Device Authorization Flow
This tutorial demonstrates how to call your API from an input-constrained device using the Device Authorization Flow. We recommend that you log in to follow this quickstart with examples configured for your account.
For an interactive experience, you can use the Device Flow Playground.
Ensure the OIDC Conformant toggle is enabled. For more information, read OIDC-Conformant Authentication.
Add Device Code to the Application's grant types. For more information, read Update Grant Types.
Add Refresh Token to the Application’s grant types if you want to enable Refresh Tokens.
Configure and enable at least one connection for the application.
Enable Allow Offline Access if you are using refresh tokens. For more information, read API Settings.
Configure Device User Code Settings to define the character set, format, and length of your randomly-generated user code.
When the user starts the device application and wants to authorize it, your application must request a device code from the Auth0 Authentication API to associate with the user session.
To get the device code, your application must call the Authentication API Device Authorization Flow Authorize endpoint:
curl --request post \
--url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code' \
--header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded'
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var client = new RestClient("https://{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
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package main
import (
"fmt"
"net/http"
"io/ioutil"
)
func main() {
url := "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code"
req, _ := http.NewRequest("post", url, nil)
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/device/code")
.header("content-type", "application/x-www-form-urlencoded")
.asString();
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var axios = require("axios").default;
var options = {
method: 'post',
url: 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code',
headers: {'content-type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
};
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" };
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:[NSURL URLWithString:@"https://{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code"]
cachePolicy:NSURLRequestUseProtocolCachePolicy
timeoutInterval:10.0];
[request setHTTPMethod:@"post"];
[request setAllHTTPHeaderFields:headers];
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/device/code",
CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "post",
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("")
headers = { 'content-type': "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" }
conn.request("post", "/{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code", headers=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/device/code")
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'
response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
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import Foundation
let headers = ["content-type": "application/x-www-form-urlencoded"]
let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://{yourDomain}/oauth/device/code")! as URL,
cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "post"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
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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The device application should receive an HTTP 200 response and a payload similar to this:
{
"device_code": "GmRh...k9eS",
"user_code": "WDJB-MJHT",
"verification_uri": "https://my-tenant.auth0.com/device",
"verification_uri_complete": "https://my-tenant.auth0.com/device?user_code=WDJB-MJHT",
"expires_in": 900,
"interval": 5
}
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After your device application receives the device_code
and the user_code
, it should instruct the user to go to the verification_uri
and enter the user_code
.

While your device application waits for the user to activate it, it should call the Authentication API POST /oauth/token endpoint intermittently and handle the response appropriately.
curl --request POST \
--url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
--header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
--data grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:device_code \
--data device_code=AUTH0_SCOPES \
--data 'client_id={yourClientId}'
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The user will either scan the QR code, or else will open the activation page and enter the user code:

A confirmation page will be shown to have the user confirm that this is the right device:

The user will complete the transaction by signing in. This step may include one or more of the following processes:
Authenticating the user
Redirecting the user to an Identity Provider to handle authentication
Checking for active SSO sessions
Obtaining user consent for the device, unless consent has been previously given

Upon successful authentication and consent, the confirmation prompt will be shown:

At this point, the user has authenticated and the device has been authorized.
After the user authorizes the device application, it receives an HTTP 200 response and the following payload:
{
"access_token": "eyJz93a...k4laUWw",
"refresh_token": "GEbRxBN...edjnXbL",
"id_token": "eyJ0XAi...4faeEoQ",
"token_type": "Bearer",
"expires_in": 86400
}
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Access tokens are used to call the Authentication API Get User Info endpoint (if your device application requested the openid
scope) or the API that was specified by the audience
parameter. If you are calling your own API, your device application must verify the access token before using it.
ID tokens contain user information that must be decoded and extracted. The Authentication API only returns an id_token
if your device application requested the openid
scope.
Refresh tokens are used to obtain a new access token or ID token after the previous one has expired. The Authentication API only returns a refresh_token
if the Allow Offline Access setting is enabled for the API specified by the audience
parameter, and your device application requested the offline_access
scope.
To call your API, your device application must pass the access token as a Bearer token in the Authorization
header of your HTTP request.
curl --request GET \
--url https://myapi.com/api \
--header 'authorization: Bearer AUTH0_API_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
--header 'content-type: application/json'
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To get a new access token for a user, your device application can call the Authentication API POST /oauth/token endpoint with the refresh_token
parameter.
curl --request POST \
--url 'https://{yourDomain}/oauth/token' \
--header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
--data grant_type=refresh_token \
--data 'client_id={yourClientId}' \
--data 'client_secret={yourClientSecret}' \
--data refresh_token=AUTH0_REFRESH_TOKEN
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If the request was successful, your device application receives an HTTP 200 response with the following payload:
{
"access_token": "eyJ...MoQ",
"expires_in": 86400,
"scope": "openid offline_access",
"id_token": "eyJ...0NE",
"token_type": "Bearer"
}
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To learn more about refresh tokens, read Refresh Tokens.
Tenant logs are created for any interaction that takes place and can be used to troubleshoot issues.
**Code** | **Name** | **Description** |
---|---|---|
fdeaz |
Failed device authorization request | |
fdeac |
Failed device activation | |
fdecc |
User canceled the device confirmation | |
fede |
Failed Exchange | Device Code for Access Token |
sede |
Success Exchange | Device Code for Access Token |
Token responses
While you wait for the user to authorize the device, you may receive a few different HTTP 4xx responses.
Authorization pending
You will see this error while waiting for the user to take action. Continue polling using the suggested interval
retrieved in the previous step of this tutorial.
`HTTP 403`
{
"error": "authorization_pending",
"error_description": "..."
}
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Slow down
You are polling too fast. Slow down and use the suggested interval retrieved in the previous step of this tutorial. To avoid receiving this error due to network latency, you should start counting each interval after receipt of the last polling request's response.
`HTTP 429`
{
"error": "slow_down",
"error_description": "..."
}
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Expired token
The user has not authorized the device quickly enough, so the device_code
has expired. Your application should notify the user that the flow has expired and prompt them to reinitiate the flow.
`HTTP 403`
{
"error": "expired_token",
"error_description": "..."
}
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Access Denied
If access is denied, you receive:
`HTTP 403`
{
"error": "access_denied",
"error_description": "..."
}
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This can occur for a variety of reasons, including:
The user refused to authorize the device.
The authorization server denied the transaction.
A configured Action denied access.
Refer to the samples below to learn how to implement this flow in real-world applications.
AppleTV (Swift): Simple application that shows how Auth0 can be used with the Device Authorization Flow from an AppleTV.
CLI (Node.js): Sample implementation of a CLI that uses the Device Authorization Flow instead of the Authorization Code Flow. The major difference is that your CLI does not need to host a webserver and listen on a port.
To use the Device Authorization Flow, a device application must:
Support Server Name Indication (SNI)
Be a Native Application
Have the Authentication Method set to None
Not be created through Dynamic Client Registration
In addition, the Device Authorization Flow does not allow:
Social Connections using Auth0 developer keys unless you are using New Universal Login Experience
Query string parameters to be accessed from a hosted login page or Actions.
Next Steps
Excellent work! If you made it this far, you should now have login, logout, and user profile information running in your application.
This concludes our quickstart tutorial, but there is so much more to explore. To learn more about what you can do with Auth0, check out:
- Auth0 Dashboard - Learn how to configure and manage your Auth0 tenant and applications
- Auth0 Marketplace - Discover integrations you can enable to extend Auth0’s functionality
Sign up for an or to your existing account to integrate directly with your own tenant.