Both the Umbraco backoffice users and website members support external login providers (OAuth) for performing authentication. This could be any OpenIDConnect provider such as Entra ID/Azure Active Directory, Identity Server, Google, or Facebook.
Unlike previous major releases of Umbraco the use of the Identity Extensions package is no longer required.
Install an appropriate Nuget package for the provider you wish to use. Some popular ones found in Nuget include:
In some cases, when using Azure AD for login, you may encounter the following error: OpenIdConnectProtocol requires the jwt token to have an 'iss' claim.
Install a newer version of Microsoft.IdentityModel.Protocols.OpenIdConnect to solve this problem.
Try it out
Umbraco OpenIdConnect Example [Community-made]
This community-created package with a complete Umbraco solution incl. an SQLite database demonstrates how OpenID Connect can be used: .
It is great for testing and for trying out the implementation before building it into your project.
This project is not managed or maintained by Umbraco HQ.
Umbraco Entra ID (Azure AD) Example [Community-made]
This project is not managed or maintained by Umbraco HQ.
Extend core functionality
When you are implementing your own custom authentication on Users and/or Members on your Umbraco CMS website, you are effectively extending existing features.
The process requires adding a couple of new classes (.cs files) to your Umbraco project:
Auto-linking
Traditionally, a backoffice User or frontend Member will need to exist in Umbraco first. Once they exist there, they can link their user account to an external login provider.
In many cases, however, the external login provider you install will be the source of truth for all of your users and members.
In this case, you will want to provide a Single Sign On (SSO) approach to logging in. This would enable the creation of user accounts on the external login provider and then automatically give them access to Umbraco. This is called auto-linking.
Local logins
When auto-linking is configured, then any auto-linked user or member will have an empty password assigned. This means that they will not be able to log in locally (via username and password). In order to log in locally, they will have to assign a password to their account in the backoffice or the edit profile page.
For users specifically, if the DenyLocalLogin option is enabled, all password-changing functionality in the backoffice is disabled, and local login is not possible.
Transferring Claims from External identities
In some cases, you may want to flow a Claim returned in your external login provider to the Umbraco backoffice identity's Claims. This could be the authentication cookie. Flowing Claims between the two can be done during the OnAutoLinking and OnExternalLogin.
The reason for wanted to flow a Claim could be to store the external login provider user ID into the backoffice identity cookie. It can then be retrieved on each request to look up data in another system needing the current user ID from the external login provider.
Example
This is a simplistic example of brevity including no null checks, etc.
OnAutoLinking = (user, loginInfo) => {
// You can customize the user before it's linked.
// i.e. Modify the user's groups based on the Claims returned
// in the externalLogin info
var extClaim = externalLogin
.Principal
.FindFirst("MyClaim");
user.Claims.Add(new IdentityUserClaim<string>
{
ClaimType = extClaim.Type,
ClaimValue = extClaim.Value,
UserId = user.Id
});
},
OnExternalLogin = (user, loginInfo) => {
// You can customize the user before it's saved whenever they have
// logged in with the external provider.
// i.e. Sync the user's name based on the Claims returned
// in the externalLogin info
var extClaim = externalLogin
.Principal
.FindFirst("MyClaim");
user.Claims.Add(new IdentityUserClaim<string>
{
ClaimType = extClaim.Type,
ClaimValue = extClaim.Value,
UserId = user.Id
});
return true;
}
Storing external login provider data
In some cases, you may need to persist data from your external login provider like Access Tokens, etc.
You can persist this data to the affiliated user's external login data via the IExternalLoginWithKeyService. The void Save(Guid userOrMemberKey,IEnumerable<IExternalLoginToken> tokens) overload takes a new model of type IEnumerable<IExternalLogin>.
IExternalLogin contains a property called UserData. This is a blob text column which can store any arbitrary data for the external login provider.
Be aware that the local Umbraco user must already exist and be linked to the external login provider before data can be stored here. In cases where auto-linking occurs and the user isn't yet created, you need to store the data in memory first during auto-linking. Then you can persist the data to the service once the user is linked and created.
Auto-linking on backoffice authentication
For some providers, it does not make sense to use auto-linking. This is especially true for public providers such as Google or Facebook.
In those cases, it would mean that anyone who has a Google or Facebook account can log into your site.
If auto-linking for public providers such as these was needed you would need to limit the access. This can be done by domain or other information provided in the claims using the options/callbacks specified in those provider's authentication options.
Is your project hosted on Umbraco Cloud?
Umbraco Cloud uses Umbraco ID for all authentication, including access to the Umbraco Backoffice.
If you are working with External Login Providers on a project hosted on Umbraco Cloud, extra configuration is required.
To disable the automatic redirect to Umbraco ID, follow these steps:
Open the umbraco-cloud.json file in your favorite code editor.
Auto-linking on Member authentication only makes sense if you have a public member registration already or the provider does not have public account creation.
Generic examples
The following section presents a series of generic examples.
"Provider" is a placeholder used to replace the names of actual external login providers. When you implement your own custom authentication, you will need to use the correct method names for the chosen provider. Otherwise, the examples will not work as intended.
Custom-named configuration
The configuration file is used to configure a handful of different options for the authentication setup. A generic example of such file is shown below.
GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions.cs
using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
using Umbraco.Cms.Api.Management.Security;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core;
namespace MyUmbracoProject.CustomAuthentication;
public class GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions : IConfigureNamedOptions<BackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions>
{
public const string SchemeName = "Generic";
public void Configure(string name, BackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions options)
{
if (name != Constants.Security.BackOfficeExternalAuthenticationTypePrefix + SchemeName)
{
return;
}
Configure(options);
}
public void Configure(BackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions options)
{
// The following options are relevant if you
// want to configure auto-linking on the authentication.
options.AutoLinkOptions = new ExternalSignInAutoLinkOptions(
// Set to true to enable auto-linking
autoLinkExternalAccount: true,
// [OPTIONAL]
// Default: "Editor"
// Specify User Group.
defaultUserGroups: new[] { Constants.Security.EditorGroupAlias },
// [OPTIONAL]
// Default: The culture specified in appsettings.json.
// Specify the default culture to create the User as.
// It can be dynamically assigned in the OnAutoLinking callback.
defaultCulture: null,
// [OPTIONAL]
// Disable the ability to link/unlink manually from within
// the Umbraco backoffice.
// Set this to false if you don't want the user to unlink
// from this external provider.
allowManualLinking: false
)
{
// [OPTIONAL] Callback
OnAutoLinking = (autoLinkUser, loginInfo) =>
{
// Customize the user before it's linked.
// Modify the User's groups based on the Claims returned
// in the external login info.
},
// [OPTIONAL] Callback
OnExternalLogin = (user, loginInfo) =>
{
// Customize the User before it is saved whenever they have
// logged in with the external provider.
// Sync the Users name based on the Claims returned
// in the external login info
// Returns a boolean indicating if sign-in should continue or not.
return true;
}
};
}
}
ProviderMembersExternalLoginProviderOptions.cs
using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core;
using Umbraco.Cms.Web.Common.Security;
namespace MyUmbracoProject.CustomAuthentication;
public class ProviderMembersExternalLoginProviderOptions : IConfigureNamedOptions<MemberExternalLoginProviderOptions>
{
public const string SchemeName = "OpenIdConnect";
public void Configure(string? name, MemberExternalLoginProviderOptions options)
{
if (name != Constants.Security.MemberExternalAuthenticationTypePrefix + SchemeName)
{
return;
}
Configure(options);
}
public void Configure(MemberExternalLoginProviderOptions options)
{
// The following options are relevant if you
// want to configure auto-linking on the authentication.
options.AutoLinkOptions = new MemberExternalSignInAutoLinkOptions(
// Set to true to enable auto-linking
autoLinkExternalAccount: true,
// [OPTIONAL]
// Default: The culture specified in appsettings.json.
// Specify the default culture to create the Member as.
// It can be dynamically assigned in the OnAutoLinking callback.
defaultCulture: null,
// [OPTIONAL]
// Specify the default "IsApproved" status.
// Must be true for auto-linking.
defaultIsApproved: true,
// [OPTIONAL]
// Default: "Member"
// Specify the Member Type alias.
defaultMemberTypeAlias: Constants.Security.DefaultMemberTypeAlias
)
{
// [OPTIONAL] Callback
OnAutoLinking = (autoLinkUser, loginInfo) =>
{
// Customize the Member before it's linked.
// Modify the Members groups based on the Claims returned
// in the external ogin info.
},
OnExternalLogin = (user, loginInfo) =>
{
// Customize the Member before it is saved whenever they have
// logged in with the external provider.
// Sync the Members name based on the Claims returned
// in the external login info
// Returns a boolean indicating if sign-in should continue or not.
return true;
}
};
}
}
Next, you need to register the button in the BackOffice. This is done by adding a manifest file to the App_Plugins/ExternalLoginProviders folder.
forProviderName - The name of the provider you are configuring. This should match the SchemeName in the GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions class with "Umbraco." prepended.
meta.label - The label to display on the button. The user will see this text. For example: "Sign in with Generic".
Default (blue)
Positive (green)
Warning (yellow)
Danger (red)
Primary (solid background color, white text)
Secondary (grey background, colored text)
Outline (white background with sold grey border, colored text)
Placeholder (white with dotted grey border, colored text)
meta.behavior.autoRedirect - Automatically redirects the user to the external login provider, skipping the Umbraco login page, unless the user has specifically logged out or timed out.
meta.behavior.popupTarget - (Default: "umbracoAuthPopup") The target for the popup window. This is the name of the window that will be opened when the user clicks the button. If you want to open the login page in a new tab, you can set this to "_blank".
meta.linking.allowManualLinking - Allows the user to link or unlink their account from the BackOffice. You need to allow manual linking on the ExternalSignInAutoLinkOptions as well.
The button will now be displayed on the login page in the Umbraco Backoffice.
Generic backoffice login provider composer
A composer and genericAuthenticationOptions configuration class to setup the authentication options for the generic authentication provider using dependency injection. Replace genericAuthenticationOptions with the Options method from the provider you are using.
GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginComposer.cs
// this example uses a non existing generic OathProvider NuGet package
// but any package that uses the Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authentication.OAuth.OathOptions will work
using AspNet.Security.OAuth.Generic;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
using Umbraco.Cms.Api.Management.Security;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core.Composing;
using Umbraco.Cms.Web.Common.Helpers;
namespace MyUmbracoProject.CustomAuthentication;
public class GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginComposer : IComposer
{
public void Compose(IUmbracoBuilder builder)
{
// register the generic loginProvider options (auto linking, manual linking, ...)
builder.Services.ConfigureOptions<GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions>();
// register the generic authtication options (secret, callback, errorhandling, ...)
builder.Services.ConfigureOptions<ConfigureGenericAuthenticationOptions>();
builder.AddBackOfficeExternalLogins(logins =>
{
logins.AddBackOfficeLogin(
backOfficeAuthenticationBuilder =>
{
// this Add... method will be part of the OathProvider nuget package you install
backOfficeAuthenticationBuilder.AddGenericProvider(
// replace AddGenericProvider with the Add method of the provider you are using
BackOfficeAuthenticationBuilder.SchemeForBackOffice(GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions
.SchemeName)!,
options =>
{
// need to give an empty action here for the options pattern configuration to work 🤷
// if you do not wish to use the umbraco default error handling and hardcode all your values instead of injecting them,
// you can set the configuration right here instead.
});
});
});
}
}
// the ...AuthenticationOptions method will be part of the OathProvider nuget package you install
// check the Add... method invoked on the backOfficeAuthenticationBuilder to figure out the correct type
public class ConfigureGenericAuthenticationOptions : IConfigureNamedOptions<GenericAuthenticationOptions>
{
private readonly OAuthOptionsHelper _helper;
public ConfigureGenericAuthenticationOptions(OAuthOptionsHelper helper)
{
_helper = helper;
}
public void Configure(GenericAuthenticationOptions options)
{
// since we have access to dependency injection, these values can be read from the app settings using the IOptions pattern
options.CallbackPath = "/umbraco-signing-generic"; // can be anything as middleware will add this to the route table
options.ClientId = "your client id for the login provider";
options.ClientSecret = "your client secret for the login provider";
options.Scope.Add("user:email"); // email is needed for auto linking purposes
// This will redirect error responses from the login provider towards the default umbraco oath login error page
// which will try to display the error state in a meaningful way.
// You can implement your own error handling by handling options.Events.OnAccessDenied & options.Events.OnRemoteFailure
_helper.SetDefaultErrorEventHandling(options, GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions.SchemeName);
}
public void Configure(string? name, GenericAuthenticationOptions options)
{
// only configure the options if it is for the backend
if (name == BackOfficeAuthenticationBuilder.SchemeForBackOffice(GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions
.SchemeName))
{
Configure(options);
}
}
}
Static extension class
The extension class is required to extend on the default authentication implementation in Umbraco CMS. A generic example of such extension class can be seen below.
GenericBackofficeAuthenticationExtensions.cs
using Umbraco.Cms.Core.DependencyInjection;
using Umbraco.Extensions;
using Umbraco.Cms.Web.BackOffice.Security;
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
namespace MyUmbracoProject.CustomAuthentication;
public static class GenericBackofficeAuthenticationExtensions
{
public static IUmbracoBuilder AddGenericBackofficeAuthentication(this IUmbracoBuilder builder)
{
// Register ProviderBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions here rather than require it in startup
builder.Services.ConfigureOptions<GenericBackOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions>();
builder.AddBackOfficeExternalLogins(logins =>
{
logins.AddBackOfficeLogin(
backOfficeAuthenticationBuilder =>
{
// The scheme must be set with this method to work for the back office
// Replace GenericOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions with the Options method from the provider you are using
var schemeName =
backOfficeAuthenticationBuilder.SchemeForBackOffice(GenericOfficeExternalLoginProviderOptions
.SchemeName);
ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(schemeName);
// Replace AddGenericProvider with the Add method from the provider you are using
backOfficeAuthenticationBuilder.AddGenericProvider(
schemeName,
options =>
{
// Callback path: Represents the URL to which the browser should be redirected to.
// The default value is '/signin-provider'.
// The value here should match what you have configured in you external login provider.
// The value needs to be unique.
options.CallbackPath = "/umbraco-provider-signin";
options.ClientId = "YOURCLIENTID"; // Replace with your client id generated while creating OAuth client ID
options.ClientSecret = "YOURCLIENTSECRET"; // Replace with your client secret generated while creating OAuth client ID
// Example: Map Claims
// Relevant when using auto-linking.
options.GetClaimsFromUserInfoEndpoint = true;
options.TokenValidationParameters.NameClaimType = "name";
// Example: Add scopes
options.Scope.Add("email");
});
});
});
return builder;
}
}
ProviderMembersAuthenticationExtensions.cs
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Umbraco.Cms.Core.DependencyInjection;
using Umbraco.Extensions;
namespace MyUmbracoProject.CustomAuthentication;
public static class ProviderMemberAuthenticationExtensions
{
public static IUmbracoBuilder AddProviderMemberAuthentication(this IUmbracoBuilder builder)
{
// [OPTIONAL]
// Register ProviderMembersExternalLoginProviderOptions here rather than require it in startup
builder.Services.ConfigureOptions<ProviderMembersExternalLoginProviderOptions>();
builder.AddMemberExternalLogins(logins =>
{
logins.AddMemberLogin(
memberAuthenticationBuilder =>
{
memberAuthenticationBuilder.AddProvider(
// The scheme must be set with this method to work for the back office
memberAuthenticationBuilder.SchemeForMembers(ProviderMembersExternalLoginProviderOptions.SchemeName),
options =>
{
// Callback path: Represents the URL to which the browser should be redirected to.
// The default value is `/signin-oidc`.
// The value here should match what you have configured in your external login provider.
// The value needs to be unique.
options.CallbackPath = "/umbraco-provider-signin";
options.ClientId = "YOURCLIENTID";
options.ClientSecret = "YOURCLIENTSECRET";
// Example: Save login tokens
options.SaveTokens = true;
});
});
});
return builder;
}
}
Customizing the BackOffice Login Button
If you want to customize the login button, you can do so by adding a custom element to the manifest file. This is useful if you want to display something other than a button. For example, a link or an image.
The path to the custom view is a virtual path, like this example: "~/App_Plugins/MyPlugin/BackOffice/my-external-login.js".
When a custom view is specified, it is 100% up to this module to perform all the required logic.
The module should define a Custom Element and export it as default. Optionally, the Custom Element can declare a number of properties to be passed to it. These properties are:
manifest: The manifest object for the provider that you registered in the umbraco-package.json file.
onSubmit: A function that is called when the form is submitted. This function will handle the form submission and redirect the user to the external login provider.
userLoginState: The current view state of the user. This can be one of the following values:
loggingIn: The user is on the login screen.
loggedOut: The user clicked the logout button and is on the logged-out screen.
timedOut: The user's session has timed out and they are on the timed-out screen.
TypeScript
If you use TypeScript, you can use this interface to define the properties:
The Custom Element can be implemented in a number of ways with many different libraries or frameworks. The following examples show how to make a button appear and redirect to the external login provider. You will learn how to use the externalLoginUrl property to redirect to the external login provider. The login form should look like this when you open Umbraco:
When you click the button, the form will submit a POST request to the externalLoginUrl property. The external login provider will then redirect back to the Umbraco site with the user logged in.
{
"$schema": "../../umbraco-package-schema.json",
"name": "My Auth Package",
"allowPublicAccess": true,
"extensions": [
{
"type": "authProvider",
"alias": "My.AuthProvider.Generic",
"name": "My Auth Provider",
"forProviderName": "Umbraco.Generic",
"element": "/App_Plugins/ExternalLoginProviders/my-external-login.js", // This line has been added
"meta": {
"label": "Generic",
"defaultView": {
"icon": "icon-cloud"
},
"behavior": {
"autoRedirect": false
},
"linking": {
"allowManualLinking": true
}
}
}
]
}
We have to define a template first and then the custom element itself. The template is a small HTML form with a button. The custom element will then render the template and attach an event listener for clicks on the button in the constructor method.
const template = document.createElement('template');
template.innerHTML = `
<style>
:host {
display: block;
width: 100%;
}
#button {
width: 100%;
}
</style>
<h3>Our Company</h3>
<p>If you have signed up with Our Company, you can sign in to Umbraco by clicking the button below.</p>
<uui-button type="button" id="button" look="primary">
<uui-icon name="icon-cloud"></uui-icon>
Sign in with Our Company
</uui-button>
`;
/**
* This is an example how to set up a custom element as a Web Component.
*/
export default class MyCustomView extends HTMLElement {
manifest = {};
onSubmit = () => {};
userLoginState = '';
constructor() {
super();
this.attachShadow({ mode: 'open' });
this.shadowRoot.appendChild(template.content.cloneNode(true));
this.shadowRoot.getElementById('button').addEventListener('click', () => {
this.onSubmit(this.manifest.forProviderName);
});
}
}
customElements.define('my-custom-view', MyCustomView);
import { LitElement, css, html } from 'https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/lit/dist@3/core/lit-core.min.js';
/**
* This is an example how to set up a LitElement component.
*/
export default class MyLitView extends LitElement {
static get properties() {
return {
manifest: { type: Object },
onSubmit: { type: Function },
userLoginState: { type: String, state: true }
};
}
get displayName() {
return this.manifest.meta?.label ?? this.manifest.forProviderName;
}
render() {
return html`
<h3>Our Company</h3>
<p>If you have an account with Our Company, you can sign in to Umbraco by clicking the button below.</p>
<p>The user is currently: ${this.userLoginState}</p>
<uui-button type="button" id="button" look="primary" label="${this.displayName}" @click=${() => this.onSubmit(this.manifest.forProviderName)}>
<uui-icon name="icon-cloud"></uui-icon>
${this.displayName}
</uui-button>
`;
}
static styles = css`
:host {
display: block;
width: 100%;
}
#button {
width: 100%;
}
`;
}
customElements.define('my-lit-view', MyLitView);
This community-created package will allow you to automatically create Umbraco user accounts for users in your directory. This will then associate the Umbraco users with groups based on their AD group: .
Custom-named configuration to add additional configuration for handling different options related to the authentication.
A composer and named to extend on the default authentication implementation in Umbraco CMS for either Users or Members.
You can setup similar behavior using a and add them straight into the Program.cs file. But you will lose access to dependency injection this way, thus our helper class.
It is also possible to register the configuration class directly into the extension class. See examples of how this is done in the .
Do not flow large amounts of data into the backoffice identity. This information is stored in the backoffice authentication cookie and cookie limits will apply. Data like Json Web Tokens (JWT) needs to be somewhere to be looked up and not stored within the backoffice identity itself.
element - Define your own custom element for the button. This is useful if you want to display something other than a button, For example: a link or an image. For more information, see the section.
meta.defaultView.icon - The icon to display on the button. You can use any of the icons from the Umbraco Icon Picker. If you want to use a custom icon, you need to first register it to the .
meta.defaultView.color - (Default: "default") The color style of the button. You can use any color style from the .
meta.defaultView.look - (Default: "secondary") The look of the button. You can use any of the looks from the .
meta.behavior.popupFeatures - (Default: "width=600,height=600,menubar=no,location=no,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes,status=no,toolbar=no") The features of the popup window. This is a string of comma-separated key-value pairs. For example: "width=600,height=600". You can read more on the .
For a more in-depth article on how to set up OAuth providers in .NET refer to the .
You have access to the in the custom element. You can use the UUI components directly in your template.
It is also possible to use a library like to render the custom element. The following example shows how to use Lit to render the custom element. The custom element will render a form with a button. The button will submit the form to the externalLoginUrl property. We do not have to perform any logic in the constructor method because Lit will automatically update any event listeners. Styling is also handled by Lit in the static styles property.
We are using Lit version 3 in this example imported directly from a JavaScript delivery network to keep the example slim. You can also use a bundler like to bundle the Lit library with your custom element.
To learn more about how to set up a project with Vite, see the tutorial.
