Sign in to SPA with embedded Widget

Note: This document is only for Okta Classic Engine. If you are using Okta Identity Engine, see Sign in to SPA with embedded Widget. See Identify your Okta solution (opens new window) to determine your Okta version.

This guide will walk you through integrating authentication into a React app with Okta by performing these steps:

• Prerequisites
• Add an OpenID Connect Client in Okta
• Create a React App
• Install Dependencies
• Config
• Create a Widget Wrapper
• Create Routes
  • /
  • /protected
  • /login
  • /login/callback
  • Connect the Routes
• Start your app
• Conclusion
• Support

This guide is for @okta/okta-signin-widget v5.7.3, @okta/okta-react v6.0.0 and @okta/okta-auth-js v5.1.1.

Prerequisites

If you do not already have a Developer Edition Account, you can create one at https://developer.okta.com/signup/ (opens new window).

Add an OpenID Connect Client in Okta

• Sign in to the Okta Developer Dashboard, and select Create New App
• Choose Single Page App (SPA) as the platform, then populate your new OpenID Connect app with values similar to:

Setting	Value
App Name	OpenID Connect App
Login redirect URIs	http://localhost:3000/login/callback
Logout redirect URIs	http://localhost:3000
Allowed grant types	Authorization Code

Note: It is important to choose the appropriate application type for apps which are public clients. Failing to do so may result in Okta API endpoints attempting to verify an app's client secret, which public clients are not designed to have, hence breaking the sign-in or sign-out flow.

Note: CORS is automatically enabled for the granted login redirect URIs.

Create a React App

To quickly create a React app, we recommend using Create React App.

npx create-react-app okta-app
cd okta-app

If you need more information, see the Create React App getting started guide (opens new window).

Install Dependencies

To provide a fully-featured and customizable sign-in experience, the Okta Sign-In Widget is available to handle User Lifecycle operations, MFA, and more. You can install it using npm:

npm install @okta/okta-signin-widget

You also need @okta/okta-auth-js, @okta/okta-react and react-router-dom to manage our routes:

npm install @okta/okta-auth-js @okta/okta-react react-router-dom

Config

Create a src/config.js file. Make sure to replace the {...} placeholders with your Okta values.

const oktaAuthConfig = {
  // Note: If your app is configured to use the Implicit flow
  // instead of the Authorization Code with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE)
  // you will need to add `pkce: false`
  issuer: 'https://{yourOktaDomain}/oauth2/default',
  clientId: '{clientId}',
  redirectUri: window.location.origin + '/login/callback',
};

const oktaSignInConfig = {
  baseUrl: 'https://{yourOktaDomain}',
  clientId: '{clientId}',
  redirectUri: window.location.origin + '/login/callback',
  authParams: {
    // If your app is configured to use the Implicit flow
    // instead of the Authorization Code with Proof Key for Code Exchange (PKCE)
    // you will need to uncomment the below line
    // pkce: false
  }
  // Additional documentation on config options can be found at https://github.com/okta/okta-signin-widget#basic-config-options
};

export { oktaAuthConfig, oktaSignInConfig };

Note: In Okta Sign-In Widget version 7+, Okta Identity Engine is enabled by default. If you are using version 7+ and want to use Okta Classic Engine rather than Identity Engine, you need to specify useClassicEngine: true in the configuration options (opens new window) passed into the new OktaSignIn() call.

Create a Widget Wrapper

To render the Sign-In Widget in React, you must create a wrapper that allows you to treat it as a React component.

Create a src/OktaSignInWidget.js file:

import React, { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';
import OktaSignIn from '@okta/okta-signin-widget';
import '@okta/okta-signin-widget/dist/css/okta-sign-in.min.css';

const OktaSignInWidget = ({ config, onSuccess, onError }) => {
  const widgetRef = useRef();
  useEffect(() => {
    if (!widgetRef.current)
      return false;

    const widget = new OktaSignIn(config);

   widget.showSignInToGetTokens({
      el: widgetRef.current,
    }).then(onSuccess).catch(onError);

    return () => widget.remove();
  }, [config, onSuccess, onError]);

  return (<div ref={widgetRef} />);
};
export default OktaSignInWidget;

Create Routes

Some routes require authentication in order to render. Defining those routes is easy using SecureRoute from @okta/okta-react. Let's take a look at what routes are needed for this example:

• /: A default page to handle basic control of the app.
• /protected: A route protected by SecureRoute.
• /login: Show the sign-in page.
• /login/callback: A route to parse tokens after a redirect.

/ - index page

First, create src/Home.js to provide links to navigate our app:

import React from 'react';
import { Link } from 'react-router-dom';
import { useHistory } from 'react-router-dom';
import { useOktaAuth } from '@okta/okta-react';

const Home = () => {
  const history = useHistory();
  const { oktaAuth, authState } = useOktaAuth();

  if (!authState) return null;

  const login = async () => history.push('/login');

  const logout = async () => oktaAuth.signOut();

  const button = authState.isAuthenticated ?
    <button onClick={logout}>Logout</button> :
    <button onClick={login}>Login</button>;

  return (
    <div>
      <Link to='/'>Home</Link><br/>
      <Link to='/protected'>Protected</Link><br/>
      {button}
    </div>
  );
};
export default Home;

/protected

This route will only be visible to users with a valid accessToken.

Create a new component src/Protected.js:

import React from 'react';

const Protected = () => <h3>Protected</h3>;
export default Protected;

/login

This route hosts the Sign-In Widget and redirects if the user is already logged in. If the user is coming from a protected page, they'll be redirected back to the page upon login.

Create a new component src/Login.js:

import React from 'react';
import { Redirect } from 'react-router-dom';
import OktaSignInWidget from './OktaSignInWidget';
import { useOktaAuth } from '@okta/okta-react';

const Login = ({ config }) => {
  const { oktaAuth, authState } = useOktaAuth();

  const onSuccess = (tokens) => {
    oktaAuth.handleLoginRedirect(tokens);
  };

  const onError = (err) => {
    console.log('error logging in', err);
  };

  if (!authState) return null;

  return authState.isAuthenticated ?
    <Redirect to={{ pathname: '/' }}/> :
    <OktaSignInWidget
      config={config}
      onSuccess={onSuccess}
      onError={onError}/>;
};
export default Login;

/login/callback

The component for this route (LoginCallback) comes with @okta/okta-react. It handles token parsing, token storage, and redirecting to a protected page if one triggered the login.

Connect the Routes

Our example is using react-router-dom. By default you can include your components and Routes in src/App.js. If you need access to particular router properties, such as the history object that's used to override the default sign-in flow, you need to create a wrapper component around <Router>.

Update src/App.js to create a Router and call <AppWithRouterAccess>` as a child component:

import React from 'react';
import { BrowserRouter as Router } from 'react-router-dom';
import AppWithRouterAccess from './AppWithRouterAccess';

const App = () => (
  <Router>
    <AppWithRouterAccess/>
  </Router>
);
export default App;

Create src/AppWithRouterAccess.js and include your project components and routes. Security is the component that controls the authentication flows, so it requires your OpenID Connect configuration. By default, @okta/okta-react redirects to Okta's sign-in page when the user isn't authenticated. In this example, onAuthRequired is overridden to redirect to the custom sign-in route instead:

import React from 'react';
import { Route, useHistory, Switch } from 'react-router-dom';
import { Security, SecureRoute, LoginCallback } from '@okta/okta-react';
import { OktaAuth, toRelativeUrl } from '@okta/okta-auth-js';
import Home from './Home';
import Login from './Login';
import Protected from './Protected';
import { oktaAuthConfig, oktaSignInConfig } from './config';

const oktaAuth = new OktaAuth(oktaAuthConfig);

const AppWithRouterAccess = () => {
  const history = useHistory();

  const customAuthHandler = () => {
    history.push('/login');
  };

  const restoreOriginalUri = async (_oktaAuth, originalUri) => {
    history.replace(toRelativeUrl(originalUri, window.location.origin));
  };

  return (
    <Security
      oktaAuth={oktaAuth}
      onAuthRequired={customAuthHandler}
      restoreOriginalUri={restoreOriginalUri}
    >
      <Switch>
        <Route path='/' exact={true} component={Home} />
        <SecureRoute path='/protected' component={Protected} />
        <Route path='/login' render={() => <Login config={oktaSignInConfig} />} />
        <Route path='/login/callback' component={LoginCallback} />
      </Switch>
    </Security>
  );
};
export default AppWithRouterAccess;

Start your app

Finally, start your app:

npm start

Conclusion

You have now successfully authenticated with Okta! Now what? With a user's id_token, you have basic claims for the user's identity. You can extend the set of claims by modifying the scopes to retrieve custom information about the user. This includes locale, address, groups, and more.

See also

Identity Engine upgrade overview