http-auth

What is http-auth?

The http-auth npm package provides basic and digest access authentication for Node.js applications. It allows developers to secure their web applications by requiring users to provide a username and password before accessing certain routes or resources.

What are http-auth's main functionalities?

Basic Authentication

This feature allows you to set up basic authentication for your Node.js server. Users will need to provide a username and password to access the protected routes.

const http = require('http');
const auth = require('http-auth');

const basic = auth.basic({
  realm: 'Simon Area',
  file: __dirname + '/users.htpasswd' // user:password in htpasswd format
});

http.createServer(basic, (req, res) => {
  res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
}).listen(1337, () => {
  console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');
});

Digest Authentication

This feature allows you to set up digest authentication for your Node.js server. Digest authentication is more secure than basic authentication as it uses MD5 hashing.

const http = require('http');
const auth = require('http-auth');

const digest = auth.digest({
  realm: 'Simon Area',
  file: __dirname + '/users.htdigest' // user:realm:password in htdigest format
});

http.createServer(digest, (req, res) => {
  res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
}).listen(1337, () => {
  console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');
});

Other packages similar to http-auth

express-basic-auth

The express-basic-auth package provides basic authentication middleware for Express applications. It is simpler to use with Express compared to http-auth and integrates seamlessly with the Express framework.

passport-http

The passport-http package is a Passport strategy for HTTP Basic and Digest authentication. It is part of the Passport.js ecosystem, which provides a wide range of authentication strategies and is highly extensible.

basic-auth

The basic-auth package is a simple tool for parsing basic authentication headers. It does not provide full authentication middleware but can be used in conjunction with other packages to implement basic authentication.

README

http-auth

Node.js package for HTTP basic and digest access authentication.

Installation

Via git (or downloaded tarball):

$ git clone git://github.com/gevorg/http-auth.git

Via npm:

$ npm install http-auth

Usage

// HTTP module
const http = require("http");

// Authentication module.
const auth = require("http-auth");
const basic = auth.basic({
  realm: "Simon Area.",
  file: __dirname + "/../data/users.htpasswd" // gevorg:gpass, Sarah:testpass
});

// Creating new HTTP server.
http
  .createServer(
    basic.check((req, res) => {
      res.end(`Welcome to private area - ${req.user}!`);
    })
  )
  .listen(1337, () => {
    // Log URL.
    console.log("Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/");
  });

Please check examples directory for more.

Configurations

• realm - Authentication realm, by default it is Users.
• file - File where user details are stored.
  • Line format is {user:pass} or {user:passHash} for basic access.
  • Line format is {user:realm:passHash} for digest access.
  • Using a callback, it needs to return the same line format, example: file: () => 'adam:adam\neve:eve',
• algorithm - Algorithm that will be used only for digest access authentication.
  • MD5 by default.
  • MD5-sess can be set.
• qop - Quality of protection that is used only for digest access authentication.
  • auth is set by default.
  • none this option is disabling protection.
• msg401 - Message for failed authentication 401 page.
• msg407 - Message for failed authentication 407 page.
• contentType - Content type for failed authentication page.
• skipUser - Set this to true, if you don't want req.user to be filled with authentication info.
• proxy - Set this to true, if you want to use it with http-proxy.

Running tests

It uses mocha, so just run following command in package directory:

$ npm test

Questions

You can also use stackoverflow to ask questions using http-auth tag.

Utilities

• htpasswd - Node.js package for HTTP Basic Authentication password file utility.
• htdigest - Node.js package for HTTP Digest Authentication password file utility.

Integrations

Please check this link for integration packages.

License

The MIT License (MIT)