Overview of User Authentication Flows

Owned by Former user (Deleted)
Last updated: Jul 15, 2024 by Vedat Ekiz
6 min read

As mentioned above, Gini Pay API supports different authentication flows, depending on the use case. The API differentiates between anonymous and derived users. Client credentials (that you received when you registered your application) support either derived or anonymous user flows.

  • Anonymous users are identified by username and password. You create them explicitly for your untrusted devices.

  • Derived users are identified by their username only, specified by X-User-Identifier header. The value is up to you, usually a stable hash of your internal user identifier. A derived user is automatically created if it doesn't exist already. It is unique for the client.

There are currently 4 different authentication flows possible with our API.

Communication from a trusted device using a derived user

Basic Authentication

Communicate with Gini Pay API using client credentials (basic authentication) from a trusted device that is your trusted backend. A derived user is automatically created if it doesn't exist already.

curl -v -H 'Accept: application/vnd.gini.v1+json' -u 'client-id:client-secret' -H 'X-User-Identifier: user_hash_123' https://pay-api.gini.net/documents //example response { "documents": [ {...}, {...}, ... ] }

JWT Authentication

Communicate with Gini Pay API using JWT access token from a trusted device that is your trusted backend. A derived user is automatically created if it doesn't exist already.

 

x-jwt-option-1.1.png
//Upload document to Pay API with JWT access token curl -v -H 'Accept: application/vnd.gini.v1+json' -H 'X-JWT-Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCIgOiAiSldUIiwia2lkIiA6ICJpaURuUzZoaVU2MGFCNUVPUFZtQlhjRzZKaHFsenBxdlRKQVJ1SG5UWGVFIn0.eyJleHAiOjIwMjgwMjUzOTEsImlhdCI6MTcxMjY2NTM5MSwianRpIjoiN2RmZTVkYzYtMWIyYi00MzdhLWE2MTAtOWZmYWMwMGFlMTk1IiwiaXNzIjoiaHR0cDovL2xvY2FsaG9zdDo4MTgwL3JlYWxtcy9TcHJpbmdCb290S2V5Y2xvYWsiLCJzdWIiOiJkZDJiYjg3Mi1iMTc2LTRkNjktYTcyOC1lMTMzNzRkOWJhNDYiLCJ0eXAiOiJCZWFyZXIiLCJhenAiOiJsb2dpbi1hcHAiLCJzZXNzaW9uX3N0YXRlIjoiMjgxOTE5NDItYzc5ZS00ZTI0LTk5ODktNDQ4YjkzNWFjMmE2IiwiYWNyIjoiMSIsImFsbG93ZWQtb3JpZ2lucyI6WyJodHRwOi8vbG9jYWxob3N0OjgwODEiXSwicmVhbG1fYWNjZXNzIjp7InJvbGVzIjpbInVzZXIiXX0sInNjb3BlIjoicHJvZmlsZSBlbWFpbCBtaWNyb3Byb2ZpbGUtand0Iiwic2lkIjoiMjgxOTE5NDItYzc5ZS00ZTI0LTk5ODktNDQ4YjkzNWFjMmE2IiwieC11c2VyLWlkZW50aWZpZXIiOiJ1c2VyMSIsInVwbiI6InVzZXIxIiwieC1jbGllbnQtc2VjcmV0IjoiY2xpZW50U2VjcmV0IiwiZW1haWxfdmVyaWZpZWQiOnRydWUsIngtY2xpZW50LWlkIjoiY2xpZW50SWQiLCJuYW1lIjoiQmFuayBVc2VyIEZpcnN0IE5hbWUgQmFuayBVc2VyIExhc3QgTmFtZSIsImdyb3VwcyI6WyJ1c2VyIl0sInByZWZlcnJlZF91c2VybmFtZSI6InVzZXIxIiwiZ2l2ZW5fbmFtZSI6IkJhbmsgVXNlciBGaXJzdCBOYW1lIiwiZmFtaWx5X25hbWUiOiJCYW5rIFVzZXIgTGFzdCBOYW1lIiwiZW1haWwiOiJsb2NhbC1hZG1pbkBtYWlsLmNvbSJ9.MOOsftcPMA55aOGh9FwVXvW8Q-HfgFA9l7K9IaJJQQBkBkp4DfkO5ad9P17UWqhiLL20vjCVLP2Dv_fIx0lQQg2SZBBvKvyrssfI7XRTN4_aYVW-5-TVPGQiy_b-1iAQhZ9L6wGSlKUbrw5P_QockvkvqSlYs_LhMH7Rg6xjFVRMGzbAiQIY_8NpL5cRB8AxKJpepWKju4wnmeseoj9rnVqFfLodd7k6BYkTs52qcQj3d-6aZVeyGoEOU0xtFgGOUpwI_r_bh4EDq8zoTIsHwM5kx3AJL_BatdkQw5vj10GDtfmgd-oO2ABJHMnh15OawO9xRk5zY2kDcDM4R1LNOA' https://pay-api.gini.net/documents //example response { "documents": [ {...}, {...}, ... ] }

Communication from an untrusted device using a derived user

Basic Authentication

To communicate with Gini Pay API from untrusted devices by using basic authentication, acquire a token from Gini Pay API for the user and hand it over to the untrusted device. The user is derived/created from X-User-Identifier header. The value is up to you, often a stable hash of your internal user identifier.

//Acquire a token and hand it over to the untrusted device curl -v -X POST -H 'X-User-Identifier: user_hash_123' -H 'Accept: application/vnd.gini.v1+json' -u 'client-id:secret' 'https://pay-api.gini.net/login' //example response. refresh_token is optional. { "access_token": "S+YXT+XneST13aqoBRBgBiw6Quk=", "refresh_token": "5uKtqmB5ZMRajlauEl_SkxQkGWkM-9", "token_type": "bearer", "expires_in": 43199 } //Query API with the acquired token curl -X GET -i https://pay-api.gini.net/documents -H 'Authorization: BEARER S+YXT+XneST13aqoBRBgBiw6Quk=' -H 'Accept: application/vnd.gini.v1+json'

JWT Authentication

To communicate with Gini Pay API from untrusted devices by using JWT Authentication, acquire a JWT access token from your identity provider for the user, use this JWT access token to get Gini access token from Gini Pay API and hand it over to the untrusted device. The user is derived/created from x-user-identifier custom claim that is embedded in the JWT access token. The value is up to you, often a stable hash of your internal user identifier.

 

If your client is configured, you will also receive a refresh_token in the /login response.

Communication from both trusted and untrusted devices using a derived user

When you communicate with our API from a trusted device using client credentials or JWT access token (option 1), a derived user is automatically created for a given X-User-Identifier when it's specified for the first time. From then on, the derived user stays fixed for this client ID and X-User-Identifier. You can also acquire an access token for this user, so it can be used by an untrusted device. This scenario is valid when you have both trusted and untrusted devices communicating with our API and you don't want client credentials stored on an untrusted device.

Basic Authentication

JWT Authentication

 

If your client is configured, you will also receive a refresh_token in the /login response.

Communication from an untrusted device using an anonymous user

This is the only flow that requires communication with two APIs: the Pay API and the User Center API. This flow is done in 4 steps:

  1. Obtain the client token using client credentials

  2. Create a new user using the client token

  3. Log in on behalf of the user and acquire an access token

  4. Make API requests with the access token

Access tokens expire. So the last two steps should be repeated to refresh the token and hand it over to the untrusted device for use.