For our new friends:

Logto is an Auth0 alternative designed for modern apps and SaaS products. It offers both Cloud and Open-source services to help you quickly launch your identity and management (IAM) system. Enjoy authentication, authorization, and multi-tenant management all in one.

We recommend starting with a free development tenant on Logto Cloud. This allows you to explore all the features easily.

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

Prerequisites

• A running Logto instance. Check out the introduction page to get started.
• Basic knowledge of Express.
• A usable OIDC enterprise SSO account.

Create an application in Logto

Logto is based on OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication and OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports federated identity management across multiple applications, commonly called Single Sign-On (SSO).

To create your Traditional web application, simply follow these steps:

1. Open the Logto Console. In the "Get started" section, click the "View all" link to open the application frameworks list. Alternatively, you can navigate to Logto Console > Applications, and click the "Create application" button.
2. In the opening modal, click the "Traditional web" section or filter all the available "Traditional web" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left. Click the "Express" framework card to start creating your application.
3. 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 Express SDK

tip:

• The sample project is available on our SDK repository.

Installation

Install Logto SDK via your favorite package manager:

npm

npm i @logto/express cookie-parser express-session

pnpm

pnpm add @logto/express cookie-parser express-session

yarn

yarn add @logto/express cookie-parser express-session

Integration

Prepare configs and required middlewares

Prepare configuration for the Logto client:

app.ts

import { LogtoExpressConfig } from '@logto/express';

const config: LogtoExpressConfig = {
  appId: '<your-application-id>',
  appSecret: '<your-application-secret>',
  endpoint: '<your-logto-endpoint>', // E.g. http://localhost:3001
  baseUrl: '<your-express-app-base-url>', // E.g. http://localhost:3000
};

The SDK requires express-session to be configured in prior.

app.ts

import cookieParser from 'cookie-parser';
import session from 'express-session';

app.use(cookieParser());
app.use(
  session({
    secret: 'random_session_key', // Replace with your own secret
    cookie: { maxAge: 14 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000 }, // In miliseconds
  })
);

Configure redirect URIs

Before we dive into the details, here's a quick overview of the end-user experience. The sign-in process can be simplified as follows:

1. Your app invokes the sign-in method.
2. The user is redirected to the Logto sign-in page. For native apps, the system browser is opened.
3. The user signs in and is redirected back to your app (configured as the redirect URI).

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.

---

note:

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

Configure redirect URIs

Switch to the application details page of Logto Console. Add a redirect URI http://localhost:3000/callback.

Just like signing in, users should be redirected to Logto for signing out of the shared session. Once finished, it would be great to redirect the user back to your website. For example, add http://localhost:3000/ as the post sign-out redirect URI section.

Then click "Save" to save the changes.

Register routes

The SDK provides a helper function handleAuthRoutes to register 3 routes:

1. /logto/sign-in: Sign in with Logto.
2. /logto/sign-in-callback: Handle sign-in callback.
3. /logto/sign-out: Sign out with Logto.

Add the following code to your app:

app.ts

import { handleAuthRoutes } from '@logto/express';

app.use(handleAuthRoutes(config));

Implement sign-in and sign-out

With the routes registered, now let's implement the sign-in and sign-out buttons in the home page. We need to redirect the user to the sign-in or sign-out route when needed. To help with this, use withLogto to inject authentication status to req.user.

app.ts

import { withLogto } from '@logto/express';

app.get('/', withLogto(config), (req, res) => {
  res.setHeader('content-type', 'text/html');

  if (req.user.isAuthenticated) {
    res.end(`<div>Hello ${req.user.claims?.sub}, <a href="/logto/sign-out">Sign Out</a></div>`);
  } else {
    res.end('<div><a href="/logto/sign-in">Sign In</a></div>');
  }
});

Checkpoint: Test your application

Now, you can test your application:

1. Run your application, you will see the sign-in button.
2. Click the sign-in button, the SDK will init the sign-in process and redirect you to the Logto sign-in page.
3. After you signed in, you will be redirected back to your application and see the sign-out button.
4. Click the sign-out button to clear token storage and sign out.

Add OIDC enterprise SSO connector

To simplify access management and gain enterprise-level safeguards for your big clients, connect with Express as a federated identity provider. The Logto enterprise SSO connector helps you establish this connection in minutes by allowing several parameter inputs.

To add an enterprise SSO connector, simply follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Logto console > Enterprise SSO.

2. Click "Add enterprise connector" button and choose your SSO provider type. Choose from prebuilt connectors for Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD), Google Workspace, and Okta, or create a custom SSO connection using the standard OpenID Connect (OIDC) or SAML protocol.
3. Provide a unique name (e.g., SSO sign-in for Acme Company).

4. Configure the connection with your IdP in the "Connection" tab. Check the guides above for each connector types.

5. Customize the SSO experience and enterprise’s email domain in the "Experience" tab. Users sign in with the SSO-enabled email domain will be redirected to SSO authentication.

6. Save changes.

Set up OIDC application on your IdP

Step 1: Create an OIDC application on your IdP

Initiate the OIDC SSO integration by creating an application on the IdP side. You will need to provide the following configurations from the Logto server.

• Callback URI: The Logto Callback URI, also known as the Redirect URI or Reply URL, is a specific endpoint or URL that the IdP uses to redirect the user's browser after successful authentication. After a user successfully authenticates with the IdP, the IdP redirects the user's browser back to this designated URI along with an authorization code. Logto will complete the authentication process based on authorization code received from this URI.

Fill in the Logto Callback URI in your IdP OIDC application settings form and continue to create the application. (Most of the OIDC IdPs provide a wide range of application types to choose from. To create a web-based SSO connector on Logto, please choose the Web Application type.)

Step 2: Configure OIDC SSO on Logto

After successfully creating an OIDC application on the IdP side, you will need to provide the IdP configurations back to Logto. Navigate to the Connection tab, and fill in the following configurations:

• Client ID: A unique identifier assigned to your OIDC application by the IdP. This identifier is used by Logto to identify and authenticate the application during the OIDC flow.
• Client Secret: A confidential secret shared between Logto and the IdP. This secret is used to authenticate the OIDC application and secure the communication between Logto and the IdP.
• Issuer: The issuer URL, a unique identifier for the IdP, specifying the location where the OIDC identity provider can be found. It is a crucial part of the OIDC configuration as it helps Logto discover the necessary endpoints. To make the configuration process easier. Logto will automatically fetch the required OIDC endpoints and configurations. This is done by utilizing the issuer you provided and making a call to the IdP's OIDC discover endpoints. It is imperative to ensure that the issuer endpoint is valid and accurately configured to enable Logto to retrieve the required information correctly. After a successful fetch request, you should be able to see the parsed IdP configurations under the issuers section.
• Scope: A space-separated list of strings defining the desired permissions or access levels requested by Logto during the OIDC authentication process. The scope parameter allows you to specify what information and access Logto is requesting from the IdP. The scope parameter is optional. Regardless of the custom scope settings, Logto will always send the openid, profile and email scopes to the IdP. This is to ensure that Logto can retrieve the user's identity information and email address properly from the IdP. You may add additional scopes to the scope parameter to request for more information from the IdP.

Step 3: Set email domains and enable the SSO connector

Provide the email domains of your organization on Logto’s connector SSO experience tab. This will enable the SSO connector as an authentication method for those users.

Users with email addresses in the specified domains will be redirected to use your SSO connector as their only authentication method.

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 OIDC enterprise SSO connector should be available now.

Enable OIDC enterprise SSO connector in Sign-in Experience

You don’t need to configure enterprise connectors individually, Logto simplifies SSO integration into your applications with just one click.

1. Navigate to: Console > Sign-in experience > Sign-up and sign-in.
2. Enable the "Enterprise SSO" toggle.
3. Save changes.

Once enabled, a "Single Sign-On" button will appear on your sign-in page. Enterprise users with SSO-enabled email domains can access your services using their enterprise identity providers (IdPs).

To learn more about the SSO user experience, including SP-initiated SSO and IdP-initiated SSO, refer to User flows: Enterprise SSO.

Testing and Validation

Return to your Express app. You should now be able to sign in with OIDC enterprise SSO. Enjoy!

Further readings

End-user flows: Logto provides a out-of-the-box authentication flows including MFA and enterprise SSO, along with powerful APIs for flexible implementation of account settings, security verification, and multi-tenant experience.

Authorization: Authorization defines the actions a user can do or resources they can access after being authenticated. Explore how to protect your API for native and single-page applications and implement Role-based Access Control (RBAC).

Organizations: Particularly effective in multi-tenant SaaS and B2B apps, the organization feature enable tenant creation, member management, organization-level RBAC, and just-in-time-provisioning.

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