For our new friends

Every app needs authentication and authorization. Logto is an Auth0 alternative designed for modern apps and SaaS products.

In this article, we will go through the steps to quickly build the GitHub sign-in experience (user authentication) with React and  Logto.

Prerequisites

• A running Logto instance. Check out the get started page if you don't have one.
• Basic knowledge of React.
• A usable GitHub account.

Create an application in Logto

In you browser, open a new tab and enter the link of Logto Admin Console.

Once the page is loaded, in the "Get Started" section click the View all link to open the application framework list page.

Choose your application type

In the opening modal, scroll to the "Single page app" section or filter all the available " Single page app" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left.

Click the "React" framework card to start creating your application.

Enter application name

Enter the application name, e.g., "Bookstore," and click "Create Application."

🎉 Ta-da! You just created your first application in Logto. You'll see a congrats page which includes a detailed integration guide. Follow the guide to see what the experience will be in your application.

Integrate Logto SDK

tip

• The sample project is available on our SDK repository.
• The tutorial video is available on our YouTube channel.

Installation

npm

npm i @logto/react

Yarn

yarn add @logto/react

pnpm

pnpm add @logto/react

Init LogtoClient

note

In the following code snippets, we assume your app is running on http://localhost:3000.

Import and use LogtoProvider to provide a Logto context:

import { LogtoProvider, LogtoConfig } from '@logto/react';

const config: LogtoConfig = {
  endpoint: '<your-logto-endpoint>', // E.g. http://localhost:3001
  appId: '<your-application-id>',
};

const App = () => (
  <LogtoProvider config={config}>
    <YourAppContent />
  </LogtoProvider>
);

Implement sign-in

The sign-in flow can be simplified as:

Configure sign-in redirect URI

Let's switch to the Application details page of Logto Console. Add a Redirect URI http://localhost:3000/callback and click "Save Changes".

Redirect URI is an OAuth 2.0 concept which implies the location should redirect after authentication.

Implement a sign-in button

We provide two hooks useHandleSignInCallback() and useLogto() which can help you easily manage the authentication flow.

note

Before calling .signIn(), make sure you have correctly configured Redirect URI in Admin Console.

Go back to your IDE/editor, use the following code to implement the sign-in button:

import { useLogto } from '@logto/react';

const SignIn = () => {
  const { signIn, isAuthenticated } = useLogto();

  if (isAuthenticated) {
    return <div>Signed in</div>;
  }

  return <button onClick={() => signIn('http://localhost:3000/callback')}>Sign In</button>;
};

Handle redirect

We're almost there! In the last step, we use http://localhost:3000/callback as the Redirect URI, and now we need to handle it properly.

First let's create a callback component:

import { useHandleSignInCallback } from '@logto/react';

const Callback = () => {
  const { isLoading } = useHandleSignInCallback(() => {
    // Navigate to root path when finished
  });

  // When it's working in progress
  if (isLoading) {
    return <div>Redirecting...</div>;
  }

  return null;
};

Finally insert the code below to create a /callback route which does NOT require authentication:

// Assuming react-router
<Route path="/callback" element={<Callback />} />

Implement sign-out

Calling .signOut() will clear all the Logto data in memory and localStorage if they exist.

After signing out, it'll be great to redirect your user back to your website. Let's add http://localhost:3000 as one of the Post Sign-out URIs in Admin Console (shows under Redirect URIs), and use the URL as the parameter when calling .signOut().

Implement a sign-out button

const SignOut = () => {
  const { signOut } = useLogto();

  return <button onClick={() => signOut('http://localhost:3000')}>Sign out</button>;
};

Handle authentication status

In Logto SDK, generally we can use logtoClient.isAuthenticated to check the authentication status, if the user is signed in, the value will be true, otherwise, the value will be false.

In Logto React SDK, the isAuthenticated status can be checked by using the useLogto hook. In the example code below, we can use it to programmatically show and hide the sign-in and sign-out buttons. And also use getIdTokenClaims to get the id of the currently logged-in user.

const Home = () => {
  const { isAuthenticated, getIdTokenClaims, signIn, signOut } = useLogto();
  const [userId, setUserId] = useState('');

  useEffect(() => {
    (async () => {
      if (isAuthenticated) {
        const claims = await getIdTokenClaims();
        setUserId(claims.sub);
      }
    })();
  }, [isAuthenticated]);

  return (
    <div>
      {userId && <p>Logged in as {userId}</p>}
      {isAuthenticated ? (
        <button onClick={signOut}>Sign Out</button>
      ) : (
        <button onClick={() => signIn('http://localhost:3000/callback')}>Sign In</button>
      )}
    </div>
  );
};

Test your integration

Open your React app to test if the integration works. When you click the "Sign In" button, the page should be redirected to a Logto sign-in page, and you should be able to create a new account by entering username and password and complete the sign-in process.

Add GitHub connector

To add a social connector, go to the "Connector" tab in the Admin Console, then click on "Social Connectors". From there, click "Add Social Connector".

In the openning modal, select "GitHub" and click "Next".

On the next page, you will see a two-column layout with the README content on the left and configuration on the right.

Feel free to follow the README file in place or read the following section to complete the configuration process. If you follow the in-place guide, you can skip the next section.

Set up GitHub OAuth app

Sign in with GitHub account

Go to the GitHub website and sign in with your GitHub account. You may register a new account if you don't have one.

Create and configure OAuth app

Follow the creating an OAuth App guide, and register a new application.

Name your new OAuth application in Application name and fill up Homepage URL of the app. You can leave Application description field blank and customize Authorization callback URL as ${your_logto_origin}/callback/${connector_id}. The connector_id can be found on the top bar of the Logto Admin Console connector details page.

Note: If you encounter the error message "The redirect_uri MUST match the registered callback URL for this application." when logging in, try aligning the Authorization Callback URL of your GitHub OAuth App and your Logto App's redirect URL (of course, including the protocol) to resolve the issue.

We suggest not to check the box before Enable Device Flow, or users who sign in with GitHub on mobile devices must confirm the initial sign-in action in the GitHub app. Many GitHub users do not install the GitHub mobile app on their phones, which could block the sign-in flow. Please ignore our suggestion if you are expecting end-users to confirm their sign-in flow. See details of device flow.

Managing OAuth apps

Go to the OAuth Apps page and you can add, edit or delete existing OAuth apps. You can also find Client ID and generate Client secrets in OAuth app detail pages.

Compose the connector JSON

Let's go back to Logto. Fill out the clientId and clientSecret field with Client ID and Client Secret you've got from OAuth app detail pages mentioned in the previous section.

Here is an example of GitHub connector config JSON.

{
  "clientID": "<your-client-id>",
  "clientSecret": "<your-client-secret>"
}

Config types

Name	Type
clientId	string
clientSecret	string

Save your configuration

Double check you have filled out necessary values in the Logto connector configuration area. Click "Save and Done" (or "Save Changes") and the GitHub connector should be available now.

Enable GitHub connector in Sign-in Experience

Switch to the "Sign-in Experience" tab, then click the "Sign-up and Sign-in" tab.

note

If it's the first time you enter the tab, you will see a quick introduction about Sign-in Experience and its basic configuration.

Select "None" for the "Sign-up identifier" to provide minimum sign-up effort for GitHub sign-in, which may increase your conversion rate.

In the "Social sign-in" section, add "Add Social Connector" and choose "GitHub". Then you should be able to see a button with text "Continue with GitHub" in the preview section.

Finally, click "Save Changes" on the bottom right corner.

Testing and Validation

Return to your React app. You should now be able to sign in with GitHub. Enjoy!

Further readings

⚔️ Protect your API For native and single page apps, you'll need to call one or more API endpoints to retrieve and update data.
Learn more about identifying who's who and keeping your API secure.

🧑‍🚀 Manage users We know you care about user management and activities, as we also do.
Learn more about how to know your users and see the figures like DAU and MAU graphically.

🌐 Localization From one regional business to a global corporate, the willingness to offer the best user experience won't change.
You can change current language phrases or add a new language without friction.

🧑‍🎓 Customer IAM series Our serial blog posts about Customer (or Consumer) Identity and Access Management, from 101 to advanced topics and beyond.