Client Credentials Exchange

Client Credentials Exchange

At the Client Credentials Exchange extensibility point, Hooks let you execute custom actions when an Access Token is issued through the Authentication API POST /oauth/token endpoint using the Client Credentials Flow. For example, you may deny the token from being issued, add custom claims to the access token, or modify its scopes. To learn more, read Client Credentials Flow.

Hooks at this extensibility point are blocking (synchronous), which means they execute as part of the trigger's process and prevent the rest of the Auth0 pipeline from running until the Hook is complete.

To learn about other extensibility points, read Extensibility Points.

Starter code and parameters

When creating a Hook executed at the Client Credentials Exchange extensibility point, you may find the following starter code helpful. Parameters that can be passed into and used by the Hook function are listed at the top of the code sample.

/**
@param {object} client - client information
@param {string} client.name - client name
@param {string} client.id - client ID
@param {string} client.tenant - Auth0 tenant name
@param {object} client.metadata - client metadata
@param {array|undefined} scope - either an array of strings representing the token's scope claim, or undefined
@param {string} audience - token's audience claim
@param {object} context - Auth0 context info
@param {object} context.webtask - Hook (webtask) context
@param {function} cb - function (error, accessTokenClaims)
*/

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
  var access_token = {};
  access_token.scope = scope; // do not remove this line

  // Modify scopes or add extra claims
  // access_token['https://example.com/claim'] = 'bar';
  // access_token.scope.push('extra');

  // Deny the token and respond with an OAuth2 error response
  // if (denyExchange) {
  //   // To return an HTTP 400 with { "error": "invalid_scope", "error_description": "Not authorized for this scope." }
  //   return cb(new InvalidScopeError('Not authorized for this scope.'));
  //
  //   // To return an HTTP 400 with { "error": "invalid_request", "error_description": "Not a valid request." }
  //   return cb(new InvalidRequestError('Not a valid request.'));
  //
  //   // To return an HTTP 500 with { "error": "server_error", "error_description": "A server error occurred." }
  //   return cb(new ServerError('A server error occurred.'));
  // }

  cb(null, access_token);
};

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Please note:

  • The callback function (cb) at the end of the sample code signals completion and must be included.

  • The line access_token.scope = scope ensures that all granted scopes will be present in the access token. Removing it will reset all scopes, and the token will include only scopes you add with the script.

Default response

When you run a Hook executed at the Client Credentials Exchange extensibility point, the default response object is:

{
  "scope": "array of strings"
}

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Starter code response

Once you've customized the starter code with your scopes and additional claims, you can test the Hook using the runner embedded in the Hook Editor. The runner simulates a call to the Hook with the same body and response that you would get with a Client Credentials Exchange.

When you run a Hook based on the starter code, the response object is:

{
  "audience": "https://my-tenant.auth0.com/api/v2/",
  "client": {
    "id": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
    "name": "client-name",
    "tenant": "my-tenant",
    "metadata": {
      "plan": "full"
    }
  },
  "scope": [
    "read:connections"
  ]
}

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Sample script: Add an additional scope to the access token

In this example, we use a Hook to add an additional scope to those already existing for the access token.

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
    // Scopes to be added
    var access_token = {};

    // Get the scope that's currently on the Access Token
    // and add it to the object we're working with
    // Do not remove this line!
    access_token.scope = scope;

    // Append the `read:resource` scope
    access_token.scope.push('read:resource');

    // Callback to indicate completion and to return new
    // array of scopes
    cb(null, access_token);
};

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To learn more, read Scopes.

Response

When we run this Hook, the response object is:

{
  "scope": [
    "read:connections",
    "read:resource"
  ]
}

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Sample script: Add a claim to the access token

In this example, we add a namespaced custom claim and its value to the access token. To learn more, read Create Namespaced Custom Claims.

You can add the following as claims to the issued token:

  • The scope property of the response object

  • Any properties with namespaced property names

The extensibility point ignores all other response object properties.

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
    // Claims to be added
    var access_token = {};

    // New claim to add to the token
    access_token['https://example.com/foo'] = 'bar';

    // Callback to indicate completion and to return new claim
    cb(null, access_token);
  };

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Response

When we run this Hook, the response object is:

{
  "https://example.com/foo": "bar"
}

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Sample script: Raise an error or deny an access token

In this example, we use custom Error objects to generate OAuth2 Error Responses. (To learn more, see OAuth2 RFC - Section 5.2 in the IETF Datatracker.)

If a plain JavaScript error is returned in the callback, such as:

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
    // Callback to indicate completion and to return new claim
    cb(new Error("Unknown error occurred.");
  };

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Then when you request a client_credentials grant from the /oauth/token endpoint, Auth0 will respond with:

HTTP 500
{ "error": "server_error", "error_description": "Unknown error occurred." }

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However, if you like additional control over the OAuth2 Error Response, three custom Error objects are available to use instead.

InvalidScopeError

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
    const invalidScope = ...; // determine if scope is valid

    if(invalidScope) {
      cb(new InvalidScopeError("Scope is not permitted."));
    }
  };

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Then when you request a client_credentials grant is from the /oauth/token endpoint, Auth0 responds with:

HTTP 400
{ "error": "invalid_scope", "error_description": "Scope is not permitted." }

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InvalidRequestError

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
    const invalidRequest = ...; // determine if request is valid

    if(invalidRequest) {
      cb(new InvalidRequestError("Bad request."));
    }
  };

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Then when you request a client_credentials grant from the /oauth/token endpoint, Auth0 will respond with:

HTTP 400
{ "error": "invalid_request", "error_description": "Bad request." }

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ServerError

module.exports = function(client, scope, audience, context, cb) {
    callOtherService(function(err, response) {
      if(err) {
        return cb(new ServerError("Error calling remote system: " + err.message));
      }
    });
  };

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Then when you request a client_credentials grant from the /oauth/token endpoint, Auth0 responds with:

HTTP 400
{ "error": "server_error", "error_description": "Error calling remote system: ..." }

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