Secure Model APIs with Auth0 Resource Servers

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To secure your Model APIs using Auth0, you will typically create a "Resource Server" in Auth0 which represents your API. A Resource Server is an OAuth 2.0 term and it refers to your API as a service that can authenticate access tokens. Once set up, your API will be able to validate incoming access tokens, ensure they're coming from an authenticated source, and grant or deny access to the resources it serves based on scopes or permissions included within these tokens.

In this Pulumi program, we will set up an Auth0 Resource Server by creating an instance of `auth0.ResourceServer`. This will involve specifying the identifier, which uniquely identifies your API, setting the signing algorithm to verify the tokens, and other specifics such as the token lifetime and scopes that define the permissions clients can request.

Each scope is essentially a permission that is granted to the access token. For example, if your API has an endpoint to 'read' user information and another to 'write' user information, you could have two scopes: `read:user` and `write:user`. Clients will request these scopes, and their tokens will be marked with them, allowing for fine-grained access control.

Here's a basic Pulumi program in Python to create an Auth0 Resource Server:

```python
import pulumi
import pulumi_auth0 as auth0

# Create a new Resource Server (API) in Auth0.
# The `identifier` should be a unique URI for the resource server, typically it is the base URL for your API.
# The `scopes` define the different permissions that tokens can request or include.
# Replace 'https://myapi.example.com/' with your actual API identifier, and define relevant scopes.
resource_server = auth0.ResourceServer("my-api-resource-server",
    name="My API",
    identifier="https://myapi.example.com/",  # The unique identifier for your API
    scopes=[
        {"value": "read:user", "description": "Read user information"},
        {"value": "write:user", "description": "Write user information"}
    ],
    signing_alg="RS256",  # The recommended signing algorithm, using RS256 provides asymmetric signing.
    token_lifetime=86400,  # Tokens validity in seconds (86400 seconds equals 24 hours).
    enforce_policies=True,  # Whether to enforce the configured policies for this API.
    token_dialect="access_token",  # The access token format, recommended to use 'access_token' explicitly.
    skip_consent_for_verifiable_first_party_clients=True  # Typically true for machine to machine APIs.
)

# Export the ID of the resource server, which is useful for integration and management.
pulumi.export("resource_server_id", resource_server.id)
```

In the above code:

- We create a Resource Server with `auth0.ResourceServer`.
- Set `name` to a friendly name for the Resource Server.
- Set `identifier` to a unique URI that represents your API.
- Define a list of `scopes` representing the specific actions/permissions clients can request.
- Select `signing_alg` which determines the algorithm used to sign the tokens sent to your API.

This Pulumi resource will manage the creation, configuration, and lifecycle of your Auth0 Resource Server. When you run the program with Pulumi, it will provision this server on Auth0, allowing you to secure your own Model APIs with the created configurations.

Please visit the [auth0.ResourceServer documentation](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/auth0/api-docs/resourceserver/) for more information on the arguments and usage of this resource.