Authorization Code Flow with OIDC

The Authorization Code Flow is used by server-side applications that are capable of securely storing secrets, or by native applications through Authorization Code Flow with PKCE.

The OIDC-conformant pipeline affects the Authorization Code Flow in the following areas:

  • Authentication request

  • Authentication response

  • Code exchange request

  • Code exchange response

  • ID token structure

  • Access token structure

Authentication request

Legacy

GET /authorize?
    response_type=code
    &scope=openid email favorite_color offline_access
    &client_id=123
    &state=af0ifjsldkj
    &redirect_uri=https://app.example.com/callback
    &device=my-device-name

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The device parameter is only needed if requesting a refresh token by passing the offline_access scope. To learn more, read, Refresh Tokens.

OIDC-conformant

GET /authorize?
    response_type=code
    &scope=openid email offline_access
    &client_id=123
    &state=af0ifjsldkj
    &redirect_uri=https://app.example.com/callback
    &audience=https://api.example.com

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  • favorite_color is no longer a valid scope value.

  • The device parameter is removed.

  • The audience parameter is optional.

Authentication response

The response from Auth0 is identical in both pipelines:

HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: https://app.example.com/callback?
    code=SplxlOBeZQQYbYS6WxSbIA
    &state=af0ifjsldkj

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Code exchange request - Authorization Code flow

An authorization code can be exchanged in the same way in both pipelines:




  


  
  
curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
  --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data grant_type=authorization_code \
  --data 'client_id={yourClientId}' \
  --data client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET \
  --data code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE \
  --data 'redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}'
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var client = new RestClient("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
request.AddParameter("application/x-www-form-urlencoded", "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
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package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"

	payload := strings.NewReader("grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
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HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")
  .header("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
  .body("grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}")
  .asString();
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var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token',
  headers: {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'},
  data: new URLSearchParams({
    grant_type: 'authorization_code',
    client_id: '{yourClientId}',
    client_secret: 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET',
    code: 'YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE',
    redirect_uri: '{https://yourApp/callback}'
  })
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});
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#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"content-type": @"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" };

NSMutableData *postData = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithData:[@"grant_type=authorization_code" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_id={yourClientId}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];
[request setHTTPBody:postData];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];
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$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
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import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("")

payload = "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}"

headers = { 'content-type': "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }

conn.request("POST", "/{yourDomain}/oauth/token", payload, headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))
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require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

url = URI("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["content-type"] = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
request.body = "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
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import Foundation

let headers = ["content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"]

let postData = NSMutableData(data: "grant_type=authorization_code".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_id={yourClientId}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_secret=YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
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Code exchange request - Authorization Code flow with PKCE
An authorization code can be exchanged in the same way in both pipelines:



  


  
  
curl --request POST \
  --url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
  --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
  --data grant_type=authorization_code \
  --data 'client_id={yourClientId}' \
  --data code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER \
  --data code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE \
  --data 'redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}'
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var client = new RestClient("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
request.AddParameter("application/x-www-form-urlencoded", "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
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/
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"

	payload := strings.NewReader("grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
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HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")
  .header("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
  .body("grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}")
  .asString();
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/
var axios = require("axios").default;

var options = {
  method: 'POST',
  url: 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token',
  headers: {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'},
  data: new URLSearchParams({
    grant_type: 'authorization_code',
    client_id: '{yourClientId}',
    code_verifier: 'YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER',
    code: 'YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE',
    redirect_uri: '{https://yourApp/callback}'
  })
};

axios.request(options).then(function (response) {
  console.log(response.data);
}).catch(function (error) {
  console.error(error);
});
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/
#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

NSDictionary *headers = @{ @"content-type": @"application/x-www-form-urlencoded" };

NSMutableData *postData = [[NSMutableData alloc] initWithData:[@"grant_type=authorization_code" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&client_id={yourClientId}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
[postData appendData:[@"&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}" dataUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];

NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token"]
                                                       cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
                                                   timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];
[request setHTTPBody:postData];

NSURLSession *session = [NSURLSession sharedSession];
NSURLSessionDataTask *dataTask = [session dataTaskWithRequest:request
                                            completionHandler:^(NSData *data, NSURLResponse *response, NSError *error) {
                                                if (error) {
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", error);
                                                } else {
                                                    NSHTTPURLResponse *httpResponse = (NSHTTPURLResponse *) response;
                                                    NSLog(@"%@", httpResponse);
                                                }
                                            }];
[dataTask resume];
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$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}
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/
import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("")

payload = "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}"

headers = { 'content-type': "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }

conn.request("POST", "/{yourDomain}/oauth/token", payload, headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))
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/
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

url = URI("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["content-type"] = 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
request.body = "grant_type=authorization_code&client_id={yourClientId}&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
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/
import Foundation

let headers = ["content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"]

let postData = NSMutableData(data: "grant_type=authorization_code".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&client_id={yourClientId}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&code_verifier=YOUR_GENERATED_CODE_VERIFIER".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&code=YOUR_AUTHORIZATION_CODE".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)
postData.append("&redirect_uri={https://yourApp/callback}".data(using: String.Encoding.utf8)!)

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
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Code exchange response
Legacy
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-store
Pragma: no-cache
{
    "access_token": "SlAV32hkKG",
    "token_type": "Bearer",
    "refresh_token": "8xLOxBtZp8",
    "expires_in": 3600,
    "id_token": "eyJ..."
}
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  • The returned Access Token is only valid for calling the /userinfo endpoint.
  • A refresh token will be returned only if a device parameter was passed and the offline_access scope was requested.
OIDC-conformant
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: no-store
Pragma: no-cache
{
    "access_token": "eyJ...",
    "token_type": "Bearer",
    "refresh_token": "8xLOxBtZp8",
    "expires_in": 3600,
    "id_token": "eyJ..."
}
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  • The returned access token is valid for optionally calling the API specified in the audience parameter and the /userinfo endpoint (provided that the API uses RS256 as the signing algorithm and openid is used as a scope parameter). If you are not implementing your own Resource Server (API), then you can use https://{$account.namespace}/userinfo as the audience parameter, which will return an opaque Access Token.
  • A refresh token will be returned only if the offline_access scope was granted.
ID token structure
Legacy
{
    "sub": "auth0|alice",
    "iss": "https://{yourDomain}/",
    "aud": "123",
    "exp": 1482809609,
    "iat": 1482773609,
    "email": "alice@example.com",
    "email_verified": true,
    "favorite_color": "blue"
}
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OIDC-conformant
{
    "sub": "auth0|alice",
    "iss": "https://{yourDomain}/",
    "aud": "123",
    "exp": 1482809609,
    "iat": 1482773609,
    "email": "alice@example.com",
    "email_verified": true,
    "https://app.example.com/favorite_color": "blue"
}
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The favorite_color claim must be added through an Auth0 Action. To learn more, read Create Custom Claims.
Access token structure (optional)
Legacy
SlAV32hkKG
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The returned access token is opaque and only valid for calling the /userinfo endpoint.
OIDC-conformant
{
    "sub": "auth0|alice",
    "iss": "https://{yourDomain}/",
    "aud": [
        "https://api.example.com",
        "https://{yourDomain}/userinfo"
    ],
    "azp": "123",
    "exp": 1482816809,
    "iat": 1482809609,
    "scope": "openid email"
}
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The returned access token is valid for optionally calling the API specified in the audience parameter and the /userinfo endpoint (provided that the API uses RS256 as the signing algorithm and openid is used as a scope parameter). 
If you are not implementing your own resource server (API), then you can use https://{$account.namespace}/userinfo as the audience parameter, which will return an opaque access token.
Learn more