Authentication Methods

Authentication Methods are different ways for a client to obtain an Access Token when authenticating a user. This page will explain all the available authentication methods and how they are intended to be used in details.

Redirect

The redirect authentication method is a simple authentication flow designed for websites/web applications where polling the authentication request wouldn't be efficient. Instead this method doesn't require you to request authentication, all you need is a authentication permalink and the Authentication Prompt will handle the rest. Just create a link with this URL format, add your own Application ID to the application_id parameter and the location where you handle COA authentication to redirect, for example https://example.com/auth should attempt to verify the access_token parameter if the user is not authenticated, once you verify the access token you can retrieve information about the user. The authentication prompt will only redirect the user to the provided authentication URL if the user has authenticated.

Application Placeholder

Application Placeholder is an ideal authentication method for clients/applications where the client is constantly checking the status of the Request Authentication Token. Your client first requests authentication, in the response the sever should return a Request Token and the authentication URL that the user must visit in their web browser in order to authenticate.

Code

This authentication method is a more limited version of Application Placeholder, this method works the same way as Application Placeholder where the client must request authentication in order to obtain a Request Token and the URL where the user must open to authenticate.