Skip to main content
Version: v3.x (DDN)

JWT Configuration

This section describes the JSON Web Token (JWT) configuration options available in Hasura DDN.

Payload Definition

Example JSON Web Token (JWT) payload configuration definition:

globals/metadata/auth-config.hml
kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: HS256
key:
value: ultra-secret-very-secret-super-secret-key
audience: ["myapp-1234", "myapp-6789"]
allowedSkew: 60
issuer: https://my-auth-server.com

As a minimum, either the claimsConfig, tokenLocation, and key values have to be present.

Example Decoded Payload

{
"iat": 1735916718,
"exp": 1796916677,
"claims.jwt.hasura.io": {
"x-hasura-default-role": "user",
"x-hasura-allowed-roles": ["user", "admin"],
"x-hasura-user-id": "123",
"x-hasura-org-id": "456",
"x-hasura-custom": "custom-value"
}
}

Example Encoded JWT

eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpYXQiOjE3MzU5MTY3MTgsImV4cCI6MTc5NjkxNjY3NywiY2xhaW1zLmp3dC5oYXN1cmEuaW8iOnsieC1oYXN1cmEtZGVmYXVsdC1yb2xlIjoidXNlciIsIngtaGFzdXJhLWFsbG93ZWQtcm9sZXMiOlsidXNlciIsImFkbWluIl0sIngtaGFzdXJhLXVzZXItaWQiOiIxMjMiLCJ4LWhhc3VyYS1vcmctaWQiOiI0NTYiLCJ4LWhhc3VyYS1jdXN0b20iOiJjdXN0b20tdmFsdWUifX0.5bwSMgxsyULY1uhCJxYd-sO35rCdznRCZ4YMLwDD5u8

Note: x-hasura-default-role and x-hasura-allowed-roles are mandatory, while the rest of the claims are optional.

See here for the JWT debugger of this example JWT token. The signature secret to verify this token with the HS256 algorithm is ultra-secret-very-secret-super-secret-key.

Hasura JWT format

The x-hasura-role value can be sent as a plain header in the request to indicate the role which should be used.

When your auth server generates the JWT, the custom claims in the JWT must contain the following in a custom namespace. This namespace can be any string you choose, as long as it matches the namespace.location defined in your AuthConfig. Using claims.jwt.hasura.io will match our examples.

  1. A x-hasura-default-role field. The role that will be used when the optional x-hasura-role header is not passed.
  2. A x-hasura-allowed-roles field. A list of allowed roles for the user i.e. acceptable values of the optional x-hasura-role header.
  3. Add any other optional x-hasura-* claim fields (required as per your defined permissions) to the custom namespace.

To summarize, x-hasura-allowed-roles session variable contains a list of all the roles that the user can assume and the x-hasura-role header tells the Hasura Engine which role to use for the request, and if that is missing then the x-hasura-default-role session variable will be used.

This setup makes it more convenient for a JWT to only need to be issued once with a list of allowed roles for the user, and then allow the client to decide which of those roles to actually use for a request. This prevents the user needing to log in again or unnecessary JWT re-issuance.

If, for example, your app will not need to switch user roles and the user only needs one role, for instance: user, you can just issue a JWT with x-hasura-default-role set to user and x-hasura-allowed-roles set to ["user"] and not send the x-hasura-role header in the request.

This setup is designed so that there is one authoritative way to construct your JWT token for the Hasura Engine which can cover a wide range of use cases.

Hasura JWT Claim Description

x-hasura-default-role

The x-hasura-default-role will be the role that the user falls back to when no x-hasura-role value is specified in the header of the request. Usually, this will be the role with the least privileges and can be overridden by the x-hasura-role header when making a request.

x-hasura-allowed-roles

The x-hasura-allowed-roles list can contain all the roles which a particular user can assume, eg: [ "user", "manager", "owner" ]. Usually, these will have varying degrees of access to your data as specified in Permissions and by specifying this list it lets the Hasura Engine know that this user can assume any of them.

x-hasura-*

The JWT can have other user-defined x-hasura-* fields and their values can only be strings (they will be converted to the right type automatically). You can use these x-hasura-* values in your permission rules.

The JWT will normally also contain standard (sub, iat etc.) and custom (name, admin etc.) claims depending on your auth provider.

JWT Notes

  • JWT claim fields eg: x-hasura-default-role are case-insensitive.
  • Hasura Engine only has access to headers and JWT claims which are prefixed with x-hasura-.
  • Hasura Engine only has access to JWT claims in namespace defined in the AuthConfig object in metadata.
  • All x-hasura-* values should be of type String, they will be converted to the right type automatically.

Hasura JWT configuration options

claimsConfig

You can specify where the engine should look for the claims within the decoded token either with one of namespace and locations options.

namespace

The namespace option is used when all of the Hasura claims are present in a single object within the decoded JWT. Our example uses claims.jwt.hasura.io in the Example Decoded Payload.

claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io

The location field indicates the location of the namespace object that uses RFC 6901 JSON Pointer string syntax.

The claimsFormat field indicates whether the Hasura-specific claims are a regular JSON object or a stringified JSON. The following possible values are allowed: Json, StringifiedJson.

This is required because providers like AWS Cognito only allow strings in the JWT claims. See #1176.

Example:

If claimsFormat is Json then the JWT claims should look like:

{
"sub": "1234567890",
"name": "John Doe",
"admin": true,
"iat": 1516239022,
"claims.jwt.hasura.io": {
"x-hasura-allowed-roles": ["editor", "user", "mod"],
"x-hasura-default-role": "user",
"x-hasura-user-id": "1234567890",
"x-hasura-org-id": "123",
"x-hasura-custom": "custom-value"
}
}

If claimsFormat is StringifiedJson then the JWT claims should look like:

{
"sub": "1234567890",
"name": "John Doe",
"admin": true,
"iat": 1516239022,
"claims.jwt.hasura.io": "{\"x-hasura-allowed-roles\":[\"editor\",\"user\",\"mod\"],\"x-hasura-default-role\":\"user\",\"x-hasura-user-id\":\"1234567890\",\"x-hasura-org-id\":\"123\",\"x-hasura-custom\":\"custom-value\"}"
}

locations

This locations option can be used when Hasura claims are not all present in the single object, but individual claims are provided a JSON pointer within the decoded JWT. In this option, you can indicate:

  • a literal value.
  • or a JSON pointer path for individual claims and an optional default value if the claim doesn't exist.

x-hasura-default-role and x-hasura-allowed-roles claims are required. Other custom claims are optionally configured.

The literal values should be of type String, except for the x-hasura-allowed-roles claim which expects a string array.

Example: JWT config with JSON path values

{
"sub": "1234567890",
"name": "John Doe",
"admin": true,
"iat": 1516239022,
"user": {
"id": "ujdh739kd"
},
"hasura": {
"all_roles": ["user", "editor"]
}
}

The mapping for x-hasura-allowed-roles, x-hasura-default-role and x-hasura-user-id session variables can be specified in the locations configuration as follows:

claimsConfig: 
locations:
x-hasura-default-role:
path:
path: /hasura/all_roles/0
x-hasura-allowed-roles:
path:
path: /hasura/all_roles
x-hasura-user-id:
path:
path: /user/id

Example: JWT config with JSON path values and default values

{
"sub": "1234567890",
"name": "John Doe",
"admin": true,
"iat": 1516239022,
"hasura": {
"all_roles": ["user", "editor"]
}
}
claimsConfig: 
locations:
x-hasura-default-role:
path:
path: /hasura/all_roles/0
x-hasura-allowed-roles:
path:
path: /hasura/all_roles
x-hasura-user-id:
path:
path: /user/id
default: ujdh739kd

In the above case, since the /user/id doesn't exist in the JWT token, the default value of the x-hasura-user-id i.e ujdh739kd will be used

Example: JWT config containing literal values

{
"sub": "1234567890",
"name": "John Doe",
"admin": true,
"iat": 1516239022,
"user": {
"id": "ujdh739kd"
}
}

The corresponding JWT config should be:

claimsConfig: 
locations:
x-hasura-default-role:
literal: user
x-hasura-allowed-roles:
literal: ["user", "editor"]
x-hasura-user-id:
path:
path: /user/id

In the above example, the x-hasura-allowed-roles and x-hasura-default-role values are set in the JWT config and the value of the x-hasura-user-id is a JSON path to the value in the JWT token.

tokenLocation

Indicates the token location where request header to read the JWT from.

The following are the possible values:

BearerAuthorization

In this mode, Hasura expects an Authorization header with a Bearer token.

tokenLocation: 
type: BearerAuthorization

The JWT header should look like:

Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWI...

In the cookie mode, Hasura will try to parse the cookie header with the given cookie name. The value of the cookie should be the exact JWT.

tokenLocation: 
type: Cookie
name: cookie_name

The JWT header should look like:

Cookie: cookie_name=eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWI...

In the custom header mode, Hasura expects a header_name header with the exact JWT token value.

tokenLocation: 
type: Header
name: header_name

The JWT header should look like:

header_name: eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzdWI...

key

This field specifies the JWT key configuration according to which the incoming JWT will be decoded. You can configure either a fixed algorithm key or a remote JWK URL.

fixed

In this option, you must indicate a JWT key and its algorithm so the engine can decode and verify the JWT token.

key:
fixed:
algorithm: HS256
key:
value: ultra-secret-very-secret-super-secret-key
# valueFromEnv: AUTH_JWT_KEY

The algorithm field specifies the cryptographic signing algorithm which is used to sign the JWTs. Valid values are: HS256, HS384, HS512, RS256, RS384, RS512, ES256, ES384, PS256, PS384, PS512, EdDSA.

The key field can be a literal value or an environment variable name.

  • In the case of a symmetric key (i.e. a HMAC-based key), just the key as is. (e.g. -"abcdef..."). The key must be long enough for the chosen algorithm, (e.g. for HS256 it must be at least 32 characters long).
  • In the case of an asymmetric key (RSA, EdDSA, ECDSA etc.), only the public key, in a PEM-encoded string or as an X509 certificate.

jwkFromUrl

An URL where a provider publishes their JWKs (JSON Web Keys - which are used for signing the JWTs). The URL must publish the JWKs in the standard format as described here.

For example:

  • Auth0 publishes their JWK url at: https://<YOUR_AUTH0_DOMAIN>.auth0.com.
  • Firebase publishes their JWK url at: https://www.googleapis.com/service_accounts/v1/jwk/[email protected].
key: 
jwkFromUrl: https://www.googleapis.com/service_accounts/v1/jwk/[email protected]

The JWTs must be signed by the JWK published at the given URL. They can be signed by any algorithm that is compatible with the key (eg. RS256, RS384, RS512 algorithms require a JWK with an RSA key).

DDN does not currently support rotating JWKs.

audience

This is an optional field. Certain providers might set a claim which indicates the intended audience for the JWT. This must be checked by setting this field.

When this field is set, during the verification process of the JWT, the aud claim in the JWT will be checked to see whether it is equal to the audience field given in the configuration. If they are not equal then the JWT will be rejected.

See the RFC for more details.

warning

If your Compatibility Config date is set to 2025-03-11 or newer, you must set the audience field if your JWTs will contain an aud claim. If you do not, the JWT will be rejected as invalid and authentication will fail.

This field must be a list of strings.

Examples:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
# ...
audience: ["myapp-1234", "myapp-6789"]
Audience Security Vulnerability

Certain JWT providers share JWKs between multiple tenants. They use the aud claim of the JWT to specify the intended audience. Setting the audience field in the Hasura JWT configuration will make sure that the aud claim from the JWT is also checked during verification. Not doing this check will allow JWTs issued for other tenants to be valid as well.

In these cases, you MUST set the audience field to the appropriate value. Failing to do so is a major security vulnerability.

issuer

This is an optional field. It takes a string value.

When this field is set, during the verification process of the JWT, the iss claim in the JWT will be checked to see whether it is equal to the issuer field given in the configuration. If they are not equal then the JWT will be rejected.

See RFC for more details.

Examples:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
# ...
issuer: https://my-auth-server.com

Issuer Notes

  • Certain providers require you to verify the iss claim on the JWT. To do that you can set this field to the appropriate value.
  • A JWT configuration without an issuer will match any issuer field present in an incoming JWT.
  • An incoming JWT without an issuer specified will match a configuration even if it specifies an issuer.

allowed_skew

allowedSkew is an optional field to provide some leeway (to account for clock skews) while comparing the JWT expiry time. This field expects an integer value which will be the number of seconds of the skew value.

Hasura JWT Config Examples

HMAC-SHA based

Your auth server is using HMAC-SHA algorithms to sign JWTs, and is using a 256-bit key. In this case, the JWT config will look like:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: HS256
key:
value: 3EK6FD+o0+c7tzBNVfjpMkNDi2yARAAKzQlk8O2IKoxQu4nF7EdAh8s3TwpHwrdWT6R

The key is the actual shared secret, which is used by Hasura and the external auth server.

RSA based

If your auth server is using the RSA algorithm to sign JWTs, and is using a 512-bit key, the JWT config only needs to have the public key.

Example 1: public key in PEM format (not OpenSSH format):

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: RS512
key:
value: '-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDdlatRjRjogo3WojgGHFHYLugd\nUWAY9iR3fy4arWNA1KoS8kVw33cJibXr8bvwUAUparCwlvdbH6dvEOfou0/gCFQs\nHUfQrSDv+MuSUMAe8jzKE4qW+jK+xQU9a03GUnKHkkle+Q0pX/g6jXZ7r1/xAK5D\no2kQ+X5xK9cipRgEKwIDAQAB\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----\n'

Example 2: public key as X509 certificate:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: RS512
key:
value: '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nMIIDHDCCAgSgAwIBAgIINw9gva8BPPIwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEFBQAwMTEvMC0GA1UE\nAxMmc2VjdXJldG9rZW4uc3lzdGVtLmdzZXJ2aWNlYWNjb3VudC5jb20wHhcNMTgQt7dIsMTIU9k1SUrFviZOGnmHWtIAw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\nLhTpeP0o+mVYrBmtYVpDpv0e71cfYowSJCCkod/9YbY=\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----'

Example 3: public key published as JWKs:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
jwkFromUrl: https://www.googleapis.com/service_accounts/v1/jwk/[email protected]

EdDSA based

If your auth server is using EdDSA to sign JWTs, and is using the Ed25519 variant key, the JWT config only needs to have the public key.

Example 1: public key in PEM format (not OpenSSH format):

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: Ed25519
key:
value: '-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMCowBQYDK2VwAyEAG9I+toAAJicilbPt36tiC4wi7E1Dp9rMmfnwdKyVXi0=\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----'

Example 2: public key as X509 certificate:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: Ed25519
key:
value: '-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----\nMIIBAzCBtgIBADAnMQswCQYDVQQGEwJERTEYMBYGA1UEAwwPd3d3LmV4YW1wbGUu\nY29tMCowBQYDK2VwAyEA/9DV/InajW02Q0tC/tyr9mCSbSnNP1txICXVJrTGKDSg\nXDBaBgkqhkiG9w0BCQ4xTTBLMAsGA1UdDwQEAwIEMDATBgNVHSUEDDAKBggrBgEF\nBQcDATAnBgNVHREEIDAegg93d3cuZXhhbXBsZS5jb22CC2V4YW1wbGUuY29tMAUG\nAytlcANBAKbTqnTyPcf4ZkVuq2tC108pBGY19VgyoI+PP2wD2KaRz4QAO7Bjd+7S\nljyJoN83UDdtdtgb7aFgb611gx9W4go=\n-----END CERTIFICATE REQUEST-----'

EC based

If your auth server is using ECDSA to sign JWTs, and is using the ES variant with a 256-bit key, the JWT config only needs to have the public key.

Example 1: public key in PEM format (not OpenSSH format):

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: ES256
key:
value: '-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nMFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEEVs/o5+uQbTjL3chynL4wXgUg2R9\nq9UU8I5mEovUf86QZ7kOBIjJwqnzD1omageEHWwHdBO6B+dFabmdT9POxg==\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----'

Example 2: public key as X509 certificate:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
fixed:
algorithm: ES256
key:
value: '"-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----\nMIIBbjCCARWgAwIBAgIUGn02F6Y6s88dDGmIfwiNxWxDjhswCgYIKoZIzj0EAwIw\nDTELMAkGA1UEBhMCSU4wHhcNMjMwNTI0MTAzNTI4WhcNMjgwNTIyMTAzNTI4WjAN\nMQswCQYDVQQGEwJJTjBZMBMGByqGSM49AgEGCCqGSM49AwEHA0IABBFbP6OfrkG0\n4y93Icpy+MF4FINkfavVFPCOZhKL1H/OkGe5DgSIycKp8w9aJmoHhB1sB3QTugfn\nRWm5nU/TzsajUzBRMB0GA1UdDgQWBBSaqFjzps1qG+x2DPISjaXTWsTOdDAfBgNV\nHSMEGDAWgBSaqFjzps1qG+x2DPISjaXTWsTOdDAPBgNVHRMBAf8EBTADAQH/MAoG\nCCqGSM49BAMCA0cAMEQCIBDHHWa/uLAVdGFEk82auTmw995+MsRwv52VXLw2Z+ji\nAiAXzOWIcGN8p25uhUN/7v9gEcADGIS4yUiv8gsn/Jk2ow==\n-----END CERTIFICATE-----'

Example 3: public key published as JWKs:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: BearerAuthorization
key:
jwkFromUrl: https://www.gstatic.com/iap/verify/public_key-jwk

Security considerations

Setting audience check

Certain JWT providers share JWKs between multiple tenants (like Firebase). They use the aud claim of JWT to specify the intended tenant for the JWT. Setting the audience field in the Hasura JWT configuration will make sure that the aud claim from the JWT is also checked during verification. Not doing this check will allow JWTs issued for other tenants to be valid as well.

In these cases, you MUST set the audience field to appropriate value. Failing to do so is a major security vulnerability.

JWT with the WebSocket protocol

When executing a subscription (or query or mutation) over the WebSocket protocol, the authentication step is executed on connection_init when the websocket is connected to Hasura Engine and is valid until the expiry of the JWT when in JWT mode.

Once authenticated, all operations are allowed without further check, until the authentication expires.

AWS Cognito

AWS Cognito and ELB (Elastic Load Balancer) has a known issue where it adds additional padding (using = characters) to the JWT token that is generated from Cognito.

This is a known issue and is documented by AWS in their docs:

Standard libraries are not compatible with the padding that is included in the Application Load Balancer authentication token in JWT format.

Currently, there is no workaround possible in Hasura. Even if Hasura strips the additional padding the signature verification of the token would fail (as Hasura had to tamper the token).

Firebase

Firebase publishes the JWKs at:

https://www.googleapis.com/service_accounts/v1/jwk/[email protected]

If you are using Firebase and Hasura, use this config:

kind: AuthConfig
version: v3
definition:
mode:
jwt:
claimsConfig:
namespace:
claimsFormat: Json
location: /claims.jwt.hasura.io
tokenLocation:
type: Header
name: Authorization
key:
jwkFromUrl: https://www.googleapis.com/service_accounts/v1/jwk/[email protected]
issuer: https://securetoken.google.com/<firebase-project-id>
audience: <firebase-project-id>

Auth0

Refer to the Auth0 JWT tutorial for a detailed guide on integrating Auth0 with Hasura.

Clerk

Clerk integrates with Hasura GraphQL Engine using JWTs.

Clerk publishes their JWK under: https://<YOUR_CLERK_FRONTEND_API>/.well-known/jwks.json

Refer to the Clerk JWT tutorial to set up authenticated requests to Hasura with Clerk.

Keycloak

By default, Keycloak uses the RSA-OAEP algorithm, which the Hasura DDN engine doesn't support. Remove the algorithm in the Realm Settings -> Keys -> Add Providers tab.