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), with optional steps
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.
TipAlternatively, ask your RHBK administrator to prepare in RHBK the required realm and client.
Procedure
Register your Developer Hub app in RHBK:
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.
Add your RHSSO 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 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 catalog provider plugin in your
dynamic-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
Enable provisioning RHBK users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog, by adding the
catalog.providers.keycloakOrg
section to yourapp-config.yaml
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 to the keycloackOrg catalog provider section in your
app-config.yaml
file:catalog: providers: keycloakOrg: default: baseUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL} clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET} realm: master loginRealm: master userQuerySize: 100 groupQuerySize: 100 schedule: frequency: { hours: 1 } timeout: { minutes: 50 } initialDelay: { seconds: 15}
userQuerySize
-
Enter the user count to query simultaneously. Default value:
100
. groupQuerySize
-
Enter the group count to query simultaneously. Default value:
100
. schedule
frequency
- Enter the schedule frequency. Supports cron, ISO duration, and "human duration" as used in code.
timeout
- Enter the timeout for the user provisioning job. Supports ISO duration and "human duration" as used in code.
initialDelay
- Enter the initial delay to wait for before starting the user provisioning job. Supports ISO duration and "human duration" as used in code.
Enable the RHBK authentication provider, by adding the OIDC provider section in your
app-config.yaml
file: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.
prompt
Enter
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.The identity provider defaults to
none
, which assumes that you are already logged in and rejects sign-in requests without an active session.signInPage
-
Enter
oidc
to enable the OIDC provider as default sign-in provider.
Optional: Add optional fields to the OIDC authentication provider section in your
app-config.yaml
file:auth: providers: oidc: production: metadataUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_BASE_URL} clientId: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET} callbackUrl: ${KEYCLOAK_CALLBACK_URL} tokenEndpointAuthMethod: ${KEYCLOAK_TOKEN_ENDPOINT_METHOD} tokenSignedResponseAlg: ${KEYCLOAK_SIGNED_RESPONSE_ALG} additionalScopes: ${KEYCLOAK_SCOPE} signIn: resolvers: - resolver: oidcSubClaimMatchingKeycloakUserId - resolver: preferredUsernameMatchingUserEntityName - resolver: emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail - resolver: emailLocalPartMatchingUserEntityName dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true sessionDuration: { hours: 24 } backstageTokenExpiration: { minutes: _<user_defined_value>_ } signInPage: oidc
callbackUrl
- RHBK callback URL.
tokenEndpointAuthMethod
- Enter your token endpoint authentication method.
tokenSignedResponseAlg
- Token signed response algorithm.
additionalScopes
- Enter additional RHBK scopes to request for during the authentication flow.
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, configure only one resolver to make sure users are securely matched.
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.
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. backstageTokenExpiration
Enter a value to modify the Developer Hub token expiration from its default value of one hour. It refers to the validity of short-term cryptographic tokens, not to the session duration. The expiration value must be set between 10 minutes and 24 hours.
WarningIf multiple valid refresh tokens are issued due to frequent refresh token requests, older tokens will remain valid until they expire. Enhance security and prevent potential misuse of older tokens by enabling 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. 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, with optional steps
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 have enough permissions in GitHub to create and manage a GitHub App.
TipAlternatively, ask your GitHub administrator to prepare the required GitHub App.
- You have added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
Procedure
Allow Developer Hub to authenticate with GitHub, by creating a GitHub App.
Use 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 catalog provider plugin in your
dynamic-plugins.yaml
file. This plugin imports GitHub users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog.plugins: - package: './dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-catalog-backend-module-github-org' disabled: false
Enable provisioning GitHub users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog, by adding the GitHub catalog provider section to your
app-config.yaml
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, do 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.
Enable the GitHub authentication provider, by adding the GitHub authentication provider section to your
app-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: Add optional fields to the GitHub authentication provider section in your
app-config.yaml
file: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. Configure a specific resolver to best match users securely for your use case..
Enter the resolver list to override the default resolver:
usernameMatchingUserEntityName
.The authentication provider tries each sign-in resolver in order until it succeeds. If none of the attempts succeed, the sign-in fails.
WarningIn production mode, configure only one resolver to make sure users are securely matched.
resolver
Enter the sign-in resolver name. Available resolvers:
-
usernameMatchingUserEntityName
-
preferredUsernameMatchingUserEntityName
-
emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail
-
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
Enter
true
to configure the sign-in resolver to bypass the user provisioning requirement in the Developer Hub software catalog.WarningIn production more, do not enable
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
in production.
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
When you are using a primary authentication provider other than GitHub to provision user and group identities to the Red Hat Developer Hub software catalog, and establish Developer Hub user sessions, and this authentication provider is not configured to give access to GitHub, users might miss permissions to access GitHub templates or plugins that require GitHub authentication.
Allow users to access these features by configuring GitHub as an auxiliary authentication provider.
Prerequisites
You have enough permissions in GitHub to create and manage a GitHub App.
TipAlternatively, ask your GitHub administrator to prepare the required GitHub App.
- You have added a custom Developer Hub application configuration, and have enough permissions to change it.
- You have configured a primary authentication provider to provision user and group identities to the Red Hat Developer Hub software catalog, and establish Developer Hub user sessions.
Procedure
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.WarningDo 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, with optional steps
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.
TipAlternatively, 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
Register your Developer Hub app in Azure, by using the Azure portal.
- Sign in to the Microsoft Entra admin center.
- Optional: If you have access to multiple 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
Add your Azure credentials to Developer Hub, by adding 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 catalog provider plugin in your
dynamic-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
Enable provisioning Azure users and groups to the Developer Hub software catalog, by adding the Microsoft Graph catalog provider section in your
app-config.yaml
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: Add optional fields to the Microsoft authentication provider section in your
app-config.yaml
file:catalog: providers: microsoftGraphOrg: providerId: authority: https://login.microsoftonline.com/ queryMode: advanced user: expand: manager filter: accountEnabled eq true and userType eq 'member' loadPhotos: true select: ['id', 'displayName', 'description'] userGroupMember: filter: "displayName eq 'Backstage Users'" search: '"description:One" AND ("displayName:Video" OR "displayName:Drive")' group: expand: member filter: securityEnabled eq false and mailEnabled eq true and groupTypes/any(c:c+eq+'Unified') search: '"description:One" AND ("displayName:Video" OR "displayName:Drive")' select: ['id', 'displayName', 'description']
authority
-
Enter your Azure authority URL if it is different from the default:
https://login.microsoftonline.com
. queryMode
-
Enter
advanced
when the defaultbasic
query mode is insufficient for your queries to the Microsoft Graph API. See Microsoft Azure advanced queries. user
Add this section to configure optional user query parameters.
expand
Enter your expansion parameter to include the expanded resource or collection referenced by a single relationship (navigation property) in your results. A single request can expand only one relationship. See Microsoft Graph query expand parameter.
You can combine this parameter with
userGroupMember.filter
oruser.filter
.filter
Enter your user filter. See Microsoft Graph API and Microsoft Graph API query filter parameters syntax.
This parameter and
userGroupMember.filter
are mutually exclusive, specify only one.loadPhotos
-
Developer Hub loads photos by default. Enter
false
to avoid loading user photos. select
- Enter the Microsoft Graph resource type list to retrieve.
userGroupMember
Add this section to use group membership to get users.
filter
Enter your filter to filter groups and fetch their members.
This parameter and
user.filter
are mutually exclusive, specify only one.search
Enter your search query to search for groups and fetch their members.
This parameter and
user.filter
are mutually exclusive, specify only one.
group
Enter your configuration to get groups.
expand
Enter your expansion parameter to include the expanded resource or collection referenced by a single relationship (navigation property) in your results. A single request can expand only one relationship. See Customize Microsoft Graph responses with query parameters.
You can combine this parameter with
user.filter
oruserGroupMember.filter
.filter
- Enter your group filter parameter. See Microsoft Graph API query group syntax.
search
- Enter your group search parameter. See Microsoft Graph API query search parameter.
select
- Enter the Microsoft Graph resource type list to retrieve.
Enable Azure authentication, by adding the Microsoft authentication provider to your
app-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 to the Microsoft authentication provider section in your
app-config.yaml
file:auth: environment: production providers: microsoft: production: clientId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_ID} clientSecret: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET} tenantId: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID} domainHint: ${AUTHENTICATION_AZURE_TENANT_ID} additionalScopes: - Mail.Send sessionDuration: hours: 24 signIn: resolvers: - resolver: usernameMatchingUserEntityName dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog: true signInPage: microsoft
domainHint
- Leave this parameter empty, or enter the tenant ID when your application registration is single-tenant.
- Leave this parameter empty when your application registration is multi-tenant.
Enter the tenant ID to reduce login friction for users with accounts in multiple tenants, by automatically filtering out accounts from other tenants.
For more information, see Home Realm Discovery.
additionalScopes
Enter the list of additional scopes to add scopes for the application registration. The default and mandatory value lists following scopes:
-
openid
-
offline_access
-
profile
-
email
-
User.Read
-
sessionDuration
-
Lifespan of the user session. Enter a duration in
ms
library (such as '24h', '2 days'), ISO duration, or "human duration" format. 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, configure only one resolver to make sure users are securely matched.
resolver
Enter the sign-in resolver name. Available resolvers:
emailMatchingUserEntityAnnotation
- Use this resolver to look up the user by matching their Microsoft email to the email entity annotation.
emailLocalPartMatchingUserEntityName
- Use this resolver to look up the user by matching their Microsoft email user name to the user entity name.
emailMatchingUserEntityProfileEmail
- Use this resolver to look up the user by matching their Microsoft email to the user entity profile email.
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
Enter
true
to configure the sign-in resolver to bypass the user provisioning requirement in the Developer Hub software catalog.WarningIn production mode, do not enable
dangerouslyAllowSignInWithoutUserInCatalog
.
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.