refresh”, or “sliding”. The claim name used to store the type can be customized by changing the TOKEN_TYPE_CLAIM setting.

By default, Simple JWT expects an “access” token to prove authentication. The expected token type is determined by the value of the AUTH_TOKEN_CLASS setting. This setting contains a dot path to a token class and is normally set to 'rest_framework_simplejwt.tokens.AccessToken'. At present, the only other possible value for this setting is 'rest_framework_simplejwt.tokens.SlidingToken'.

Sliding tokens

Sliding tokens offer a more convenient experience to users of tokens with the trade-offs of being less secure and, in the case that the blacklist app is being used, less performant. A sliding token is one which contains both an an expiration claim and a refresh expiration claim. As long as the timestamp in a sliding token’s expiration claim has not passed, it can be used to prove authentication. Additionally, as long as the timestamp in its refresh expiration claim has not passed, it may also be submitted to a refresh view to get another copy of itself with a renewed expiration claim.

If you want to use sliding tokens, change the value of the AUTH_TOKEN_CLASS setting to 'rest_framework_simplejwt.tokens.SlidingToken'. Also, instead of defining urls for the TokenObtainPairView and TokenRefreshView views, define urls instead for the TokenObtainSlidingView and the TokenRefreshSlidingView:

from rest_framework_simplejwt.views import (
    TokenObtainSlidingView,
    TokenRefreshSlidingView,
)

urlpatterns = [
    ...
    url(r'^api/token/$', TokenObtainSlidingView.as_view(), name='token_obtain'),
    url(r'^api/token/refresh/$', TokenRefreshSlidingView.as_view(), name='token_refresh'),
    ...
]

Be aware that, if you are using the blacklist app, Simple JWT will validate all sliding tokens against the blacklist for each authenticated request. This will slightly reduce the performance of authenticated API views.

Blacklist app

Simple JWT includes an app that provides token blacklist functionality. To use this app, include it in your list of installed apps in settings.py:

# Django project settings.py

...

INSTALLED_APPS = (
    ...
    'rest_framework_simplejwt.token_blacklist',
    ...
}

Also, make sure to run python manage.py migrate to run the app’s migrations.

If the blacklist app is detected in INSTALLED_APPS, Simple JWT will add any generated refresh or sliding tokens to a list of outstanding tokens. It will also check that any refresh or sliding token does not appear in a blacklist of tokens before it considers it as valid.

The Simple JWT blacklist app implements its outstanding and blacklisted token lists using two model: OutstandingToken and BlacklistedToken. Model admins are defined for both of these models. To add a token to the blacklist, find its corresponding OutstandingToken record in the admin and use the admin again to create a BlacklistedToken record that points to the OutstandingToken record.

The blacklist app also provides a management command, flushexpiredtokens, which will delete any tokens from the outstanding list and blacklist that have expired. You should set up a cron job on your server or hosting platform which runs this command daily.

Experimental features

JWTTokenUserAuthentication backend

The JWTTokenUserAuthentication backend’s authenticate method does not perform a database lookup to obtain a user instance. Instead, it returns a rest_framework_simplejwt.models.TokenUser instance which acts as a stateless user object backed only by a validated token instead of a record in a database. This can facilitate developing single sign-on functionality between separately hosted Django apps which all share the same token secret key. To use this feature, add the rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTTokenUserAuthentication backend (instead of the default JWTAuthentication backend) to the Django REST Framework’s DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES config setting:

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
    ...
    'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
        ...
        'rest_framework_simplejwt.authentication.JWTTokenUserAuthentication',
    )
    ...
}

Acknowledgements

This project borrows code from the Django REST Framework as well as concepts from the implementation of another JSON web token library for the Django REST Framework, django-rest-framework-jwt. The licenses from both of those projects have been included in this repository in the “licenses” directory.