Authentication Management¶

The Bashlib CLI interface provides multiple options for authentication management. It enables interactive login flows using the browser, that work with any Solid pod server. Additionally, it includes the client credentials flow to generate authentication tokens without needing a browser login both for the Community Solid Server v7 and the Enterprise Solid Server from Inrupt.

All examples make use of the abstraction sld as an alias for node bin/solid.js,

Enforcing specific authorization flows¶

When setting up test flows on Solid, it might be interesting to force a specific authentication flows to be used. For this, the --auth option can be set on the bashlib program as such:]

sld --auth interactive

This examples forces authentication via an interactive browser session. Other options are token for only token based authentication, none for no authentication and request to dynamically choose an authentication option during use, which is the default. The --port option can be changed to change the port of the local service that is setup to manage interactive authentication flows with the browser.

Auth command¶

The auth command contains all functionality to manage authentication options and create client credentials tokens.

Set¶

The set subcommand is used to manage the authentication session for Bashlib. It provides the ability to set a specific WebID as an argument, or if no argument is given starts an interactive selection dialog to change the active WebID.

arguments¶

Arguments:
  webid       Set active WebID directly, without requiring manual selection.

The webid argument directly sets the session to the provided WebID value.

examples¶

Interactive session management

sld auth set

Setting a specific active WebID

sld auth set https://people.org/alice/webid

Show¶

The show subcommand shows the current authentication session. It shows the WebId, if there is an active authentication session and if a client credential token is available.

options¶

Options:
  -p, --pretty  Show listing in table format.

The --pretty option displays the result in a table formate.

examples¶

sld auth show

Clear¶

The clear subcommand clears the current authentication session and active WebID. It does not remove any stored authentication information.

examples¶

sld auth clear

List¶

The list subcommand lists the stored authentication information. It shows the WebIds, if there is an active authentication session and if a client credential token is available.

options¶

Options:
  -p, --pretty  Show listing in table format.

The --pretty option displays the result in a table formate.

examples¶

sld auth list

Remove¶

The remove subcommand provides the ability to remove authentication information from Bashlib. It provides an interactive menu if no argument is given, or can remove information for specific WebIDs or all information directly via the CLI arguments.

arguments¶

Arguments:
  string      webid | all

The command has an optional parameter. When passing the argument string all, all authentication information is removed. Passing a specific WebID removes all authentication information tied to that WebID. If no argument is passed, an interactive CLI menu is provided.

examples¶

Opening the interactive menu

sld auth remove

Removing all authentication information

sld auth remove all

Removing a specific WebID

sld auth remove https://people.org/alice/webid

Create Token (CSS)¶

The token creation is divided in two subcommands, one for the Community Solid Server and one for the Inrupt Enterprise Solid Server, as both have a different approach to token generation for client applications.

The create-token-css command creates a client credentials token for pods hosted on a Community Solid Server version 7. The authentication options can be passed both as command line arguments, or in an interactive dialog if they are not provided through the CLI options. The interactive creation menu will ask to use the WebID of the current session to create a token when available.

options¶

Options:
  -w, --webid <string>     User WebID
  -n, --name <string>      Token name
  -e, --email <string>     User email
  -p, --password <string>  User password
  -v, --verbose            Log actions
  -h, --help               display help for command

The --webid option is the WebID for which the token is created.
The --name option is the name of the token (only important for token management).
The --email option is the email that was used to create the account tied to the WebID.
The --password option is the password tied to the account.
the --verbose option outputs operation logs.

examples¶

Open interactive dialog to create token

sld auth create-token-css

Create Token (ESS)¶

The create-token-ess command creates a client credentials token for pods hosted on an Inrupt Enterprise Solid Server. The authentication options can be passed both as command line arguments, or in an interactive dialog if they are not provided through the CLI options. The interactive creation menu will ask to use the WebID of the current session to create a token when available.
The Inrupt token generation relies on the registration of applications via their application registration service. After registering Bashlib, an id and secret value will be shown. These values need to be provided to this command to be able to automatically create authenticated sessions without needing interactive login.

options¶

Options:
  -w, --webid <string>     User WebID
  -i, --id <string>        application registration id
  -s, --secret <string>    application registration secret
  -v, --verbose            Log actions
  -h, --help               display help for command

The --webid option is the WebID for which the token is created.
The --id option is the id value retrieved from the registration flow described above.
The --secret option is the secret value retrieved from the registration flow described above.
the --verbose option outputs operation logs.

examples¶

Open interactive dialog to create token

sld auth create-token-ess