Authentication in Red Hat Developer Hub
Configuring authentication to external services in Red Hat Developer Hub
Abstract
1. Understanding authentication and user provisioning
Learn about the authentication process from creating user and group entities in the software catalog to user sign-in, and how authentication and catalog plugins enable each step. Understanding this process is essential for successfully configuring your Developer Hub instance, securing access through authorization, and enabling features that rely on synchronized user and group data.
To fully enable catalog features, provision user and group data from the Identity Provider to the Developer Hub software catalog. Catalog provider plugins handle this task asynchronously. These plugins query the Identity Provider (IdP) for relevant user and group information, and create or update corresponding entities in the Developer Hub catalog. Scheduled provisioning ensures that the catalog accurately reflects the users and groups in your organization.
When a user attempts to access Developer Hub, Developer Hub redirects them to a configured authentication provider, such as Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK), GitHub, or Microsoft Azure. This external IdP is responsible for authenticating the user.
On successful authentication, the Developer Hub authentication plugin, configured in your app-config.yaml
file, processes the response from the IdP, resolves the identity in the Developer Hub software catalog, and establishes a user session within Developer Hub.
Configuring authentication and user provisioning is critical for several reasons.
- Securing your Developer Hub instance by ensuring only authenticated users can gain access.
- Enabling authorization by allowing you to define access controls based on user and group memberships synchronized from your IdP.
Provisioning user and group data to the catalog is necessary for various catalog features that rely on understanding entity ownership and relationships between users, groups, and software components.
ImportantWithout this provisioning step, features such as displaying who owns a catalog entity might not function correctly.
To explore Developer Hub features in a non-production environment, you can:
- To use Developer Hub without external IdP, enable the guest user to skip configuring authentication and authorization, log in as the guest user, and access all Developer Hub features.
-
To use Developer Hub without authorization policies and features relying on the software catalog, you can enable the
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
resolver option. This setting bypasses the check requiring a user to be in the catalog but still enforces authentication.
Developer Hub uses a one-way synchronization model, where user and group data flow from your Identity Provider to the Developer Hub software catalog. As a result, deleting users or groups manually through the Developer Hub Web UI or REST API might be ineffective or cause inconsistencies, since Developer Hub will create those entities again during the next import.
2. Authenticating with the Guest user
For trial or non-production environments, you can enable guest access to skip configuring authentication and authorization and explore Developer Hub features.
2.1. Authenticating with the Guest user on an Operator-based installation
For trial or non-production environments installed by using the Red Hat Developer Hub Operator, you can enable guest access to skip configuring authentication and authorization and explore Developer Hub features.
Prerequisites
- You added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
- You use the Red Hat Developer Hub Operator to run Developer Hub.
Procedure
Add the following content to the
app-config.yaml
file:auth: environment: development providers: guest: dangerouslyAllowOutsideDevelopment: true
Verification
- Go to the Developer Hub login page.
- To log in with the Guest user account, click Enter in the Guest tile.
- In the Developer Hub Settings page, your profile name is Guest.
- You can use Developer Hub features.
2.2. Authenticating with the Guest user on a Helm-based installation
For trial or non-production environments installed by using the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart, you can enable guest access to skip configuring authentication and authorization and explore Developer Hub features.
Prerequisites
- You added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
- You use the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart to run Developer Hub.
Procedure
Add following content to your Red Hat Developer Hub Helm Chart:
upstream: backstage: appConfig: app: baseUrl: 'https://{{- include "janus-idp.hostname" . }}' auth: environment: development providers: guest: dangerouslyAllowOutsideDevelopment: true
Verification
- Go to the Developer Hub login page.
- To log in with the Guest user account, click Enter in the Guest tile.
- In the Developer Hub Settings page, your profile name is Guest.
- You can use Developer Hub features.
3. Authenticating with Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK)
3.1. Enabling user authentication with Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK)
Authenticate users with Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK), by provisioning the users and groups from RHBK to the Developer Hub software catalog, and configuring the OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication provider in Red Hat Developer Hub.
Prerequisites
- You added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
- You have enough permissions in RHSSO to create and manage a realm and a client. Alternatively, your RHBK administrator can prepare in RHBK the required realm and client for you.
Procedure
To allow Developer Hub to authenticate with RHBK, complete the steps in RHBK, to create a realm and a user and secure the first application:
Use an existing realm, or create a realm, with a distinctive Name such as <my_realm>. Save the value for the next step:
- RHBK realm base URL, such as: <your_rhbk_URL>/realms/<your_realm>.
To register your Developer Hub in RHBK, in the created realm, secure the first application, with:
- Client ID: A distinctive client ID, such as <RHDH>.
-
Valid redirect URIs: Set to the OIDC handler URL:
https://<my_developer_hub_domain>/api/auth/oidc/handler/frame
. - Go to the Credentials tab and copy the Client secret.
Save the values for the next step:
- Client ID
- Client Secret
- To prepare for the verification steps, in the same realm, get the credential information for an existing user or create a user. Save the user credential information for the verification steps.
To add your RHSSO credentials to Developer Hub, add the following key/value pairs to your Developer Hub secrets. You can use these secrets in the Developer Hub configuration files by using their environment variable name.
KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID
- Enter the saved Client ID.
KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET
- Enter the saved Client Secret.
KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL
- Enter the saved RHBK realm base URL.
Enable the Keycloak organization plugin (
backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-keycloak-dynamic
) in yourdynamic-plugins.yaml
file. The plugin is named after RHBK upstream project. This plugin imports RHBK users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.plugins: - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-keycloak-dynamic' disabled: false
To provision RHBK users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog, add the
catalog.providers.keycloakOrg
section to your custom Developer Hubapp-config.yaml
configuration file:catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: baseUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL} clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET} realm: master loginRealm: master
baseUrl
- Enter your RHBK server URL, defined earlier.
clientId
- Enter your Developer Hub application client ID in RHBK, defined earlier.
clientSecret
- Enter your Developer Hub application client secret in RHBK, defined earlier.
realm
-
Enter the realm name to provision users, such as
master
. loginRealm
Enter the realm name to authenticate users, such as
master
.Optional: Add optional fields.
userQuerySize
Enter the user count to query simultaneously. Default value:
100
.catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: userQuerySize: 100
groupQuerySize
Enter the group count to query simultaneously. Default value:
100
.catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: groupQuerySize: 100
schedule.frequency
Enter the schedule frequency. Supports cron, ISO duration, and "human duration" as used in code.
catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: schedule: frequency: { hours: 1 }
schedule.timeout
Enter the timeout for the user provisioning job. Supports ISO duration and "human duration" as used in code.
catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: schedule: timeout: { minutes: 50 }
schedule.initialDelay
Enter the initial delay to wait for before starting the user provisioning job. Supports ISO duration and "human duration" as used in code.
catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: schedule: initialDelay: { seconds: 15}
To set up the RHBK authentication provider in your Developer Hub custom configuration, edit your custom Developer Hub ConfigMap such as
app-config-rhdh
, and add the following lines to theapp-config.yaml
content:auth: environment: production providers: oidc: production: metadataUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL} clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET} prompt: auto signInPage: oidc
environment: production
-
Mark the environment as
production
to hide the Guest login in the Developer Hub home page. metadataUrl
,clientId
,clientSecret
- To configure the OIDC provider with your secrets.
sigInPage: oidc
- To enable the OIDC provider as default sign-in provider.
prompt: auto
To allow the identity provider to automatically determine whether to prompt for credentials or bypass the login redirect if an active RHSSO session exists.
NoteIf
prompt: auto
is not set, the identity provider defaults toprompt: none
, which assumes that you are already logged in and rejects sign-in requests without an active session.Optional: Add optional fields.
callbackUrl
RHBK callback URL.
auth: providers: oidc: production: callbackUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_CALLBACK_URL}
tokenEndpointAuthMethod
Token endpoint authentication method.
auth: providers: oidc: production: tokenEndpointAuthMethod: ${KEYCLOAK_TOKEN_ENDPOINT_METHOD}
tokenSignedResponseAlg
Token signed response algorithm.
auth: providers: oidc: production: tokenSignedResponseAlg: ${KEYCLOAK_SIGNED_RESPONSE_ALG}
additionalScopes
Enter additional RHBK scopes to request for during the authentication flow.
auth: providers: oidc: production: additionalScopes: ${KEYCLOAK_SCOPE}
signIn
resolvers
After successful authentication, the user signing in must be resolved to an existing user in the Developer Hub catalog. To best match users securely for your use case, consider configuring a specific resolver.
Enter the resolver list to override the default resolver:
oidcSubClaimMatchingKeycloakUserId
.Available values:
oidcSubClaimMatchingKeycloakUserId
-
Matches the user with the immutable
sub
parameter from OIDC to the RHBK user ID. Consider using this resolver for enhanced security. emailLocalPartMatchingUserEntityName
- Matches the email local part with the user entity name.
emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail
- Matches the email with the user entity profile email.
preferredUsernameMatchingUserEntityName
Matches the preferred username with the user entity name.
The authentication provider tries each sign-in resolver in order until it succeeds, and fails if none succeed.
WarningIn production mode, only configure one resolver to ensure users are securely matched.
auth: providers: oidc: production: signIn: resolvers: - resolver: oidcSubClaimMatchingKeycloakUserId - resolver: preferredUsernameMatchingUserEntityName - resolver: emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail - resolver: emailLocalPartMatchingUserEntityName
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true
Configure the sign-in resolver to bypass the user provisioning requirement in the Developer Hub software catalog.
WarningUse this option to explore Developer Hub features, but do not use it in production.
auth: environment: production providers: oidc: production: metadataUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL} clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET} signIn: resolvers: - resolver: oidcSubClaimMatchingKeycloakUserID dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true signInPage: oidc
sessionDuration
Lifespan of the user session. Enter a duration in
ms
library format (such as '24h', '2 days'), ISO duration, or "human duration" as used in code.auth: providers: github: production: sessionDuration: { hours: 24 }
auth
backstageTokenExpiration
- To modify the Developer Hub token expiration from its default value of one hour, note that this refers to the validity of short-term cryptographic tokens, not the session duration. The expiration value must be set between 10 minutes and 24 hours.
auth: backstageTokenExpiration: { minutes: <user_defined_value> }
WarningFor security, consider that if multiple valid refresh tokens are issued due to frequent refresh token requests, older tokens will remain valid until they expire. To enhance security and prevent potential misuse of older tokens, enable a refresh token rotation strategy in your RHBK realm.
- From the Configure section of the navigation menu, click Realm Settings.
- From the Realm Settings page, click the Tokens tab.
- From the Refresh tokens section of the Tokens tab, toggle the Revoke Refresh Token to the Enabled position.
Verification
To verify user and group provisioning, check the console logs.
Successful synchronization example:
2025-06-27T16:02:34.647Z catalog info Read 5 Keycloak users and 3 Keycloak groups in 0.4 seconds. Committing... class="KeycloakOrgEntityProvider" taskId="KeycloakOrgEntityProvider:default:refresh" taskInstanceId="db55c34b-46b3-402b-b12f-2fbc48498e82" trace_id="606f80a9ce00d1c86800718c4522f7c6" span_id="7ebc2a254a546e90" trace_flags="01" 2025-06-27T16:02:34.650Z catalog info Committed 5 Keycloak users and 3 Keycloak groups in 0.0 seconds. class="KeycloakOrgEntityProvider" taskId="KeycloakOrgEntityProvider:default:refresh" taskInstanceId="db55c34b-46b3-402b-b12f-2fbc48498e82" trace_id="606f80a9ce00d1c86800718c4522f7c6" span_id="7ebc2a254a546e90" trace_flags="01"
To verify RHBK user authentication:
- Go to the Developer Hub login page.
- Your Developer Hub sign-in page displays Sign in using OIDC and the Guest user sign-in is disabled.
- Log in with OIDC by using the saved Username and Password values.
3.2. Enabling user provisioning with LDAP
When your authentication provider depends on Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to resolve user and grop identitites, provision users and groups from LDAP to the Red Hat Developer Hub software catalog, rather than using the provisioning mechanism from your authentication provider.
Prerequisites
- You added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have sufficient permissions to modify it.
- You have configured authentication with Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK).
You have collected the required LDAP credentials:
- LDAP URL
-
Your LDAP server URL, such as
ldaps://ds.example.net
. - Bind dn
-
Your bind distinguished name, such as
cn=admin,OU=Users,DC=rhdh,DC=test
- LDAP secret
- Your LDAP secret.
- Recommended: LDAP certificates and keys
-
Your LDAP certificates and keys, when using a secure LDAP connexion (
ldaps://
).
Procedure
Enter your LDAP credentials to Developer Hub, by adding the following key/value pairs to your Developer Hub secrets. You can use these secrets in the Developer Hub configuration files by using their respective environment variable name.
LDAP_SECRET
- Enter your LDAP secret.
Recommended: To use a secure LDAP connection (
ldaps://
), add your LDAP certificates and keys files to your Developer Hub secrets.ldap_certs
,ldap_keys
Enable the LDAP organization provisioning plugin (
backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-ldap
). This plugin ingests LDAP users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.dynamic-plugins.yaml
file fragmentplugins: - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-ldap' disabled: false
Enable provisioning GitHub users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog, by adding the LDAP catalog provider section to your
app-config.yaml
file:- Optional: Remove other catalog providers, by removing the other catalog providers section.
Enter the mandatory fields:
catalog: providers: ldapOrg: default: target: ldaps://ds.example.net bind: dn: cn=admin,ou=Users,dc=rhdh secret: ${LDAP_SECRET} users: - dn: OU=Users,OU=RHDH Local,DC=rhdh,DC=test options: filter: (uid=*) groups: - dn: OU=Groups,OU=RHDH Local,DC=rhdh,DC=test schedule: frequency: PT1H timeout: PT15M
target
-
Enter your LDAP server URL, such as
ldaps://ds.example.net
. bind
Enter your service account informations:
dn
-
Enter your service account distinguished name (DN), such as
cn=admin,OU=Users,DC=rhdh,DC=test
secret
-
Enter the name of the variable containing your LDAP secret:
${LDAP_SECRET}
.
users
Enter information about how to find your users:
dn
- Enter the DN containing the user information.
options
filter
-
Enter your filter, such as
(uid=*)
to provision to the RHDH software catalog only users with a validuid
.
groups
Enter information about how to find your groups:
dn
- Enter the DN containing the group information.
schedule
Enter your schedule information:
frequency
- Enter your schedule frequency, in the cron, ISO duration, or "human duration" format.
timeout
- Enter your schedule timeout, in the ISO duration or "human duration" format.
initialDelay
- Enter your schedule initial delay, in the ISO duration or "human duration" format.
Optional: To change how Developer Hub maps LDAP user fields to the software catalog, enter optional
maps
andset
fields.catalog: providers: ldapOrg: default: target: ldaps://ds.example.net bind: dn: cn=admin,ou=Users,dc=rhdh secret: ${LDAP_SECRET} users: - dn: OU=Users,OU=RHDH Local,DC=rhdh,DC=test options: filter: (uid=*) map: rdn: uid name: uid description: {} displayName: cn email: mail picture: {} memberOf: memberOf set: metadata.customField: 'hello' groups: - dn: OU=Groups,OU=RHDH Local,DC=rhdh,DC=test schedule: frequency: PT1H timeout: PT15M
rdn
-
To change the default value:
uid
, enter the relative distinguished name of each entry. name
-
To change the default value:
uid
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHmetadata.name
field. description
-
To set a value, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDH
metadata.description
field. displayName
-
To change the default value:
cn
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHmetadata.displayName
field. email
-
To change the default value:
mail
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHspec.profile.email
field. picture
-
To set a value, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDH
spec.profile.picture
field. memberOf
-
To change the default value:
memberOf
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHspec.memberOf
field. set
-
To set a value, enter the hard coded JSON to apply to the entities after ingestion, such as
metadata.customField: 'hello'
.
Optional: To change how Developer Hub maps LDAP group fields to the software catalog, enter optional
groups.maps
fields.catalog: providers: ldapOrg: default: target: ldaps://ds.example.net bind: dn: cn=admin,ou=Users,dc=rhdh secret: ${LDAP_SECRET} users: - dn: OU=Users,OU=RHDH Local,DC=rhdh,DC=test options: filter: (uid=*) groups: - dn: OU=Groups,OU=RHDH Local,DC=rhdh,DC=test map: rdn: uid name: uid description: {} displayName: cn email: mail picture: {} memberOf: memberOf members: member type: groupType set: metadata.customField: 'hello' schedule: frequency: PT1H timeout: PT15M
rdn
-
To change the default value:
cn
, enter the relative distinguished name of each entry. name
-
To change the default value:
cn
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHmetadata.name
field. description
-
To set a value, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDH
metadata.description
field. displayName
-
To change the default value:
cn
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHmetadata.displayName
field. email
-
To change the default value:
mail
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHspec.profile.email
field. picture
-
To set a value, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDH
spec.profile.picture
field. memberOf
-
To change the default value:
memberOf
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHspec.memberOf
field. members
-
To change the default value:
member
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHspec.children
field. type
-
To change the default value:
groupType
, enter the LDAP field to map to the RHDHspec.type
field. set
-
To set a value, enter the hard coded JSON to apply to the entities after ingestion, such as
metadata.customField: 'hello'
.
Recommended: To use a secure LDAP connection (
ldaps://
), enter optionaltls
fields.Optional
tls
fieldscatalog: providers: ldapOrg: default: target: ldaps://ds.example.net bind: dn: cn=admin,ou=Users,dc=rhdh secret: ${LDAP_SECRET} users: ldapOrg: default: tls: rejectUnauthorized: true keys: '/path/to/keys.pem' certs: '/path/to/certs.pem'
rejectUnauthorized
Set to
false
to allow self-signed certificatesWarningThis option is not recommended for production.
keys
- Enter a file containing private keys in PEM format
certs
- Enter a file containing cert chains in PEM format
Optional: Enter configuration for vendor-specific attributes to set custom attribute names for distinguished names (DN) and universally unique identifiers (UUID) in LDAP directories. Default values are defined per supported vendor and automatically detected.
catalog: providers: ldapOrg: default: vendor: dnAttributeName: customDN uuidAttributeName: customUUID
dnAttributeName
- Enter the attribute name that holds the distinguished name (DN) for an entry.
uuidAttributeName
- Enter the attribute name that holds a universal unique identifier (UUID) for an entry.
Optional: Enter low level users and groups configuration in the
options
subsection.catalog: providers: ldapOrg: default: target: ldaps://ds.example.net bind: dn: cn=admin,ou=Users,dc=rhdh secret: ${LDAP_SECRET} users: options: scope: sub filter: (uid=*) attributes: - cn - uid - description paged: pageSize: 500 groups: options: scope: sub filter: (cn=*) attributes: - cn - uid - description paged: pageSize: 500 pagePause: true
scope
To change the default value:
one
, enter how deep the search should go within the directory tree:-
base
to search only the base DN. -
one
to search one level below the base DN. -
sub
to search all descendant entries.
-
filter
To change the default value:
(objectclass=*)
, enter your LDAP filter. With the default mapping:-
For users, enter
(uid=*)
to make sure only users with valid uid field is synced, since users without uid will cause error and ingestion fails. For groups, enter
(cn=*)
TipWhen you change the mapping, also update the filter.
-
For users, enter
attributes
-
To change the default value: all attributes
['*', '+']
, enter the array of attribute names to import from LDAP. paged
Enter a value to enable paged results.
pageSize
-
Enter a value to set the results page size, such as
500
. pagePause
-
Enter
true
to tell the client to wait for the asynchronous results of the next page, when the page limit has been reached.
Verification
To verify user and group provisioning, check the console logs.
Successful synchronization example:
3.3. Creating a custom transformer to provision users from Red Hat Build of Keycloak (RHBK) to the software catalog
Customize how Red Hat Developer Hub provisions users and groups to Red Hat Developer Hub software catalog entities, by creating a backend module that uses the keycloakTransformerExtensionPoint
to offer custom user and group transformers for the Keycloak backend.
Prerequisites
Procedure
-
Create a new backend module with the
yarn new
command. Add your custom user and group transformers to the
keycloakTransformerExtensionPoint
.The following is an example
plugins/<module_name>/src/module.ts
file defining the backend module:import { GroupTransformer, keycloakTransformerExtensionPoint, UserTransformer, } from '@backstage-community/plugin-catalog-backend-module-keycloak'; const customGroupTransformer: GroupTransformer = async ( entity, // entity output from default parser realm, // Keycloak realm name groups, // Keycloak group representation ) => { /* apply transformations */ return entity; }; const customUserTransformer: UserTransformer = async ( entity, // entity output from default parser user, // Keycloak user representation realm, // Keycloak realm name groups, // Keycloak group representation ) => { /* apply transformations */ return entity; }; export const keycloakBackendModuleTransformer = createBackendModule({ pluginId: 'catalog', moduleId: 'keycloak-transformer', register(reg) { reg.registerInit({ deps: { keycloak: keycloakTransformerExtensionPoint, }, async init({ keycloak }) { keycloak.setUserTransformer(customUserTransformer); keycloak.setGroupTransformer(customGroupTransformer); /* highlight-add-end */ }, }); }, });
ImportantSet the module’s
pluginId
tocatalog
to match thepluginId
of thekeycloak-backend
; otherwise, the module fails to initialize.Install this new backend module into your Developer Hub backend.
backend.add(import(backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-keycloak-transformer))
Verification
Developer Hub imports the users and groups each time when started. Check the console logs to verify the synchronization result.
Successful synchronization example:
{"class":"KeycloakOrgEntityProvider","level":"info","message":"Read 3 Keycloak users and 2 Keycloak groups in 1.5 seconds. Committing...","plugin":"catalog","service":"backstage","taskId":"KeycloakOrgEntityProvider:default:refresh","taskInstanceId":"bf0467ff-8ac4-4702-911c-380270e44dea","timestamp":"2024-09-25 13:58:04"} {"class":"KeycloakOrgEntityProvider","level":"info","message":"Committed 3 Keycloak users and 2 Keycloak groups in 0.0 seconds.","plugin":"catalog","service":"backstage","taskId":"KeycloakOrgEntityProvider:default:refresh","taskInstanceId":"bf0467ff-8ac4-4702-911c-380270e44dea","timestamp":"2024-09-25 13:58:04"}
- After the first import is complete, go to the Catalog page and select User to view the list of users.
- When you select a user, you see the information imported from RHBK.
- You can select a group, view the list, and access or review the information imported from RHBK.
- You can log in with an RHBK account.
4. Enabling authentication with GitHub
4.1. Enabling user authentication with GitHub
Authenticate users with GitHub by provisioning the users and groups from GitHub to the Developer Hub software catalog, and configuring the GitHub authentication provider in Red Hat Developer Hub.
Prerequisites
- You added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
- You have enough permissions in GitHub to create and manage a GitHub App. Alternatively, you can ask your GitHub administrator to prepare the required GitHub App.
Procedure
To allow Developer Hub to authenticate with GitHub, create a GitHub App. Opt for a GitHub App instead of an OAuth app to use fine-grained permissions, use short-lived tokens, scale with the number of installations by avoiding rate limits, and have a more transparent integration by avoiding to request user input.
Register a GitHub App with the following configuration:
- GitHub App name
-
Enter a unique name identifying your GitHub App, such as
authenticating-with-rhdh-<GUID>
. - Homepage URL
-
Enter your Developer Hub URL:
https://<my_developer_hub_domain>
. - Authorization callback URL
-
Enter your Developer Hub authentication backend URL:
https://<my_developer_hub_domain>/api/auth/github/handler/frame
. - Webhook
- Clear "Active", as this is not needed for authentication and catalog providers.
- Organization permissions
-
Enable
Read-only
access to Members. - Where can this GitHub App be installed?
-
Select
Only on this account
.
- In the General → Clients secrets section, click Generate a new client secret.
- In the Install App tab, choose an account to install your GitHub App on.
Save the following values for the next step:
- Client ID
- Client secret
To add your GitHub credentials to Developer Hub, add the following key/value pairs to your Developer Hub secrets. You can use these secrets in the Developer Hub configuration files by using their environment variable name.
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID
- Enter the saved Client ID.
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET
- Enter the saved Client Secret.
GITHUB_URL
-
Enter the GitHub host domain:
github.com
. GITHUB_ORG
-
Enter your GitHub organization name, such as
<your_github_organization_name>
.
Enable the GitHub organization provisioning plugin (
backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-org
). This plugin imports GitHub users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.dynamic-plugins.yaml
file fragment:plugins: - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-org' disabled: false
Provision GitHub users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog by adding the
catalog.providers.githubOrg
section to your custom Developer Hubapp-config.yaml
configuration file:catalog: providers: githubOrg: id: githuborg githubUrl: "${GITHUB_URL}" orgs: [ "${GITHUB_ORG}" ] schedule: frequency: minutes: 30 initialDelay: seconds: 15 timeout: minutes: 15
id
-
Enter a stable identifier for this provider, such as
githuborg
. Entities from this provider are associated with this identifier, therefore you must take care not to change it over time since that might lead to orphaned entities or conflicts. githubUrl
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${GITHUB_URL}
. orgs
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${GITHUB_ORG}
. schedule.frequency
- Enter your schedule frequency, in the cron, ISO duration, or "human duration" format.
schedule.timeout
- Enter your schedule timeout, in the ISO duration or "human duration" format.
schedule.initialDelay
- Enter your schedule initial delay, in the ISO duration or "human duration" format.
To set up the GitHub authentication provider, add the
auth.providers.github
section to yourapp-config.yaml
file:auth: environment: production providers: github: production: clientId: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET} signInPage: github
environment
-
Enter
production
to disable the Guest login option in the Developer Hub login page. clientId
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID}
. clientSecret
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET}
. signInPage
Enter
github
to enable the GitHub provider as your Developer Hub sign-in provider.Optional: Consider adding optional fields.
auth: environment: production providers: github: production: clientId: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET} callbackUrl: __<your_intermediate_service_url/handler>__ sessionDuration: { hours: 24 } signIn: resolvers: - resolver: usernameMatchingUserEntityName dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true signInPage: github
callbackUrl
- Enter the callback URL that GitHub uses when initiating an OAuth flow, such as: <your_intermediate_service_url/handler>. Define it when Developer Hub is not the immediate receiver, such as in cases when you use one OAuth app for many Developer Hub instances.
sessionDuration
-
Enter the user session lifespan, in
ms
library format (such as '24h', '2 days'), ISO duration, or "human duration". signIn
resolvers
- After successful authentication, Developer Hub resolves the user signing in to an existing user in the Developer Hub catalog. To best match users securely for your use case, consider configuring a specific resolver.
Enter the resolver list to override the default resolver:
usernameMatchingUserEntityName
.The authentication provider tries each sign-in resolver in order until it succeeds, and fails if none succeed.
WarningMake sure users are securely matched in production mode, by configuring only one resolver.
resolver
Enter the sign-in resolver name. Available resolvers:
-
usernameMatchingUserEntityName
-
preferredUsernameMatchingUserEntityName
-
emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail
-
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true
Configure the sign-in resolver to bypass the user provisioning requirement in the Developer Hub software catalog.
WarningDo not use
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
in production. Use this configuration only to explore Developer Hub features.
Verification
Verify user and group provisioning by checking the console logs.
Successful synchronization example:
{"class":"GithubMultiOrgEntityProvider","level":"info","message":"Reading GitHub users and teams for org: rhdh-dast","plugin":"catalog","service":"backstage","target":"https://github.com","taskId":"GithubMultiOrgEntityProvider:githuborg:refresh","taskInstanceId":"801b3c6c-167f-473b-b43e-e0b4b780c384","timestamp":"2024-09-09 23:55:58"} {"class":"GithubMultiOrgEntityProvider","level":"info","message":"Read 7 GitHub users and 2 GitHub groups in 0.4 seconds. Committing...","plugin":"catalog","service":"backstage","target":"https://github.com","taskId":"GithubMultiOrgEntityProvider:githuborg:refresh","taskInstanceId":"801b3c6c-167f-473b-b43e-e0b4b780c384","timestamp":"2024-09-09 23:55:59"}
To verify GitHub authentication:
- Go to the Developer Hub login page.
- Your Developer Hub sign-in page displays Sign in using GitHub and the Guest user sign-in is disabled.
- Log in with a GitHub account.
Additional resources
4.2. Enabling user authentication with GitHub as an auxiliary authentication provider
To allow users to access GitHub templates or plugins that require GitHub authentication, configure GitHub as an auxiliary authentication provider. This method relies on a primary authentication provider for user identity management, and skips resolving user identity from this provider.
Prerequisites
- You have added a custom Developer Hub application configuration with another authentication provider enabled, and have enough permissions to change it.
- You have enough permissions in GitHub to create and manage a GitHub App. Alternatively, you can ask your GitHub administrator to prepare the required GitHub App.
Procedure
To allow Developer Hub to authenticate with GitHub, create a GitHub App. Opt for a GitHub App instead of an OAuth app to use fine-grained permissions, use short-lived tokens, scale with the number of installations by avoiding rate limits, and have a more transparent integration by avoiding to request user input.
Register a GitHub App with the following configuration:
- GitHub App name
-
Enter a unique name identifying your GitHub App, such as
authenticating-with-rhdh-<GUID>
. - Homepage URL
-
Enter your Developer Hub URL:
https://<my_developer_hub_domain>
. - Authorization callback URL
-
Enter your Developer Hub authentication backend URL:
https://<my_developer_hub_domain>/api/auth/github/handler/frame
. - Webhook
- Clear "Active", as this is not needed for authentication and catalog providers.
- Organization permissions
-
Enable
Read-only
access to Members. - Where can this GitHub App be installed?
-
Select
Only on this account
.
- In the General → Clients secrets section, click Generate a new client secret.
- In the Install App tab, choose an account to install your GitHub App on.
Save the following values for the next step:
- Client ID
- Client secret
To add your GitHub credentials to Developer Hub, add the following key/value pairs to your Developer Hub secrets. You can use these secrets in the Developer Hub configuration files by using their environment variable name.
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID
- Enter the saved Client ID.
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET
- Enter the saved Client Secret.
GITHUB_URL
-
Enter the GitHub host domain:
github.com
. GITHUB_ORG
-
Enter your GitHub organization name, such as
<your_github_organization_name>
.
Enable the GitHub organization provisioning plugin (
backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-org
). This plugin imports GitHub users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.dynamic-plugins.yaml
file fragment:plugins: - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-org' disabled: false
To set up the GitHub authentication provider as an auxiliary authentication provider, add the
auth.providers.github
section to yourapp-config.yaml
file:auth: providers: github: production: clientId: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET} disableIdentityResolution: true
where:
clientId
:: Enter the configured secret variable name:${GITHUB_CLIENT_ID}
.clientSecret
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET}
. disableIdentityResolution
- Enter `true`to skip user identity resolution for this provider to enable sign-in from an auxiliary authentication provider. Do not enable this setting on the primary authentication provider you plan on using for sign-in and identity management.
Verification
- Go to the Developer Hub login page.
- Log in with your primary authentication provider account.
- In the top user menu, go to Settings > Authentication Providers.
- In the GitHub line, click the Sign in button and log in.
- In the GitHub line, the button displays Sign out.
Additional resources
5. Enabling user authentication with Microsoft Azure
Authenticate users with Microsoft Azure by provisioning the users and groups from Azure to the Developer Hub software catalog, and configuring the Azure authentication provider in Red Hat Developer Hub.
Prerequisites
- You have the permission to register an application in Azure. Alternatively, you can ask your Azure administrator to prepare the required Azure application.
- You added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
Your Developer Hub backend can access the following hosts:
login.microsoftonline.com
- The Microsoft Azure authorization server, which enables the authentication flow.
graph.microsoft.com
- The server for retrieving organization data, including user and group data, to import into the Developer Hub catalog.
Procedure
To allow Developer Hub to authenticate with Azure, Register an app by using the Azure portal.
- Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center.
- Optional: If you have access to many tenants, use the Settings icon in the top menu to switch to the tenant in which you want to register the application from the Directories + subscriptions menu.
Browse to Applications > App registrations, and create a New registration with the configuration:
- Name
- Enter a name to identify your application in Azure, such as <Authenticating with Developer Hub>.
- Supported account types
- Select Accounts in this organizational directory only.
- Redirect URI
- Select a platform
- Select Web.
- URL
-
Enter the backend authentication URI set in Developer Hub:
https://<my_developer_hub_domain>/api/auth/microsoft/handler/frame
On the Applications > App registrations > <Authenticating with Developer Hub> > Manage > API permissions page, Add a Permission, Microsoft Graph, select the following permissions:
- Application Permissions
GroupMember.Read.All
,User.Read.All
Enter permissions that enable provisioning user and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.
Optional: Grant admin consent for these permissions. Even if your company does not require admin consent, consider doing so as it means users do not need to individually consent the first time they access Developer Hub.
- Delegated Permissions
User.Read
,email
,offline_access
,openid
,profile
Enter permissions that enable authenticating users.
Optional: Enter optional custom scopes for the Microsoft Graph API that you define both here and in your
app-config.yaml
Developer Hub configuration file.
- On the Applications > App registrations > <Authenticating with Developer Hub> > Manage > Certificates & secrets page, in the Client secrets tab, create a New client secret.
Save the following values for the next step:
- Directory (tenant) ID
- Application (client) ID
- Application (client) Secret ID
To add your Azure credentials to Developer Hub, add the following key/value pairs to your Developer Hub secrets:
AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID
- Enter your saved Directory (tenant) ID.
AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID
- Enter your saved Application (client) ID.
AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET
- Enter your saved Application (client) secret.
Enable the Microsoft Graph organization provisioning plugin (
backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-msgraph-dynamic
) in yourdynamic-plugins.yaml
file. This plugin imports Azure users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.plugins: - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-msgraph-dynamic' disabled: false
To provision Azure users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog, add the
catalog.providers.microsoftGraphOrg
section to your custom Developer Hubapp-config.yaml
configuration file:catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: target: https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0 tenantId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID} clientId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET} schedule: frequency: hours: 1 timeout: minutes: 50 initialDelay: minutes: 50
target
-
Enter
https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0
to define the MSGraph API endpoint the provider is connecting to. You might change this parameter to use a different version, such as the beta endpoint. tenandId
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID}
. clientId
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID}
. clientSecret
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET}
. schedule
frequency
- Enter the schedule frequency in the cron, ISO duration, or human duration format. In a large organization, user provisioning might take a long time, therefore avoid using a low value.
timeout
- Enter the schedule timeout in the ISO duration or human duration format. In a large organization, user provisioning might take a long time, therefore avoid using a low value.
initialDelay
Enter the schedule initial delay in the ISO duration or human duration format.
Optional: Consider adding optional fields.
authority
Enter your Azure authority URL if it is different from the default:
https://login.microsoftonline.com
.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: authority: https://login.microsoftonline.com/
queryMode: basic | advanced
Enter
advanced
when the defaultbasic
query mode is insufficient for your queries to the Microsoft Graph API. See Microsoft Azure advanced queries.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: queryMode: advanced
user.expand
To include the expanded resource or collection referenced by a single relationship (navigation property) in your results. Only one relationship can be expanded in a single request. See Microsoft Graph query expand parameter. This parameter can be combined with
userGroupMember.filter
oruser.filter
.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: user: expand: manager
user.filter
To filter users. See Microsoft Graph API and Microsoft Graph API query filter parameters syntax. This parameter and
userGroupMember.filter
are mutually exclusive, only one can be specified.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: user: filter: accountEnabled eq true and userType eq 'member'
user.loadPhotos: true | false
Developer Hub loads photos by default. Enter
false
to avoid loading user photos.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: user: loadPhotos: true
user.select
Enter the Microsoft Graph resource type list to retrieve.
catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: user: select: ['id', 'displayName', 'description']
userGroupMember.filter
To use group membership to get users. To filter groups and fetch their members. This parameter and
user.filter
are mutually exclusive, only one can be specified.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: userGroupMember: filter: "displayName eq 'Backstage Users'"
userGroupMember.search
To use group membership to get users. To search for groups and fetch their members. This parameter and
user.filter
are mutually exclusive, only one can be specified.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: userGroupMember: search: '"description:One" AND ("displayName:Video" OR "displayName:Drive")'
group.expand
Optional parameter to include the expanded resource or collection referenced by a single relationship (navigation property) in your results. Only one relationship can be expanded in a single request. See Customize Microsoft Graph responses with query parameters. This parameter can be combined with
userGroupMember.filter
instead ofuser.filter
.catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: group: expand: member
group.filter
To filter groups. See Microsoft Graph API query group syntax.
catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: group: filter: securityEnabled eq false and mailEnabled eq true and groupTypes/any(c:c+eq+'Unified')
group.search
To search for groups. See Microsoft Graph API query search parameter.
catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: group: search: '"description:One" AND ("displayName:Video" OR "displayName:Drive")'
group.select
Enter the Microsoft Graph resource type list to retrieve.
catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: group: select: ['id', 'displayName', 'description']
To set up the Azure authentication provider, add the
auth.providers.microsoft
section to yourapp-config.yaml
file content:auth: environment: production providers: microsoft: production: clientId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET} tenantId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID} signInPage: microsoft
environment
-
Enter
production
to disable the Guest login option in the Developer Hub login page. clientId
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID}
. clientSecret
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET}
. tenantId
-
Enter the configured secret variable name:
${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID}
. signInPage
Enter
microsoft
to set the Azure provider as your Developer Hub sign-in provider.Optional: Add optional fields.
domainHint
Optional for single-tenant applications. You can reduce login friction for users with accounts in multiple tenants by automatically filtering out accounts from other tenants. If you want to use this parameter for a single-tenant application, uncomment and enter the tenant ID. If your application registration is multi-tenant, leave this parameter blank. For more information, see Home Realm Discovery.
auth: environment: production providers: microsoft: production: domainHint: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID}
additionalScopes
Optional for additional scopes. To add scopes for the application registration, uncomment and enter the list of scopes that you want to add. The default and mandatory value lists following scopes:
-
openid
-
offline_access
-
profile
-
email
User.Read
auth: environment: production providers: microsoft: production: additionalScopes: - Mail.Send
-
sessionDuration
Lifespan of the user session. Enter a duration in
ms
library (such as '24h', '2 days'), ISO duration, or "human duration" format.auth: providers: microsoft: production: sessionDuration: hours: 24
signIn
resolvers
- After successful authentication, Developer Hub resolves the user signing in to an existing user in the Developer Hub catalog. To best match users securely for your use case, consider configuring a specific resolver.
Enter the resolver list to override the default resolver:
userIdMatchingUserEntityAnnotation
.The authentication provider tries each sign-in resolver in order until it succeeds, and fails if none succeed.
WarningIn production mode, only configure one resolver to ensure users are securely matched.
auth: environment: production providers: microsoft: production: clientId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET} tenantId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID} signIn: resolvers: - resolver: usernameMatchingUserEntityName dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true signInPage: microsoft
resolver
Enter the sign-in resolver name. Available resolvers:
emailMatchingUserEntityAnnotation
:This resolver looks up the user by matching their Microsoft email to the email entity annotation.
emailLocalPartMatchingUserEntityName
:This resolver looks up the user by matching their Microsoft email user name to the user entity name.
emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail
:- This resolver looks up the user by matching their Microsoft email to the user entity profile email.
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true
Configure the sign-in resolver to bypass the user provisioning requirement in the Developer Hub software catalog.
WarningUse
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
to explore Developer Hub features, but do not use it in production.
Verification
To verify user and group provisioning, check the console logs for
MicrosoftGraphOrgEntityProvider
events.Successful synchronization example:
2025-06-23T13:37:55.804Z catalog info Read 9 msgraph users and 3 msgraph groups in 1.5 seconds. Committing... class="MicrosoftGraphOrgEntityProvider" taskId="MicrosoftGraphOrgEntityProvider:providerId:refresh" taskInstanceId="e104a116-6481-4ceb-9bc4-0f8f9581f959" trace_id="e4c633659cffd6b1529afa55a5bfbad7" span_id="76affd0420e8baa6" trace_flags="01" 2025-06-23T13:37:55.811Z catalog info Committed 9 msgraph users and 3 msgraph groups in 0.0 seconds. class="MicrosoftGraphOrgEntityProvider" taskId="MicrosoftGraphOrgEntityProvider:providerId:refresh" taskInstanceId="e104a116-6481-4ceb-9bc4-0f8f9581f959" trace_id="e4c633659cffd6b1529afa55a5bfbad7" span_id="76affd0420e8baa6" trace_flags="01"
To verify Azure user authentication:
- Go to the Developer Hub login page.
- Your Developer Hub sign-in page displays Sign in using Microsoft and the Guest user sign-in is disabled.
- Log in with an Azure account.