JSON Web Token Authentication for Laravel

Laravel is a free, open-source PHP web framework built by Taylor Otwell based on the Symfony framework. It is designed for building online applications that follow the model-view-controller (MVC) architectural paradigm.

The choice of authentication method in your Laravel application depends on the nature of your project. When it comes to picking the right approach, consider the specific requirements of your application. Sanctum presents options for both session-based and token-based authentication, which is particularly useful for securing Single-Page Applications (SPAs). On the other hand, Passport employs JSON Web Token (JWT) authentication by default and supports full OAuth 2.0 authorization.

If your goal is to implement token-based authentication adhering to the JWT standard, minus the supplementary OAuth features, then Laravel’s JWT authentication is the optimal choice. This approach provides a lightweight and efficient solution for securing your application.

Step 1: Install the package via composer

   composer require tymon/jwt-auth

Step 2: Add service provider

Add the service provider to the providers array in the config/app.php config file for Laravel 5.4 or below

‘providers’ => [

TymonJWTAuthProvidersLaravelServiceProvider::class

]

Step 3: Publish the config file package

php artisan vendor:publish –provider=”TymonJWTAuthProvidersLaravelServiceProvider

Now you have a config/jwt.php file that allows you to configure the basics of this package.

Step 4: Generate the secret key

It is the key that will be used to sign your tokens.

php artisan jwt:secret

This will update your .env file with something like 

JWT_SECRET=cHnJintjfSI24wDUtfNfdvtot4yvAKsg1G1gLCpvlgrKo29D84jeJAu6DQsCIKfv

Step 5: Update the User Model

Need to implement the  use TymonJWTAuthContractsJWTSubject;  on your model, which requires that you implement the 2 methods getJWTIdentifier() 

 & getJWTCustomClaims()

The following example should provide you with an understanding of how this might be structured. Feel free to adjust it according to your requirements.

Step 6: Configure the Auth guard

Here we are telling the api guard to use the jwt driver, and we are setting the api guard as the default.

Now we can use the  Laravel’s built in Auth system, with jwt-auth

Methods

The following methods are available on the Auth guard instance

Multiple guard – If the newly created ‘api’ guard is not set as a default guard or you have defined multiple guards to handle authentication, you should specify the guard when calling auth().

$token = auth(‘api’)->attempt($credentials);

attempt() – Attempt to authenticate a user via some credentials

$token = auth()->attempt($credentials);

login() – Log a user in and return a jwt for them

$user = User::first(); 

$token = auth()->login($user);

• user() – Get the currently authenticated user,If the user is not then authenticated, then null will be returned.

$user = auth()->user();

• UserOrFail() – Get the currently authenticated user or throw an exception.

• logout() – Log the user out, which will invalidate the current token and unset the authenticated user.

auth()->logout();

 // Pass true to force the token to be blacklisted “forever”

auth()->logout(true);

• refresh() – Refresh a token, which invalidates the current one

$newToken = auth()->refresh(); 

// Pass true as the first param to force the token to be blacklisted “forever”. 

// The second parameter will reset the claims for the new token 

$newToken = auth()->refresh(true, true);

• invalidate() – Invalidate the token (add it to the blacklist)

auth()->invalidate(); 

// Pass true as the first param to force the token to be blacklisted “forever”. auth()->invalidate(true);

• tokenById() – Get a token based on a given user’s id.

$token = auth()->tokenById(123);

• Adding custom claims

$token = auth()->claims([‘foo’ => ‘bar’])->attempt($credentials);

• Set the token explicitly

$user = auth()->setToken(‘eyJhb…’)->user();

• Set the request instance explicitly

$user = auth()->setRequest($request)->user();

• Override the token ttl

$token = auth()->setTTL(7200)->attempt($credentials);

Laravel’s integration of JSON Web Token authentication through jwt-auth offers a reliable and efficient solution to secure user interactions within your application. By following steps, you can easily integrate JWT authentication into your Laravel project, particularly in versions 5.2 and above.