@azure/core-auth

What is @azure/core-auth?

The @azure/core-auth package provides a standard way to manage authentication and authorization across the Azure SDKs in JavaScript. It includes a set of interfaces and classes that can be used to implement authentication mechanisms such as token credentials, and to integrate with various Azure services that require authentication.

What are @azure/core-auth's main functionalities?

TokenCredential Interface

The TokenCredential interface is a core component that allows for the implementation of custom authentication mechanisms. When you implement this interface, you can use it with Azure SDKs that accept credential objects for authentication. The code sample demonstrates how to create a custom credential class that extends TokenCredential.

class MyCredential extends TokenCredential {
  async getToken(scopes, options) {
    // Your logic to acquire a token
    return { token: 'your_token', expiresOnTimestamp: 12345 };
  }
}

DefaultAzureCredential

DefaultAzureCredential is a class that provides a seamless authentication experience across Azure services. It tries multiple credentials in a specific order, attempting to find the best one that works for the current environment. This code sample shows how to instantiate DefaultAzureCredential, which can then be passed to other Azure SDK clients for authentication.

const { DefaultAzureCredential } = require('@azure/identity');
const credential = new DefaultAzureCredential();

Other packages similar to @azure/core-auth

aws-sdk

The AWS SDK for JavaScript provides a similar set of functionalities for AWS services as @azure/core-auth does for Azure. It includes mechanisms for authenticating against AWS services. However, it is specifically tailored for AWS and not directly compatible with Azure services.

google-auth-library

This library offers authentication and authorization utilities for Google Cloud services. Similar to @azure/core-auth, it provides a way to obtain credentials and authenticate API requests. The main difference lies in the ecosystem it targets, focusing on Google Cloud instead of Azure.

README

Azure Core Authentication client library for JavaScript

The @azure/core-auth package provides core interfaces and helper methods for authenticating with Azure services using Azure Active Directory and other authentication schemes common across the Azure SDK. As a "core" library, it shouldn't need to be added as a dependency to any user code, only other Azure SDK libraries.

Getting started

Installation

Install this library using npm as follows

npm install @azure/core-auth

Key Concepts

The TokenCredential interface represents a credential capable of providing an authentication token. The @azure/identity package contains various credentials that implement the TokenCredential interface.

The AzureKeyCredential is a static key-based credential that supports key rotation via the update method. Use this when a single secret value is needed for authentication, e.g. when using a shared access key.

The AzureNamedKeyCredential is a static name/key-based credential that supports name and key rotation via the update method. Use this when both a secret value and a label are needed, e.g. when using a shared access key and shared access key name.

The AzureSASCredential is a static signature-based credential that supports updating the signature value via the update method. Use this when using a shared access signature.

Examples

AzureKeyCredential

import { AzureKeyCredential } from "@azure/core-auth";

const credential = new AzureKeyCredential("secret value");
// prints: "secret value"
console.log(credential.key);
credential.update("other secret value");
// prints: "other secret value"
console.log(credential.key);

AzureNamedKeyCredential

import { AzureNamedKeyCredential } from "@azure/core-auth";

const credential = new AzureNamedKeyCredential("ManagedPolicy", "secret value");
// prints: "ManagedPolicy, secret value"
console.log(`${credential.name}, ${credential.key}`);
credential.update("OtherManagedPolicy", "other secret value");
// prints: "OtherManagedPolicy, other secret value"
console.log(`${credential.name}, ${credential.key}`);

AzureSASCredential

import { AzureSASCredential } from "@azure/core-auth";

const credential = new AzureSASCredential("signature1");
// prints: "signature1"
console.log(credential.signature);
credential.update("signature2");
// prints: "signature2"
console.log(credential.signature);

Next steps

You can build and run the tests locally by executing rushx test. Explore the test folder to see advanced usage and behavior of the public classes.

Troubleshooting

If you run into issues while using this library, please feel free to file an issue.

Contributing

If you'd like to contribute to this library, please read the contributing guide to learn more about how to build and test the code.