OAuth Development Guide

OAuth Development Guide

This guide helps developers set up and test PostHog's OAuth apps locally.

Quick Start

1. Configure RSA Keys

OAuth uses RS256 for signing JWT tokens. Copy the RSA private key from the example file:

Terminal
# Copy the OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY from .env.example to your .env file
grep OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY .env.example >> .env

Or generate a new key pair:

Terminal
# Generate a new RSA private key
openssl genrsa 2048 | openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -nocrypt -outform PEM | \
  awk 'NF {sub(/\r/, ""); printf "%s\\n",$0;}'


# Add to .env as OIDC_RSA_PRIVATE_KEY="<generated_key>"

2. Set Up Your Environment

First, generate demo data which includes a test OAuth application:

Terminal
python manage.py generate_demo_data

3. Access the Demo Application

After running generate_demo_data, a test OAuth application is created with these credentials:

  • Client ID: DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ
  • Client Secret: GQItUP4GqE6t5kjcWIRfWO9c0GXPCY8QDV4eszH4PnxXwCVxIMVSil4Agit7yay249jasnzHEkkVqHnFMxI1YTXSrh8Bj1sl1IDfNi1S95sv208NOc0eoUBP3TdA7vf0
  • Redirect URIs: http://localhost:3000/callback, https://example.com/callback, http://localhost:8237/callback, http://localhost:8239/callback

You can view and test the OAuth flow from Django admin:

  1. Navigate to http://localhost:8010/admin/posthog/oauthapplication/
  2. Click "View on site" to see an example authorization URL with PKCE parameters

Creating an OAuth Application

Via Django Admin

  1. Navigate to http://localhost:8010/admin/posthog/oauthapplication/
  2. Click "Add OAuth Application"
  3. Configure the application fields (see below)

Application Fields

Basic Information

Name (required)

  • Display name for the application
  • Shown to users during authorization
  • Example: "PostHog Mobile App", "Analytics Dashboard"

Client ID (auto-generated)

  • Unique identifier for your application
  • Automatically generated but can be customized
  • Used in authorization requests
  • Example: DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ

Client Secret (auto-generated)

  • Confidential credential for the application
  • Only shown once during creation
  • Gets hashed after saving
  • Only used by confidential clients
  • ⚠️ Copy this before you save the application - you cannot view it again after creation

Client Type (required)

  • Confidential: For server-side applications that can securely store secrets
  • Public: For client-side apps (mobile, SPA) that cannot securely store secrets

See Client Types section for detailed explanation.

Authorization Settings

Authorization Grant Type (required, fixed)

  • Only Authorization code is supported

Redirect URIs (required)

  • Whitespace-separated list of valid redirect URIs

  • PostHog will only redirect to these URIs after authorization

  • HTTPS required for non-localhost URIs

  • HTTP allowed only for localhost/loopback addresses (127.0.0.1)

  • No fragments (#) allowed

  • Examples:

    text
    https://app.example.com/oauth/callback
    http://localhost:3000/callback
    http://127.0.0.1:8080/auth

Algorithm (required, fixed)

  • Only RS256 (RSA with SHA-256) is supported
  • Used for signing ID tokens
  • More secure than symmetric algorithms (HS256)
  • Cannot be changed

Ownership

User

  • The PostHog user who created the application
  • Not used for access control
  • Helps track who created the app

Organization

  • The organization that owns this application
  • In the future, we will allow organizations to manage their apps in their settings
  • If organization is deleted, app becomes orphaned but remains active.

Client Types

Confidential Clients

Use for: Server-side applications, backend services, traditional web apps

Characteristics:

  • Can securely store the client secret
  • Runs in a trusted environment (your servers)
  • Must authenticate with both client_id and client_secret when exchanging authorization code for tokens

Examples:

  • Django/Rails/Express web applications
  • Backend services
  • Server-to-server integrations

Security: Higher - the secret never leaves your secure server environment

Public Clients

Use for: Single-page apps (SPAs), mobile apps, desktop apps

Characteristics:

  • Cannot securely store secrets (code is distributed to users)
  • Relies on PKCE for security instead of client secret
  • Only needs client_id for token exchange

Examples:

  • React/Vue/Angular applications
  • iOS/Android mobile apps
  • Electron desktop applications

OAuth Flow

Standard Authorization Code Flow with PKCE

  1. Generate PKCE parameters (client-side):

    Python
    import secrets
    import hashlib
    import base64
    

    # Generate random code_verifier
    code_verifier = secrets.token_urlsafe(32)
    

    # Create code_challenge
    digest = hashlib.sha256(code_verifier.encode('utf-8')).digest()
    code_challenge = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(digest).decode('utf-8').replace('=', '')

  2. Redirect user to authorization URL:

    text
    GET /oauth/authorize/
      ?response_type=code
      &client_id=DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ
      &redirect_uri=http://localhost:3000/callback
      &scope=openid experiment:read query:read
      &code_challenge=<generated_code_challenge>
      &code_challenge_method=S256
      &state=<random_state_value>

  3. User authorizes the application and selects access level

  4. Receive authorization code at redirect_uri:

    text
    http://localhost:3000/callback?code=<authorization_code>&state=<state_value>

  5. Exchange code for tokens:

    Terminal
    POST /oauth/token/
    Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
    

    grant_type=authorization_code
    &code=<authorization_code>
    &redirect_uri=http://localhost:3000/callback
    &client_id=DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ
    &client_secret=<client_secret>  # Only for confidential clients
    &code_verifier=<original_code_verifier>

  6. Response includes:

    JSON
    {
      "access_token": "...",
      "token_type": "Bearer",
      "expires_in": 36000,
      "refresh_token": "...",
      "id_token": "...",
      "scope": "openid experiment:read query:read",
      "scoped_teams": [1, 2],
      "scoped_organizations": ["org-uuid"]
    }

Available Scopes

OAuth supports all the same scopes as Personal API Keys. Each scope has a read and/or write action (e.g., experiment:read, experiment:write).

For a complete list of available scopes, see frontend/src/lib/scopes.tsx.

OpenID Connect Scopes

Standard OpenID Connect scopes are also supported:

  • openid - Required for OpenID Connect (provides ID token with user identity claims)
  • profile - Access to user profile information (name, username, etc.)
  • email - Access to user email address

Access Levels

When authorizing an application, users can scope access to:

  1. All: Access to all organizations and teams the user is a member of
  2. Organization: Access limited to specific organizations
  3. Team: Access limited to specific teams/projects

This is configured during the authorization step, not in the application settings.

If you would like to force the user to pick a single team or an organization you can use the required_access_level=project or required_access_level=organization query parameter in the authorization url.

Testing Your OAuth Application

Using the Admin Interface

  1. Go to http://localhost:8010/admin/posthog/oauthapplication/
  2. Click your application
  3. Click "View on site" - this generates a test authorization URL with:
    • Proper PKCE code_challenge (using code_verifier="test")
    • First configured redirect_uri
    • Example scopes

Manual Testing

Use the demo application credentials to test the full flow:

Python
# Example using requests library
import requests
import secrets
import hashlib
import base64


# Step 1: Generate PKCE
code_verifier = "test"  # Use something random in production
digest = hashlib.sha256(code_verifier.encode('utf-8')).digest()
code_challenge = base64.urlsafe_b64encode(digest).decode('utf-8').replace('=', '')


# Step 2: Build authorization URL
auth_url = (
    "http://localhost:8010/oauth/authorize/"
    "?response_type=code"
    "&client_id=DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ"
    "&redirect_uri=http://localhost:3000/callback"
    "&scope=openid+experiment:read"
    f"&code_challenge={code_challenge}"
    "&code_challenge_method=S256"
    "&state=random_state_123"
)


print(f"Visit: {auth_url}")


# Step 3: After authorization, extract code from redirect
# Step 4: Exchange for tokens
token_response = requests.post(
    "http://localhost:8010/oauth/token/",
    data={
        "grant_type": "authorization_code",
        "code": "<code_from_redirect>",
        "redirect_uri": "http://localhost:3000/callback",
        "client_id": "DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ",
        "client_secret": "GQItUP4GqE6t5kjcWIRfWO9c0GXPCY8QDV4eszH4PnxXwCVxIMVSil4Agit7yay249jasnzHEkkVqHnFMxI1YTXSrh8Bj1sl1IDfNi1S95sv208NOc0eoUBP3TdA7vf0",
        "code_verifier": code_verifier,
    }
)


tokens = token_response.json()
print(tokens)

Endpoints

  • Authorization: /oauth/authorize/
  • Token Exchange: /oauth/token/
  • Token Introspection: /oauth/introspect/
  • User Info: /oauth/userinfo/
  • JWKS (Public Keys): /oauth/.well-known/jwks.json
  • OpenID Configuration: /oauth/.well-known/openid-configuration/

Token Introspection

The introspection endpoint (/oauth/introspect/) allows you to check if a token is active and retrieve metadata about it. This is useful for validating tokens, checking their scopes or their scoped_teams and scoped_organizations.

Authentication Methods

The introspection endpoint supports three authentication methods:

1. HTTP Basic Authentication (Recommended)

Terminal
curl -X POST http://localhost:8010/oauth/introspect/ \
  -u "CLIENT_ID:CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -d "token=ACCESS_TOKEN_TO_INTROSPECT"

2. Client Credentials in Request Body

Terminal
curl -X POST http://localhost:8010/oauth/introspect/ \
  -d "client_id=CLIENT_ID" \
  -d "client_secret=CLIENT_SECRET" \
  -d "token=ACCESS_TOKEN_TO_INTROSPECT"

3. Bearer Token Authentication

Terminal
curl -X POST http://localhost:8010/oauth/introspect/ \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -d "token=TOKEN_TO_INTROSPECT"

Important: When using Bearer token authentication (method 3), the bearer token must have the introspection scope. Client authentication methods (1 and 2) do not require any scopes.

Scope Requirements

  • Client Authentication (HTTP Basic or Credentials): No scope required
  • Bearer Token Authentication: Requires introspection scope

This means you can introspect any token using your application's client credentials, regardless of what scopes the token being introspected has. However, if you want to use an access token to introspect other tokens, that access token must have been granted the introspection scope.

Response Format

Active Token Response:

JSON
{
  "active": true,
  "scope": "openid experiment:read query:read",
  "client_id": "DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ",
  "scoped_teams": [1, 2],
  "scoped_organizations": ["org-uuid-1", "org-uuid-2"],
  "exp": 1704067200
}

Inactive/Invalid Token Response:

JSON
{
  "active": false
}

Token Types

  • Access Tokens: Return "active": true if valid and not expired
  • Refresh Tokens: Always return "active": false (refresh tokens cannot be introspected)

Example: Introspecting with Client Credentials

Python
import requests


response = requests.post(
    "http://localhost:8010/oauth/introspect/",
    auth=("DC5uRLVbGI02YQ82grxgnK6Qn12SXWpCqdPb60oZ", "CLIENT_SECRET"),
    data={"token": "access_token_to_check"}
)


data = response.json()
if data.get("active"):
    print(f"Token is active with scopes: {data['scope']}")
    print(f"Token has access to teams: {data['scoped_teams']}")
else:
    print("Token is inactive or invalid")

Example: Introspecting with Bearer Token

To introspect tokens using another access token, ensure the bearer token has the introspection scope:

Python
# First, get an access token WITH introspection scope
# scope=openid+introspection


import requests


response = requests.post(
    "http://localhost:8010/oauth/introspect/",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {access_token_with_introspection_scope}"},
    data={"token": "token_to_check"}
)


data = response.json()
print(f"Token active: {data.get('active')}")

Troubleshooting

"Invalid client_id"

  • Check the client_id matches exactly
  • Verify the application exists in https://localhost:8010/admin/posthog/oauthapplication/

"Redirect URI mismatch"

  • Ensure redirect_uri in request matches one configured in application, make sure you included the path and not just the base url
  • Check for trailing slashes
  • Verify HTTP vs HTTPS

"Invalid code_verifier"

  • The code_verifier used in token exchange must match the one used to generate code_challenge
  • Ensure code_challenge was generated correctly using SHA256, you should send the hashed version as the code_challenge in the authorize request, and the original as the code_verifier in the token request

"Invalid client_secret"

  • For confidential clients, ensure you saved the secret during creation, after creation you will see a hashed version in Django admin which is not your client secret
  • Secrets cannot be retrieved after creation - you'll need to create a new application

Additional Resources

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