dex/Documentation/connectors-configuration.md

Configuring Connectors

Connectors connect dex to authentication providers. dex needs to have at least one connector configured so that users can log in.

Configuration Format

The dex connector configuration format is a JSON array of objects, each with an ID and type, in addition to whatever other configuration is required, like so:

[
    {
        "id": "local",
        "type": "local"
    }, {
        "id": "Google",
        "type": "oidc",
        ...<<more config>>...
    } 
]

The additional configuration is dependent on the specific type of connector.

local connector

The local connector allows email/password based authentication hosted by dex itself. It is special in several ways:

• There can only be one local connector in your configuration.
• The id must be local
• No other configuration is required

When the local connector is present, users can authenticate with the "Log in With Email" button on the authentication screen.

The configuration for the local connector is always the same; it looks like this:

    {
        "id": "local",
        "type": "local"
    }

oidc connector

This connector config lets users authenticate with other OIDC providers. In addition to id and type, the oidc connector takes the following additional fields:

• issuerURL: a string. The base URL for the OIDC provider. Should be a URL with an https scheme.

• clientID: a string. The OIDC client ID.

• clientSecret: a string. The OIDC client secret.

• trustedEmailProvider: a boolean. If true dex will trust the email address claims from this provider and not require that users verify their emails.

In order to use the oidc connector you must register dex as an OIDC client; this mechanism is different from provider to provider. For Google, follow the instructions at their developer site. Regardless of your provider, registering your client will also provide you with the client ID and secret.

When registering dex as a client, you need to provide redirect URLs to the provider. dex requires just one:

https://$DEX_HOST:$DEX_PORT/auth/$CONNECTOR_ID/callback

$DEX_HOST and $DEX_PORT are the host and port of your dex installation. $CONNECTOR_ID is the id field of the connector for this OIDC provider.

Here's what a oidc connector looks like configured for authenticating with Google; the clientID and clientSecret shown are not usable. We consider Google a trusted email provider because the email address that is present in claims is for a Google provisioned email account (eg. an @gmail.com address)

    {
        "type": "oidc",
        "id": "google",
        "issuerURL": "https://accounts.google.com",
        "clientID": "$DEX_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID",
        "clientSecret": "$DEX_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET",
        "trustedEmailProvider": true
    }

Setting the Configuration

To set a connectors configuration in dex, put it in some temporary file, then use the dexctl command to upload it to dex:

dexctl -db-url=$DEX_DB_URL set-connector-configs /tmp/dex_connectors.json