Vue: Login

By Steve Hobbs

This tutorial demonstrates how to add user login to a Vue.JS application using Auth0. We recommend you to log in to follow this quickstart with examples configured for your account.

I want to integrate with my app

15 minutes

Configure Auth0
Create a Sample Application
Create an Authentication Wrapper
Log in to the App
Display the User's Profile
Secure the Profile Page

I want to explore a sample app

2 minutes

Get a sample configured with your account settings or check it out on Github.

View on Github

System requirements: Vue 2.6.11 | Vue CLI 4.2.2

New to Auth? Learn How Auth0 works, how it integrates with Single-Page Applications and which protocol it uses.

When you signed up for Auth0, a new application was created for you, or you could have created a new one.

You will need some details about that application to communicate with Auth0. You can get these details from the Application Settings section in the Auth0 dashboard.

You need the following information:

Domain
Client ID

If you download the sample from the top of this page these details are filled out for you.

If you have more than one application in your account, the sample comes with the values for your Default App.

App Dashboard

A callback URL is a URL in your application where Auth0 redirects the user after they have authenticated.

The callback URL for your app must be whitelisted in the Allowed Callback URLs field in your Application Settings. If this field is not set, users will be unable to log in to the application and will get an error.

If you are following along with the sample project you downloaded from the top of this page, you should set the Allowed Callback URL to http://localhost:3000.

A logout URL is a URL in your application that Auth0 can return to after the user has been logged out of the authorization server. This is specified in the returnTo query parameter.

The logout URL for your app must be whitelisted in the Allowed Logout URLs field in your Application Settings. If this field is not set, users will be unable to log out from the application and will get an error.

If you are following along with the sample project you downloaded from the top of this page, the logout URL you need to whitelist in the Allowed Logout URLs field is http://localhost:3000.

You need to whitelist the URL for your app in the Allowed Web Origins field in your Application Settings. If you don't whitelist your application URL, the application will be unable to automatically refresh the authentication tokens and your users will be logged out the next time they visit the application, or refresh the page.

If you are following along with the sample project you downloaded from the top of this page, you should set the Allowed Web Origins to http://localhost:3000.

JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) should be signed using the RS256 signing algorithm where possible, as it provides enhanced security over HS256.

RS256 is the default, but if you are running into errors you can verify your settings by clicking on Show Advanced Settings at the bottom of your Auth0 Application settings screen in the dashboard. Click the OAuth tab to show the signature algorithm configuration. JsonWebToken Signature Algorithm should be set to RS256, and the OIDC Conformant setting should be enabled.

Token Signature Algorithm configuration

The following tutorial creates a new Vue application using the Vue CLI, and presents some common ways to build Vue applications, in terms of its structure and naming conventions. If you are using this guide to integrate the Auth0 SDK into your Vue application, you may need to adjust some of the steps to suit your scenario.

If you don't already have an existing application, you can create one using the Vue CLI tool. Using the terminal, find a location on your drive where you want to create the project and run the following commands:

# Install the CLI
npm install -g @vue/cli

# Create the application using the Vue CLI.
# When asked to pick a preset, accept the defaults
vue create my-app

# Move into the project directory
cd my-app

# Add the router, as we will be using it later
# Select 'yes' when asked if you want to use history mode
vue add router

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Adding the router to this project conveniently adds a couple of views and a basic router to the project. We will make use of those later in the tutorial!

After creating a new Vue app using the CLI, install the Auth0 Client SDK:

npm install @auth0/auth0-spa-js

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Now start the application from the command line:

PORT=3000 npm run serve

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At this point, you can leave the application running in the background, as it will reload whenever you make changes. Note the port number — if you intend your app to run on a different port, remember to adjust this number throughout the quickstart.

The best way to manage and coordinate the tasks necessary for user authentication is to create a reusable wrapper object around the Auth0 SDK. In this sample, this wrapper is implemented as a Vue object. Doing this makes it much easier to work with the asynchronous methods of the Auth0 SDK, thanks to the reactive nature of Vue.

This code also implements a simple Vue plugin that exposes this wrapper object to the rest of the application.

To implement the wrapper, create a new folder called auth inside the src folder, and then create a new file called index.js inside. Populate this file with the following content:

The intention is for the following code snippet and the associated Vue plugin to be refactored into a separate dependency, to be installed as a dependency of your project. For now, add the code inline into your project.

import Vue from "vue";
import createAuth0Client from "@auth0/auth0-spa-js";

/** Define a default action to perform after authentication */
const DEFAULT_REDIRECT_CALLBACK = () =>
  window.history.replaceState({}, document.title, window.location.pathname);

let instance;

/** Returns the current instance of the SDK */
export const getInstance = () => instance;

/** Creates an instance of the Auth0 SDK. If one has already been created, it returns that instance */
export const useAuth0 = ({
  onRedirectCallback = DEFAULT_REDIRECT_CALLBACK,
  redirectUri = window.location.origin,
  ...options
}) => {
  if (instance) return instance;

  // The 'instance' is simply a Vue object
  instance = new Vue({
    data() {
      return {
        loading: true,
        isAuthenticated: false,
        user: {},
        auth0Client: null,
        popupOpen: false,
        error: null
      };
    },
    methods: {
      /** Authenticates the user using a popup window */
      async loginWithPopup(o) {
        this.popupOpen = true;

        try {
          await this.auth0Client.loginWithPopup(o);
        } catch (e) {
          // eslint-disable-next-line
          console.error(e);
        } finally {
          this.popupOpen = false;
        }

        this.user = await this.auth0Client.getUser();
        this.isAuthenticated = true;
      },
      /** Handles the callback when logging in using a redirect */
      async handleRedirectCallback() {
        this.loading = true;
        try {
          await this.auth0Client.handleRedirectCallback();
          this.user = await this.auth0Client.getUser();
          this.isAuthenticated = true;
        } catch (e) {
          this.error = e;
        } finally {
          this.loading = false;
        }
      },
      /** Authenticates the user using the redirect method */
      loginWithRedirect(o) {
        return this.auth0Client.loginWithRedirect(o);
      },
      /** Returns all the claims present in the ID token */
      getIdTokenClaims(o) {
        return this.auth0Client.getIdTokenClaims(o);
      },
      /** Returns the access token. If the token is invalid or missing, a new one is retrieved */
      getTokenSilently(o) {
        return this.auth0Client.getTokenSilently(o);
      },
      /** Gets the access token using a popup window */

      getTokenWithPopup(o) {
        return this.auth0Client.getTokenWithPopup(o);
      },
      /** Logs the user out and removes their session on the authorization server */
      logout(o) {
        return this.auth0Client.logout(o);
      }
    },
    /** Use this lifecycle method to instantiate the SDK client */
    async created() {
      // Create a new instance of the SDK client using members of the given options object
      this.auth0Client = await createAuth0Client({
        domain: options.domain,
        client_id: options.clientId,
        audience: options.audience,
        redirect_uri: redirectUri
      });

      try {
        // If the user is returning to the app after authentication..
        if (
          window.location.search.includes("code=") &&
          window.location.search.includes("state=")
        ) {
          // handle the redirect and retrieve tokens
          const { appState } = await this.auth0Client.handleRedirectCallback();

          // Notify subscribers that the redirect callback has happened, passing the appState
          // (useful for retrieving any pre-authentication state)
          onRedirectCallback(appState);
        }
      } catch (e) {
        this.error = e;
      } finally {
        // Initialize our internal authentication state
        this.isAuthenticated = await this.auth0Client.isAuthenticated();
        this.user = await this.auth0Client.getUser();
        this.loading = false;
      }
    }
  });

  return instance;
};

// Create a simple Vue plugin to expose the wrapper object throughout the application
export const Auth0Plugin = {
  install(Vue, options) {
    Vue.prototype.$auth = useAuth0(options);
  }
};

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The options object passed to the plugin is used to provide the values for clientId and domain. For this example, create a new file auth_config.json in the root directory of the application alongside your package.json file, and populate it with the values from your application created above:

{
  "domain": "YOUR_DOMAIN",
  "clientId": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID"
}

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This configuration file contains non-sensitive values relating to your Auth0 app. However, we recommend not committing this file into source control.

Finally, open src/main.js and use Vue.use to install the plugin, as in the following example:

import Vue from "vue";
import App from "./App.vue";
import router from './router'

// Import the Auth0 configuration
import { domain, clientId } from "../auth_config.json";

// Import the plugin here
import { Auth0Plugin } from "./auth";

// Install the authentication plugin here
Vue.use(Auth0Plugin, {
  domain,
  clientId,
  onRedirectCallback: appState => {
    router.push(
      appState && appState.targetUrl
        ? appState.targetUrl
        : window.location.pathname
    );
  }
});

Vue.config.productionTip = false;

new Vue({
  router,
  render: h => h(App)
}).$mount("#app");

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Notice that the configuration file created earlier has been imported and used to initialize the plugin. A custom redirect handler has also been supplied, which redirects the user to a protected route after they have authenticated (this is covered a bit later).

In this section, you will provide a way for the user to log in or log out, depending on their authentication status.

Open the src/views/Home.vue file and modify the template to include two buttons that enable the user to log in and log out:

<template>
  <div class="home">
    <img alt="Vue logo" src="../assets/logo.png" />
    <HelloWorld msg="Welcome to Your Vue.js App" />

    <!-- Check that the SDK client is not currently loading before accessing is methods -->
    <div v-if="!$auth.loading">
      <!-- show login when not authenticated -->
      <button v-if="!$auth.isAuthenticated" @click="login">Log in</button>
      <!-- show logout when authenticated -->
      <button v-if="$auth.isAuthenticated" @click="logout">Log out</button>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

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Notice that the buttons are wrapped in a directive that makes sure $auth.loading is false. This is because most methods on the SDK client are asynchronous, and you must wait until the client has finished loading before trying to access things like the user's authentication state.

Further down the Home.vue file, modify the components script and implement the login and logout methods as follows:

<script>
// .. imports removed for brevity

export default {
  name: "home",
  components: {
    HelloWorld
  },
  methods: {
    // Log the user in
    login() {
      this.$auth.loginWithRedirect();
    },
    // Log the user out
    logout() {
      this.$auth.logout({
        returnTo: window.location.origin
      });
    }
  }
};
</script>

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Checkpoint

Try running the application at this point. Provided you have configured your Auth0 credentials correctly, you should be redirected to the Auth0 Universal Login page, and back to your app against once you have logged in.

Then, you should be able to click Log out and have the application log you out of the system.

The login page uses the Lock widget. To learn more about Universal Login and the login page, see the Universal Login documentation. To customize the look and feel of the Lock widget, see the Lock customization options documentation.

In this section, you will display the user's profile information on a new page, as an example of how to retrieve the user's profile data.

Once the user authenticates, the SDK extracts the user's profile information and stores it in memory. It can be accessed using this.$auth.user from inside a Vue component.

To display the profile information, create a new file called Profile.vue in the views folder. Use the this.$auth.user property to access the user's profile data and display it on the page, as in the following example:

<template>
  <div>
    <div>
      <img :src="$auth.user.picture">
      <h2>{{ $auth.user.name }}</h2>
      <p>{{ $auth.user.email }}</p>
    </div>

    <div>
      <pre>{{ JSON.stringify($auth.user, null, 2) }}</pre>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

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You will add a route to this Profile component so that the user may access it via the UI and the navigation bar. In the next section, you will protect this route from unauthenticated users.

To access the profile page, open the router/index.js file and import the Profile component. Then, modify the routes list so that the Profile component is mapped to /profile, as in the following example:

//.. other imports

// NEW - Import the profile component
import Profile from "../views/Profile.vue";

const router = new VueRouter({
  mode: 'history',
  routes: [
    // .. other routes and pages ..

    // NEW - add the route to the /profile component
    {
      path: "/profile",
      name: "profile",
      component: Profile
    }
  ]
});

export default router;

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Next, modify the navigation bar in App.vue to include a route to the profile page, making sure that it is only available when the user is authenticated:

<template>
  <div id="app">
    <div id="nav">
      <router-link to="/">Home</router-link>|
      <router-link to="/about">About</router-link>|

      <!-- NEW - add a route to the profile page -->
      <router-link v-if="$auth.isAuthenticated" to="/profile">Profile</router-link>
    </div>
    <router-view />
  </div>
</template>

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Checkpoint

Now when you run the application, you should be able to log in and see the link to the profile page in the navigation bar. When you navigate to the profile page, the user's information will be visible on the screen.

Even though the /profile route is only shown if the user is authenticated, the user could still manually type the URL into the browser and access the page if they have not logged in — although there will be nothing to see.

A catch-all rule can be added to the router so that access is only permitted if the user is logged in. If they are not logged in, they will be prompted to log in before being redirected to the location they tried to access in the first place.

Create a new file in the src/auth folder called authGuard.js, and use the getInstance method of the authentication service to implement a function that will prevent a route from being accessed by an unauthenticated user:

import { getInstance } from "./index";

export const authGuard = (to, from, next) => {
  const authService = getInstance();

  const fn = () => {
    // If the user is authenticated, continue with the route
    if (authService.isAuthenticated) {
      return next();
    }

    // Otherwise, log in
    authService.loginWithRedirect({ appState: { targetUrl: to.fullPath } });
  };

  // If loading has already finished, check our auth state using `fn()`
  if (!authService.loading) {
    return fn();
  }

  // Watch for the loading property to change before we check isAuthenticated
  authService.$watch("loading", loading => {
    if (loading === false) {
      return fn();
    }
  });
};

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Notice that in the call to loginWithRedirect, the URL that the user was trying to access (to.fullPath) is supplied. This URL will be returned to the app after authentication and is used to redirect the user to the place they were trying to reach before they logged in.

To see how the targetUrl property is used to navigate the user once they have authenticated, revisit the Create a Vue Plugin section again and inspect how the plugin is installed into your Vue app.

Finally, open up src/router/index.js and use the guard to protect the /profile route, as in the following example:

// .. other imports ..

import { authGuard } from "../auth/authGuard";

const router = new VueRouter({
  mode: "history",
  base: process.env.BASE_URL,
  routes: [
    // .. other routes ..
    {
      path: "/profile",
      name: "profile",
      component: Profile,
      beforeEnter: authGuard
    }
  ]
});

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Checkpoint

Start the application and make sure you are logged out. Now, modify the URL in your browser's navigation bar to include the /profile path on the end. This should cause the application to ask you to authenticate. Once you have logged in, the profile page should be visible without you having to navigate there manually.

What can you do next?

Part 2: Calling an API using an access token

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Any suggestion or typo? Edit on GitHub

Docs

Vue: Login

Vue: Login

By Steve Hobbs

I want to integrate with my app

I want to explore a sample app

Configure Auth0

Get Your Application Keys

Configure Callback URLs

Configure Logout URLs

Configure Allowed Web Origins

Verify JWT Token Signature setting

Create a Sample Application

Install the SDK

Start the application

Create an Authentication Wrapper

Log in to the App

Checkpoint

Display the User's Profile

Add a route to the Profile component

Checkpoint

Secure the Profile Page

Checkpoint

What can you do next?

Did it work?