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 Hugging Face sign-in experience (user authentication) with .NET Core (MVC) and  Logto.

Prerequisites

• A running Logto instance. Check out the get started page if you don't have one.
• Basic knowledge of .NET Core (MVC).
• A usable Hugging Face 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 "Traditional web" section or filter all the available " Traditional web" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left.

Click the ".NET Core (MVC)" 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 following demonstration is built on .NET Core 8.0. The SDK is compatible with .NET 6.0 or higher.
• The .NET Core sample projects are available in the GitHub repository.

Installation

Add the NuGet package to your project:

dotnet add package Logto.AspNetCore.Authentication

Add Logto authentication

Open Startup.cs (or Program.cs) and add the following code to register Logto authentication services:

Program.cs

using Logto.AspNetCore.Authentication;

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

builder.Services.AddLogtoAuthentication(options =>
{
  options.Endpoint = builder.Configuration["Logto:Endpoint"]!;
  options.AppId = builder.Configuration["Logto:AppId"]!;
  options.AppSecret = builder.Configuration["Logto:AppSecret"];
});

The AddLogtoAuthentication method will do the following things:

• Set the default authentication scheme to LogtoDefaults.CookieScheme.
• Set the default challenge scheme to LogtoDefaults.AuthenticationScheme.
• Set the default sign-out scheme to LogtoDefaults.AuthenticationScheme.
• Add cookie and OpenID Connect authentication handlers to the authentication scheme.

Sign-in and sign-out flows

Before we proceed, there are two confusing terms in the .NET Core authentication middleware that we need to clarify:

1. CallbackPath: The URI that Logto will redirect the user back to after the user has signed in (the "redirect URI" in Logto)
2. RedirectUri: The URI that will be redirected to after necessary actions have been taken in the Logto authentication middleware.

The sign-in process can be illustrated as follows:

Similarly, .NET Core also has SignedOutCallbackPath and RedirectUri for the sign-out flow.

For the sack of clarity, we'll refer them as follows:

Term we use	.NET Core term
Logto redirect URI	CallbackPath
Logto post sign-out redirect URI	SignedOutCallbackPath
Application redirect URI	RedirectUri

Regarding redirect-based sign-in

1. This authentication process follows the OpenID Connect (OIDC) protocol, and Logto enforces strict security measures to protect user sign-in.
2. If you have multiple apps, you can use the same identity provider (Logto). Once the user signs in to one app, Logto will automatically complete the sign-in process when the user accesses another app.

To learn more about the rationale and benefits of redirect-based sign-in, see Logto sign-in experience explained.

Configure redirect URIs

note

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

First, let's configure the Logto redirect URI. Add the following URI to the "Redirect URIs" list in the Logto application details page:

http://http://localhost:3000//Callback

To configure the Logto post sign-out redirect URI, add the following URI to the "Post sign-out redirect URIs" list in the Logto application details page:

http://http://localhost:3000//SignedOutCallback

Change the default paths

The Logto redirect URI has a default path of /Callback, and the Logto post sign-out redirect URI has a default path of /SignedOutCallback.

You can leave them as are if there's no special requirement. If you want to change it, you can set the CallbackPath and SignedOutCallbackPath property for LogtoOptions:

Program.cs

builder.Services.AddLogtoAuthentication(options =>
{
  // Other configurations...
  options.CallbackPath = "/Foo";
  options.SignedOutCallbackPath = "/Bar";
});

Remember to update the value in the Logto application details page accordingly.

Implement sign-in/sign-out buttons

First, add actions methods to your Controller, for example:

Controllers/HomeController.cs

public class HomeController : Controller
{
  public IActionResult SignIn()
  {
    // This will redirect the user to the Logto sign-in page.
    return Challenge(new AuthenticationProperties { RedirectUri = "/" });
  }

  // Use the `new` keyword to avoid conflict with the `ControllerBase.SignOut` method
  new public IActionResult SignOut()
  {
    // This will clear the authentication cookie and redirect the user to the Logto sign-out page
    // to clear the Logto session as well.
    return SignOut(new AuthenticationProperties { RedirectUri = "/" });
  }
}

Then, add the links to your View:

Views/Home/Index.cshtml

<p>Is authenticated: @User.Identity?.IsAuthenticated</p>
@if (User.Identity?.IsAuthenticated == true) {
  <a asp-controller="Home" asp-action="SignOut">Sign out</a>
} else {
  <a asp-controller="Home" asp-action="SignIn">Sign in</a>
}

It will show the "Sign in" link if the user is not authenticated, and show the "Sign out" link if the user is authenticated.

Test your integration

Open your .NET Core (MVC) 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 Hugging Face 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 "Hugging Face" 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 Hugging Face OAuth app

Sign in with Hugging Face account

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

Create an OAuth app in the Hugging Face

Follow the Creating an oauth app guide, and register a new application.

In the creation process, you will need to provide the following information:

• Application Name: The name of your application.
• Homepage URL: The URL of your application's homepage or landing page.
• Logo URL: The URL of your application's logo.
• Scopes: The scopes allowed for the OAuth app. For Hugging Face connector, usually use profile to get the user's profile information and email to get the user's email address. Ensure these scopes are allowed in your Hugging Face OAuth app if you want to use them.
• Redirect URI: The URL to redirect the user to after they have authenticated. You can find the redirect URI in the Logto Admin Console when you're creating a Hugging Face connector or in the created Hugging Face connector details page.

Managing Hugging Face OAuth apps

Go to the Connected Applications page, you can add, edit or delete existing OAuth apps. You can also find Client ID and generate App secrets in corresponding OAuth app settings pages.

Configure your connector

Go back to Logto Admin Console And Fill out the clientId and clientSecret field with Client ID and App Secret you've got from OAuth app detail pages mentioned in the previous section.

scope is a space-delimited list of Hugging Face supported scopes. If not provided, scope defaults to be profile. For Hugging Face connector, the scope you may want to use is profile and email. profile scope is required to get the user's profile information, and email scope is required to get the user's email address. Ensure you have allowed these scopes in your Hugging Face OAuth app (configured in Create an OAuth app in the Hugging Face section).

Config types

Name	Type
clientId	string
clientSecret	string
scope	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 Hugging Face connector should be available now.

Enable Hugging Face 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 Hugging Face sign-in, which may increase your conversion rate.

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

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

Testing and Validation

Return to your .NET Core (MVC) app. You should now be able to sign in with Hugging Face. 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.