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# Client application login
Go Loose can host login for browser-facing Go applications. Your application never handles the user's IdP password. It redirects the browser to Go Loose, receives a short-lived one-time authorization code, exchanges that code from its backend using a client secret, and stores the returned opaque session in an HTTP-only cookie.
## 1. Configure the application in Go Loose
1. Open **Applications** and choose **Configure client login** .
2. Add the exact callback URL, for example `https://nmbs.guess.local/auth/callback` .
3. Save and copy the client secret. It is shown once.
4. Open **Users** , invite the user by the email returned by the IdP, and choose **Manage** to grant access to the application.
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The invitation requires an initial password. Tenant login hosts accept database credentials only; SSO is reserved for system administration on the bare authentication domain.
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Saving client configuration rotates the secret. Callback URLs require HTTPS, except `localhost` and `127.0.0.1` while Go Loose development login is enabled.
## 2. Add the Go client
```bash
go get github.com/danyel/go-loose/client
```
Configure the hosted login and register its handlers:
```go
package main
import (
"fmt"
"log"
"net/http"
"os"
"time"
goloose "github.com/danyel/go-loose/client"
)
func main() {
auth, err := goloose.NewBrowserAuth(goloose.BrowserAuthConfig{
BaseURL: "https://nmbs.auth.example.com",
ClientID: os.Getenv("GO_LOOSE_CLIENT_ID"),
ClientSecret: os.Getenv("GO_LOOSE_CLIENT_SECRET"),
RedirectURL: "https://nmbs.guess.local/auth/callback",
AfterLoginURL: "/app",
AfterLogoutURL: "/",
LoginPath: "/login",
CookieSecure: true,
HTTPClient: & http.Client{Timeout: 3 * time.Second},
})
if err != nil {
log.Fatal(err)
}
mux := http.NewServeMux()
mux.HandleFunc("GET /login", auth.LoginHandler)
mux.HandleFunc("GET /auth/callback", auth.CallbackHandler)
mux.HandleFunc("POST /logout", auth.LogoutHandler)
protected := auth.Middleware(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
user, ok := goloose.UserFromContext(r.Context())
if !ok {
http.Error(w, "user missing", http.StatusInternalServerError)
return
}
fmt.Fprintf(w, "Hello %s from tenant %s", user.DisplayName, user.TenantSlug)
}))
mux.Handle("GET /app", protected)
mux.Handle("GET /api/profile", protected)
log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe(":8090", mux))
}
```
Keep `GO_LOOSE_CLIENT_SECRET` in a secret manager, never source control. In local development, configure an exact callback such as `http://localhost:8090/auth/callback` and set `CookieSecure: false` .
## Tenant login hostname
Each tenant has its own login origin:
```text
https://< tenant-slug > .< GO_LOOSE_AUTH_DOMAIN >
```
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For tenant `nmbs` with `GO_LOOSE_AUTH_DOMAIN=auth.dev` , configure the Go client with:
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```go
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BaseURL: "http://nmbs.auth.dev:18080"
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```
For local development, add the tenant hostname to `/etc/hosts` :
```text
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127.0.0.1 nmbs.auth.dev
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```
Production should configure wildcard DNS and TLS for `*.auth.example.com` , route those hosts to Go Loose, and use:
```dotenv
GO_LOOSE_BASE_URL=https://auth.example.com
GO_LOOSE_AUTH_DOMAIN=auth.example.com
GO_LOOSE_OIDC_REDIRECT_URL=https://auth.example.com/auth/callback
```
The client package initially redirects to `/connect/authorize` . Go Loose verifies the registered client and exact callback, canonicalizes the browser onto the tenant hostname, and renders `<Tenant name> login` for the requested application.
## 3. Browser flow
```text
Browser → GET /login on client application
→ GET /connect/authorize on Go Loose
→ separate Go Loose client login
→ organization OIDC provider
→ Go Loose validates user + application grant
→ client /auth/callback?code=...& state=...
Client → POST /connect/token with Authorization: Basic < client-id:secret >
← opaque 12-hour session token
Browser ← HTTP-only SameSite session cookie on client application
Request → client middleware → GET /connect/userinfo → protected handler
Authorization: Bearer < opaque-session >
```
The authorization code expires after two minutes and can be used once. Redirect URIs must match exactly. Removing a user's application grant immediately makes `/connect/userinfo` reject existing sessions. Logout revokes the central session and clears the local cookie.
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## Role and profile picture
Both `/connect/token` and `/connect/userinfo` return the caller's `role` , `permissions` , and absolute `avatar_url` , resolved against the tenant that owns the application:
```json
{
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
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"id": "9f0f...",
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"email": "ada@example .com",
"display_name": "Ada Lovelace",
"avatar_url": "https://loose.example.com/api/v1/avatars/kZ3...",
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
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"tenant_id": "2b41...",
"tenant_slug": "nmbs",
"application_id": "7c02...",
"application": "guess",
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"role": "developer",
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
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"permissions": [
"console.read",
"users.read",
"applications.manage",
"keys.manage",
"contracts.manage",
"users.manage",
"profile.edit"
]
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}
```
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
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There is no `can` object on the wire. `avatar_url` is public by design, so it can be embedded directly with a plain image tag; it is an empty string when the user has not uploaded a picture.
2026-10-04 12:24:13 +02:00
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
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Read `permissions` rather than testing `role` by name, because a tenant may define its own roles. The client package exposes the same check as a method:
```go
if user.Can("contracts.manage") {
// the role behind this session grants it
}
```
A user with no membership in the application's tenant still authenticates, but falls back to the built-in `user` role, whose only permission is `profile.edit` . See [roles, permissions, and profiles ](roles.md ).
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## Security and availability
- Use TLS for both Go Loose and the client application.
- Keep client secrets server-side and rotate them after suspected disclosure.
- Do not replace the middleware's fail-closed behavior with an allow-on-error fallback.
- Apply CSRF protection to state-changing routes in the client application; the package handles login `state` , not your application forms.
- The middleware checks Go Loose on every request for immediate revocation. Deploy Go Loose highly available and use a bounded HTTP timeout.
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
2026-10-05 19:18:07 +02:00
- Signing out in Go Loose revokes every hosted-login session the user holds here, so
the client applications stop accepting their tokens on the next request. See
[Signing out across the family ](#signing-out-across-the-family ).
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- API-key authentication and browser-user authentication are independent. Use `client.Middleware` for service/API keys and `BrowserAuth.Middleware` for logged-in users.
feat: account menu, database roles, and single logout
Bundles the console work from the current branch: the header account
control, database-backed roles and permissions, and signing out across
the applications that share this sign-in.
The account control replaces a separate identity chip and a separate
sign-out button, which meant the header carried two controls describing
one fact. web/account.js is mounted into every page by a placeholder and
owns the keyboard handling, the outside-click behaviour and the sign-out
form once. It also fills the trigger's name, which the previous markup
left empty.
Signing out revokes the hosted-login bearer sessions this installation
issued, then redirects to the provider's end_session_endpoint when the
discovery document advertises one. Applications that authenticate
against this installation therefore lose their session too; one pointed
straight at an identity provider is out of its reach and is unchanged.
Roles and permissions become rows rather than a closed enum, so a tenant
can extend the catalog without a migration, and a role can no longer be
granted a capability that is not in it. requireSameOrigin now compares
against the origin the request arrived on instead of the configured base
URL, which defaulted to http://localhost:8080 and so rejected every
write in a deployment that never set it.
Two bugs found while verifying in a browser:
- A profile picture never rendered. avatarURL built an absolute URL
from the configured base URL, and the page's own img-src 'self'
blocked it. The console's own pages now take a root-relative path;
only /connect/userinfo, read from another origin, needs an absolute
one, and it follows the request.
- absoluteURL preferred the configuration over the request while its
comment claimed the opposite, which also misdirected the logout
redirect.
Card layout: the footer was one two-column row shared between a label
and a forty-character identifier, so the identifier took the width and
crushed its label into three stacked words. Each pair is a line now, the
value truncates with the full text in the title, and cards align their
footers across a row.
2026-10-05 19:18:07 +02:00
## Signing out across the family
Applications in this family share one identity, so signing out has to mean more than
clearing one cookie. `POST /auth/logout` does three things, in this order:
1. **Revokes every hosted-login session the user holds.** Go Loose issues the bearer
tokens these applications authenticate with, so this is what actually signs them
out: their tokens stop resolving immediately, without the application being told
or having to ask. This step reads the session first, which is why it happens before
the cookie is cleared.
2. **Clears the local management cookies** on the identity domain.
3. **Sends the browser to the identity provider's logout endpoint** , when the provider
advertises one in its discovery document, so the single sign-on session ends too.
Two consequences worth designing around:
- **A client application is signed out on its next request, not by being notified.**
Its own session cookie still exists; the bearer token inside it has been revoked. An
application that only checks the session locally will appear signed in until its
next call to Go Loose, at which point it should treat the rejection as a sign-out and
return the browser to `/login` .
- **Applications that authenticate against a different provider are not covered.**
The provider endpoint is read from the issuer Go Loose itself is configured with, so
this covers the applications that sign in through Go Loose. One pointed at a separate
identity provider needs its own end-session redirect.
A provider that does not advertise `end_session_endpoint` is not an error: step 3 is
skipped and the user lands back on the sign-in page, having still been signed out
locally and revoked. Go Loose sends `client_id` and `post_logout_redirect_uri` rather
than an `id_token_hint` , because a hint would mean keeping a live credential in the
browser cookie between login and logout.
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## Applications on the local platform
The local platform signs in two client applications, both with the wildcard
identity domain `auth.dev` :
| Application | Tenant | Callback URL |
|---|---|---|
| Go Guess | `nmbs` | `https://nmbs.guess.dev/api/auth/callback` |
| Go Guess | `ypto` | `https://ypto.guess.dev/api/auth/callback` |
| Go Tell | `tell` | `https://tell.dev/api/auth/callback` |
Go Guess has one application per tenant because it serves one host per tenant.
Go Tell has a single application: it is served from one host with no tenant
routing, so one client covers every request.
Client secrets are shown once when an application is configured. The Compose
stack reads them from a gitignored `.env` , and the Kubernetes releases receive
them through their release secret. Go Loose hashes stored secrets, so a lost
secret can only be replaced, never recovered.
Cluster clients cannot reach the workstation Traefik that serves `auth.dev` .
Both releases therefore mount the platform CA and expect a reachable identity
address, and a `502` on `/api/auth/callback` means the pod cannot reach Go
Loose rather than that the client is misconfigured.
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## Troubleshooting `403`
`403 your account does not have access to this application` means authentication succeeded but the user lacks an application grant. In Go Loose, open **Users** , select the user, choose **Manage** , and enable the target application. A missing or incorrect token header returns `401` , not `403` .