backbone.simple-auth

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backbone.simple-auth

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A basic cookie-based client-side auth service for Backbone apps.

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# backbone.simple-auth
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A basic cookie-based client-side auth service for Backbone apps.

### Motivation

Some client-side apps need to send a token stored in a cookie along with each request to
an API under the Authorization header. This library manages that for you.

It also provides a central location for your app to determine if the user is authenticated
or not.

### When should I use this library?

- Your application stores authenticated user tokens in cookies
- Your API follows the [Bearer Token spec](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6750#section-2.1)
  for the Authorization header. Github's API
  [is an example](https://developer.github.com/v3/oauth/#use-the-access-token-to-access-the-api)
  of an API that accepts this format.

### Dependencies

Other than Backbone (and `Backbone.$`), this library depends on
[Cookies](https://github.com/ScottHamper/Cookies). Don't worry – it's only 1kb.

### Basic Usage

Your server should be configured to set the authentication token as a cookie. When that
happens, and your app loads...

```js
// Load up the module
var Auth = require('backbone.simple-auth');

// Create a new instance of auth. If the cookie with the given
// name exists, then `auth` will set the value of the `Authorization` HEADER
// for future AJAX requests to be `Bearer COOKIE_VALUE`
auth = new Auth({
  cookieName: 'user-token'
});

// Returns true if the cookie exists
auth.get('authenticated');

// Get the token
auth.get('token');

// Destroy the cookie
auth.logout();
```

That's all there is to it.

### Attributes

Auth is a Backbone Model. As such, you can use the Model API when interacting with it.
There are three attributes on Auth:

##### `cookieName`

The name of the cookie to search for the token on. Defaults to `token`.

##### `authenticated`

A boolean representing whether or not the user is authenticated. Defaults to `false`.

##### `token`

The value of the token. Defaults to `undefined`.

### API

##### `determineAuth()`

Searches for a cookie with the same name as `auth.get('cookieName')`. If it exists,
then its value is assumed to be the token, and the user is set to be authorized.

This is called when `auth` is first created. You may also wish to call it later if
your application allows for logging in on the client.

If the cookie is found, the `authenticated` event is triggered.

##### `logout()`

If the user is logged in, then the cookie will be destroyed. The value of `authenticated` is
set to false, and the value of `token` is set to `undefined`. Lastly, the `logout` event is
triggered.

### Events

##### `authenticate`

The user has logged in. Called when `auth` is first loaded. The value of the `token` is passed
as the first argument.

##### `logout`

The user has been logged out.

### FAQ

#### How do I log the user in from the client?

This library does not handle creation of cookies containing auth tokens, because there are so many
ways to accomplish such a task. You will need to build your own system to generate the token. Once
you've done that, and you can generate a token for authenticated users, then you must set it as the
cookie. Once that is done, call `auth.determineAuth()` to notify the `auth` model that the user is
logged in.

#### Is this library secure?

It might seem strange that this library considers a user authenticated if there is **any** value stored
in the cookie. As surprising as it may seem, this is not a security concern. The fact is that there is
simply no way for the client to be certain that the user really is authenticated. At most, you can make
an educated guess. Even a token that once authenticated the user could be remotely revoked at any time.

In this light, assuming that the user is unlikely to tamper with cookies is a reasonable assumption
to make.

These assumptions are always checked against the API whenever sensitive data is requested. Consequently,
even a user who does mess with the cookies, or otherwise has an invalid token, will be unable to access
any sensitive data. At most, they will see an empty UI interface.

### Contributing

#### Unit tests

**In Node**

Run `gulp` to execute the test suite in Node.

**In the browser**

Run `gulp test:browser` to start a server. Then, navigate to `http://localhost:7777/test/runner.html` to run
the suite.

### Building the library

`gulp build`

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