React Native SDK

How to integrate with a React Native app

This guide provides instructions on integrating Authgear with a React Native app. Supported platforms include:

• React Native 0.60.0 or higher

React Native have opt-in support for the New Architecture since 0.68. Given that the New Architecture is still considered as unstable, we do not support it at the moment.

Setup Application in Authgear

Signup for an Authgear Portal account in https://portal.authgear.com/. Or you can use your self-deployed Authgear.

From the Project listing, create a new Project or select an existing Project. After that, we will need to create an application in the project.

Portal

Step 1: Create an application in the Portal

1. Go to Applications on the left menu bar.

2. Click ⊕Add Application in the top tool bar.

3. Input the name of your application and select Native App as the application type. Click "Save".

4. You will see a list of guides that can help you for setting up, then click "Next".

Create an application

Step 2: Configure the application

1. In your IDE, define a custom URI scheme that the users will be redirected back to your app after they have authenticated with Authgear, e.g. com.myapp.example://host/path. For futher instruction on setting up custom URI scheme in React Native, see https://reactnative.dev/docs/linking

2. Head back to Authgear Portal, fill in the URI that you have defined in the previous steps.

3. Click "Save" in the top tool bar and keep the Client ID. You can also obtain it again from the Applications list later.

Edit an application

If you wish to validate JSON Web Token (JWT) in your own application server, turn on "Issue JWT as access token". If you wish to forward authentication requests to Authgear Resolver Endpoint, leave this unchecked. See comparisons in Backend Integration. For more explanation on JWT, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON_Web_Token

authgear.yaml (self-deployed)

oauth:
  clients:
    - name: your_app_name
      client_id: a_random_generated_string
      redirect_uris:
        - "com.myapp://host/path"
      grant_types:
        - authorization_code
        - refresh_token
      response_types:
        - code
        - none

Create a React Native app

Follow the documentation of React Native to see how you can create a new React Native app.

npx react-native init myapp
cd myapp

Install the SDK

yarn add --exact @authgear/react-native
(cd ios && pod install)

Platform Integration

To finish the integration, setup the app to handle the redirectURI specified in the application. This part requires platform specific integration.

Android

Add the following activity entry to the AndroidManifest.xml of your app. The intent system would dispatch the redirect URI to OAuthRedirectActivity and the sdk would handle the rest.

<!-- Your application configuration. Omitted here for brevity -->
<application>
  <!-- Other activities or entries -->

  <!-- Add the following activity -->
  <!-- android:exported="true" is required -->
  <!-- See https://developer.android.com/about/versions/12/behavior-changes-12#exported -->
  <activity android:name="com.authgear.reactnative.OAuthRedirectActivity"
            android:exported="true"
            android:launchMode="singleTask">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
                <!-- Configure data to be the exact redirect URI your app uses. -->
                <!-- Here, we are using com.authgear.example://host/path as configured in authgear.yaml. -->
                <!-- NOTE: The redirectURI supplied in AuthenticateOptions *has* to match as well -->
                <data android:scheme="com.myapp.example"
                    android:host="host"
                    android:pathPrefix="/path"/>
            </intent-filter>
  </activity>
</application>

Targeting API level 30 or above (Android 11 or above)

If your Android app is targeting API level 30 or above (Android 11 or above), you need to add a queries section to AndroidManifest.xml.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <!-- Other elements such <application> -->
  <queries>
    <intent>
      <action android:name="android.support.customtabs.action.CustomTabsService" />
    </intent>
  </queries>
</manifest>

iOS

Declare URL Handling in Info.plist

In Info.plist, add the matching redirect URI.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
      <!-- Other entries -->
      <key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
      <array>
              <dict>
                      <key>CFBundleTypeRole</key>
                      <string>Editor</string>
                      <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
                      <array>
                              <string>com.myapp.example</string>
                      </array>
              </dict>
      </array>
</dict>
</plist>

Insert the SDK Integration Code

In AppDelegate.m, add the following code snippet.

// Other imports...
#import <authgear-react-native/AGAuthgearReactNative.h>

// Other methods...

// For handling deeplink
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)app
            openURL:(NSURL *)url
            options:
                (NSDictionary<UIApplicationOpenURLOptionsKey, id> *)options {
    return [AGAuthgearReactNative application:app openURL:url options:options];
}

// For handling deeplink
// deprecated, for supporting older devices (iOS < 9.0)
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
              openURL:(NSURL *)url
    sourceApplication:(NSString *)sourceApplication
          annotation:(id)annotation {
    return [AGAuthgearReactNative application:application
                                      openURL:url
                            sourceApplication:sourceApplication
                                  annotation:annotation];
}

// for handling universal link
- (BOOL)application:(UIApplication *)application
    continueUserActivity:(NSUserActivity *)userActivity
      restorationHandler:
          (void (^)(NSArray<id<UIUserActivityRestoring>> *_Nullable))
              restorationHandler {
    return [AGAuthgearReactNative application:application
                        continueUserActivity:userActivity
                          restorationHandler:restorationHandler];
}

Try authenticate

Add this code to your react native app. This snippet configures authgear to connect to an authgear server deployed at endpoint with the client you have just setup via clientID, opens a browser for authentication, and then upon success redirects to the app via the redirectURI specified.

import React, { useCallback } from "react";
import { View, Button } from "react-native";
import authgear from "@authgear/react-native";

function LoginScreen() {
  const onPress = useCallback(() => {
    // Normally you should only configure once when the app launches.
    authgear
      .configure({
        clientID: "client_id",
        endpoint: "http://<myapp>.authgear.cloud",
      })
      .then(() => {
        authgear
          .authenticate({
            redirectURI: "com.myapp.example://host/path",
          })
          .then(({ userInfo }) => {
            console.log(userInfo);
          });
      });
  }, []);

  return (
    <View>
      <Button onPress={onPress} title="Authenticate" />
    </View>
  );
}

Now, your user is logged in!

Get the Logged In State

When you start launching the application. You may want to know if the user has logged in. (e.g. Show users the login page if they haven't logged in). The sessionState reflects the user logged in state in the SDK local state. That means even the sessionState is AUTHENTICATED, the session may be invalid if it is revoked remotely. After initializing the Authgear SDK, call fetchUserInfo to update the sessionState as soon as it is proper to do so.

// After authgear.configure, it only reflect SDK local state.
// value can be NO_SESSION or AUTHENTICATED
let sessionState = authgear.sessionState;

if (sessionState === "AUTHENTICATED") {
    authgear
        .fetchUserInfo()
        .then((userInfo) => {
            // sessionState is now up to date
        })
        .catch((e) => {
            // sessionState is now up to date
            // it will change to NO_SESSION if the session is invalid
        });
}

The value of sessionState can be UNKNOWN, NO_SESSION or AUTHENTICATED. Initially the sessionState is UNKNOWN. After a call to authgear.configure, the session state would become AUTHENTICATED if a previous session was found, or NO_SESSION if such session was not found.

Fetching User Info

In some cases, you may need to obtain current user info through the SDK. (e.g. Display email address in the UI). Use the fetchUserInfo function to obtain the user info, see example.

Using the Access Token in HTTP Requests

To include the access token to the HTTP requests to your application server, there are two ways to achieve this.

Option 1: Using fetch function provided by Authgear SDK

Authgear SDK provides the fetch function for you to call your application server. The fetch function will include the Authorization header in your application request, and handle refresh access token automatically. authgear.fetch implement fetch.

authgear
    .fetch("YOUR_SERVER_URL")
    .then(response => response.json())
    .then(data => console.log(data));

Option 2: Add the access token to your HTTP

You can access the access token through authgear.accessToken. Call refreshAccessTokenIfNeeded every time before using the access token, the function will check and make the network call only if the access token has expired. Include the access token into the Authorization header of your application request.

authgear
    .refreshAccessTokenIfNeeded()
    .then(() => {
        // access token is ready to use
        // accessToken can be string or undefined
        // it will be empty if user is not logged in or session is invalid
        const accessToken = authgear.accessToken;

        // include Authorization header in your application request
        const headers = {
            Authorization: `Bearer ${accessToken}`
        };
    });

Logout

To log out the user from the current app session, you need to invoke the logout function.

authgear
  .logout()
  .then(() => {
    // logout successfully
  });

Next steps

To protect your application server from unauthorized access. You will need to integrate your backend with Authgear.

Backend Integration

JavaScript SDK Reference

For detailed documentation on the JavaScript React Native SDK, visit @authgear/react-native Reference