Hidayat Mahetar

HeadlessKey – JWT Auth extends the REST API to provide a robust and secure authentication system using JSON Web Tokens (JWT). Designed for Headless WordPress, it enables seamless user authentication, registration, and session management via standard REST endpoints.
<h3>Key Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>Standard JWT Authentication: Secure user authentication using industry-standard RFC 7519 tokens.</li>
<li>Multiple Algorithms: Support for <code>HS256</code>, <code>RS256</code>, and <code>ES256</code> signing algorithms.</li>
<li>Comprehensive Endpoints: Ready-to-use endpoints for Login, Register, Token Refresh, and Password Management.</li>
<li>Single Sign-On (SSO): Connect multiple sites with a secure, headers-based SSO exchange mechanism.</li>
<li>Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Configure public or authenticated access for every endpoint.</li>
<li>Brute Force Protection: Protects against attacks by locking users/IPs after failed attempts.</li>
<li>Activity Logs: Detailed audit trail of all authentication events, including IP and device data.</li>
<li>Security Webhooks: Real-time JSON events sent to your external services for monitoring key actions.</li>
<li>Device Limits: Restrict the number of active devices/sessions per user.</li>
<li>Developer Friendly: Extensive hooks and filters for deep customization.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Configuration</h3>
<h3>Secret Key</h3>
The plugin uses a secret key to sign tokens. By default, a secure random key is generated. For better security and consistency across environments, define your key in <code>wp-config.php</code>:
<pre><code>define('headlesskey_SECRET_KEY', 'your-long-random-secure-string');
</code></pre>
You can generate a strong salt here: <a href="https://api.wordpress.org/secret-key/1.1/salt/" rel="nofollow ugc">WordPress Salt Generator</a>
<h3>CORS Support</h3>
Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) is enabled by default to allow frontend applications to connect. To disable or customize it via constant:
<pre><code>define('headlesskey_CORS', true); // or false to disable
</code></pre>
<h3>REST API Namespace</h3>
By default, endpoints are under <code>wp-json/wpauthapi/v1</code>. You can customize this namespace:
<pre><code>define('headlesskey_REST_NAMESPACE', 'my-custom-auth');
define('headlesskey_REST_VERSION', 'v2');<h3>Endpoints</h3>
</code></pre>
The plugin adds the following endpoints under the <code>/wp-json/headlesskey/v1</code> namespace:
 Endpoint 
 HTTP Verb 
 Description
 <code>/token</code> 
 POST 
 Login: Exchange username/password for a JWT.
 <code>/token/validate</code> 
 POST 
 Validate: Check if a token validity.
 <code>/token/refresh</code> 
 POST 
 Refresh: Exchange a valid token for a new one (rotation).
 <code>/token/revoke</code> 
 POST 
 Logout: Invalidate a specific token.
 <code>/register</code> 
 POST 
 Register: Create a new user account.
 <code>/login</code> 
 POST 
 Profile: Login and get full user profile data in one request.
 <code>/forgot-password</code> 
 POST 
 Recover: Request a password reset via Link or OTP.
 <code>/reset-password</code> 
 POST 
 Reset: Set a new password using a token or OTP.
 <code>/change-password</code> 
 POST 
 Update: Change password for authenticated user.
 <code>/sso/exchange</code> 
 POST 
 SSO: Exchange a remote site token for a local session.
<h3>1. Login (Generate Token)</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/token</code> 
Description: Authenticate a user and generate a JWT token.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "username": "admin", 
 "password": "secret-password" 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9...", 
 "expiration": "2023-10-27T10:00:00+00:00", 
 "expires_in": 3600, 
 "user": { 
 "ID": 1, 
 "user_login": "admin", 
 "user_email": "admin@example.com", 
 "display_name": "Administrator", 
 "roles": ["administrator"] 
 }, 
 "refreshable": true, 
 "jti": "545086b9-450f-488b-a70d-3047d14d1101" 
}</code>
<h3>2. Validate Token</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/token/validate</code> 
Description: Validate if an existing token is valid.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9..." 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "valid": true, 
 "data": { 
 "iss": "https://example.com", 
 "iat": 1698393600, 
 "exp": 1698397200, 
 "data": { 
 "ID": 1, 
 "user_login": "admin" 
 } 
 } 
}</code>
<h3>3. Refresh Token</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/token/refresh</code> 
Description: Rotate an expiring token for a fresh one.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9..." 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.new...", 
 "expiration": "2023-10-27T11:00:00+00:00", 
 "user": { 
 "ID": 1, 
 "user_login": "admin" 
 }, 
 "jti": "new-uuid-v4" 
}</code>
<h3>4. Revoke Token (Logout)</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/token/revoke</code> 
Description: Invalidate a token immediately.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9..." 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "message": "Token revoked successfully." 
}</code>
<h3>5. Register User</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/register</code> 
Description: Create a new user account.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "username": "johndoe", 
 "email": "john@example.com", 
 "password": "secure-password", 
 "name": "John Doe" 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "user_id": 45, 
 "user": { 
 "ID": 45, 
 "user_login": "johndoe", 
 "user_email": "john@example.com", 
 "display_name": "John Doe", 
 "roles": ["subscriber"] 
 }, 
 "token_response": { 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOi...", 
 "expiration": "2023-10-27T10:00:00+00:00" 
 } 
}</code>
<h3>6. User Profile (Login Extended)</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/login</code> 
Description: Alternative login endpoint that returns cleaner profile structure.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "username": "admin", 
 "password": "secret-password" 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "token": "eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9...", 
 "expiration": "2023-10-27T10:00:00+00:00", 
 "user": { 
 "ID": 1, 
 "user_login": "admin", 
 "user_email": "admin@example.com", 
 "display_name": "Administrator", 
 "roles": ["administrator"] 
 } 
}</code>
<h3>7. Forgot Password</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/forgot-password</code> 
Description: Initiate password recovery. Note: <code>delivery</code> can be <code>link</code> or <code>otp</code>.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "login": "admin@example.com", 
 "delivery": "link" 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "message": "Password reset email sent." 
}</code>
<h3>8. Reset Password</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/reset-password</code> 
Description: Reset password using the token sent via email or OTP.
Request (Link method): 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "login": "admin@example.com", 
 "password": "new-secure-password", 
 "token": "generated-reset-key" 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "message": "Password updated successfully." 
}</code>
<h3>9. Change Password</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/change-password</code> 
Description: Change password for currently authenticated user. Requires <code>Authorization</code> header.
Headers: 
 Authorization: Bearer 
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "current_password": "old-password", 
 "new_password": "new-secure-password" 
}</code>
Response: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "message": "Password changed successfully. Please login again." 
}</code>
<h3>10. SSO Token Exchange</h3>
Endpoint: <code>POST /wp-json/headlesskey/v1/sso/exchange</code> 
Description: Securely exchange a token from a connected remote site for a local authentication session. This powers the distributed Single Sign-On network.
Request: 
 <code>json 
{ 
 "site_key": "remote-site-id", 
 "token": "remote-jwt-token", 
 "signature": "hmac-sha256-signature" 
}</code>
Response: 
Returns a standard Login response (Token + User Data) if the signature is valid.

HeadlessKey – JWT Auth

A complete authentication solution for Headless WordPress applications using JWT, supporting Registration, SSO, RBAC, and advanced Security features.

michielve

The API Bearer Auth plugin enables authentication for the REST API by using JWT access an refresh tokens. After the user logs in, the access and refresh tokens are returned and can be used for the next requests. Issued tokens can be revoked from within the users admin screen. See below for the endpoints.
Note that after activating this plugin, all REST API endpoints will need to be authenticated, unless the endpoint is whitelisted in the <code>api_bearer_auth_unauthenticated_urls</code> filter (see FAQ for how to use this filter).
<h4>JWT</h4>
Access tokens can be formatted as JWT tokens. For this to work, you first have to create a secret and add it to the wp-config.php file. If you don’t do this, access tokens will work also, but are just random strings. To create a random secret key, you can do for example:
<pre><code>base64_encode(openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(64));
</code></pre>
And then add the result to wp-config:
<pre><code>define('API_BEARER_JWT_SECRET', 'mysecretkey');
</code></pre>
If you have problems, you can verify your JWT tokens at: <a href="https://jwt.io/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://jwt.io/</a>
<h4>Revoke tokens</h4>
This plugin adds a column to the users table in de admin where you can see when a token expires. You can also revoke tokens by selection the “Revoke API tokens” from the bulk actions select box.
<h4>API endpoints</h4>
Note that all endpoints expect JSON in the POST body.
Login
Endpoint:
<pre><code>POST /api-bearer-auth/v1/login
</code></pre>
Request body:
Note: <code>client_name</code> is optional. But if you use it, make sure to use it as well for the refresh call!
<pre><code>{"username": "my_username", "password": "my_password", "client_name": "my_app"}
</code></pre>
Response:
<pre><code>{
 "wp_user": {
 "data": {
 "ID": 1,
 "user_login": "your_user_login",
 // other default WordPress user fields
 }
 },
 "access_token": "your_access_token",
 "expires_in": 86400, // number of seconds
 "refresh_token": "your_refresh_token"
}
</code></pre>
Make sure to save the access and refresh token!
Refresh access token
Endpoint:
<pre><code>POST /api-bearer-auth/v1/tokens/refresh
</code></pre>
Request body:
Note: <code>client_name</code> is optional. But if you did use it for the login call, make sure to use it here as well!
<pre><code>{"token": "your_refresh_token", "client_name": "my_app"}
</code></pre>
Response success:
<pre><code>{
 "access_token": "your_new_access_token",
 "expires_in": 86400
}
</code></pre>
Response when sending a wrong refresh token is a 401:
<pre><code>{
 "code": "api_api_bearer_auth_error_invalid_token",
 "message": "Invalid token.",
 "data": {
 "status": 401
 }
}
</code></pre>
Do a request
After you have the access token, you can make requests to authenticated endpoints with an Authorization header like this:
<pre><code>Authorization: Bearer <your_access_token>
</code></pre>
Note that Apache sometimes strips out the Authorization header. If this is the case, make sure to add this to the .htaccess file:
<pre><code>RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} ^(.*)
# Don't know why, but some need the line below instead of the RewriteRule line
# SetEnvIf Authorization .+ HTTP_AUTHORIZATION=$0
RewriteRule ^(.*) - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%1]
</code></pre>
If you are not logged in or you send an invalid access token, you get a 401 response:
<pre><code>{
 "code": "api_bearer_auth_not_logged_in",
 "message": "You are not logged in.",
 "data": {
 "status": 401
 }
}
</code></pre>
<h3>Important update</h3>
Update immediately if you’re using a version below 20200807. Before this version all access tokens were updated when calling the refresh callback.
If you are affected by this the fastest solution is to execute this query:
<pre><code>update wp_user_tokens set access_token_valid = NOW();
</code></pre>
This will invalidate all access tokens. This means that all users need to refresh their access token and will get a new access token and a unique one this time.
A big thank to @harchvertelol for reporting this and suggesting the fix as well!

API Bearer Auth

The plugin is refreshingly simple in its purpose and it does it perfectly. I could use it to login and use my API via JWT Auth in seconds! Thanks!

Perfectly simple

I love how simple the plugin is. Just need to install, read docs and follow in 5 mins.

Thank you!

Simple

Access and refresh tokens based authentication plugin for the REST API.

HeadlessKey – JWT Auth vs API Bearer Auth