attune/work-summary/sessions/2026-01-12-authentication.md

Work Summary: Phase 2.2 - Authentication & Authorization

Date: 2026-01-12 Status: ✅ Complete (Core Authentication)

Overview

Implemented a comprehensive JWT-based authentication system for the Attune API service, including user registration, login, token management, and password security.

Completed Tasks

1. Database Migration

• ✅ Created migration 20240102000001_add_identity_password.sql
• Added password_hash column to identity table
• Column is nullable to support external auth providers and service accounts
• Added index for faster password hash lookups

2. Authentication Dependencies

• ✅ Added jsonwebtoken 9.3 for JWT handling
• ✅ Added argon2 0.5 for password hashing
• ✅ Added rand 0.8 for secure random generation

3. Core Authentication Modules

Password Module (auth/password.rs)

• ✅ Implemented Argon2id password hashing
• ✅ Implemented password verification
• ✅ Custom error types (PasswordError)
• ✅ Comprehensive unit tests
• Features:
  • Secure salt generation using OS RNG
  • Memory-hard algorithm (Argon2id)
  • PHC string format for hashes

JWT Module (auth/jwt.rs)

• ✅ JWT token generation (access & refresh tokens)
• ✅ JWT token validation and decoding
• ✅ Claims structure with identity info
• ✅ Token type differentiation (access vs refresh)
• ✅ Configurable expiration times
• ✅ Header extraction utilities
• ✅ Custom error types (JwtError)
• ✅ Comprehensive unit tests

Middleware Module (auth/middleware.rs)

• ✅ Authentication middleware (require_auth)
• ✅ Request extractor (RequireAuth)
• ✅ Authenticated user context
• ✅ Custom error types with proper HTTP responses
• Features:
  • Validates JWT tokens from Authorization header
  • Extracts claims and adds to request extensions
  • Provides convenient access to identity ID and login

4. Authentication DTOs (dto/auth.rs)

• ✅ LoginRequest - User login credentials
• ✅ RegisterRequest - New user registration
• ✅ TokenResponse - JWT token response
• ✅ RefreshTokenRequest - Token refresh
• ✅ ChangePasswordRequest - Password change
• ✅ CurrentUserResponse - Current user info
• All DTOs include validation constraints

5. Authentication Routes (routes/auth.rs)

• ✅ POST /auth/register - Register new user
• ✅ POST /auth/login - User login
• ✅ POST /auth/refresh - Refresh access token
• ✅ GET /auth/me - Get current user (protected)
• ✅ POST /auth/change-password - Change password (protected)

6. Application Integration

• ✅ Added JWT config to AppState
• ✅ Updated main.rs to initialize JWT configuration
• ✅ Added auth routes to server router
• ✅ Added error conversions for auth errors
• ✅ Environment variable configuration:
  • JWT_SECRET - Secret key for token signing
  • JWT_ACCESS_EXPIRATION - Access token lifetime (default: 3600s)
  • JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRATION - Refresh token lifetime (default: 604800s)

7. Error Handling

• ✅ Added From implementations for JwtError → ApiError
• ✅ Added From implementations for PasswordError → ApiError
• ✅ Added From implementations for ParseIntError → ApiError
• Proper HTTP status codes for all auth errors (401, 403, 409)

8. Documentation

• ✅ Created comprehensive authentication documentation (docs/authentication.md)
• Includes:
  • Architecture overview
  • Configuration guide
  • API endpoint documentation
  • Security best practices
  • Usage examples with cURL
  • Troubleshooting guide
  • Future enhancements roadmap

Technical Details

Security Features

1. Password Hashing

   • Algorithm: Argon2id (memory-hard, resistant to GPU attacks)
   • Unique salt per password
   • PHC string format for storage

2. JWT Tokens

   • HS256 algorithm (HMAC-SHA256)
   • Configurable secret key
   • Separate access and refresh tokens
   • Token type validation
   • Expiration checking

3. Authentication Middleware

   • Bearer token extraction
   • Token validation before route handling
   • Claims injection into request context
   • Automatic error responses

Data Storage

• Password hashes stored in identity.attributes JSONB field
• Format: {"password_hash": "$argon2id$v=19$m=19456,t=2,p=1$..."}
• Nullable password_hash supports external auth providers

Token Structure

{
  "sub": "123",              // Identity ID
  "login": "username",        // Username
  "iat": 1234567890,         // Issued at
  "exp": 1234571490,         // Expiration
  "token_type": "access"     // Token type
}

Code Quality

• ✅ All code compiles without errors
• ✅ Comprehensive unit tests for password and JWT modules
• ✅ Proper error handling throughout
• ✅ Type-safe API with Rust's type system
• ✅ Request validation using validator crate
• ✅ Follows established project patterns

Testing

• Unit tests for password hashing (hash generation, verification, salts)
• Unit tests for JWT tokens (generation, validation, expiration)
• Unit tests for middleware helpers
• Manual testing pending database availability

Deferred Features

The following features were deferred to Phase 2.13 to focus on core authentication:

• RBAC permission checking middleware
• Identity management CRUD endpoints
• Permission assignment endpoints
• Permission set management
• Advanced authorization rules

These will be implemented after core CRUD APIs are complete.

Configuration Example

# .env file
JWT_SECRET=your-super-secret-key-min-256-bits
JWT_ACCESS_EXPIRATION=3600
JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRATION=604800
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://svc_attune:password@localhost:5432/attune

Usage Examples

Registration

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"login":"alice","password":"secure123","display_name":"Alice"}'

Login

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/auth/login \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"login":"alice","password":"secure123"}'

Protected Endpoint

curl http://localhost:8080/auth/me \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs..."

Dependencies Added

jsonwebtoken = "9.3"
argon2 = "0.5"
rand = "0.8"

Files Created/Modified

New Files

• migrations/20240102000001_add_identity_password.sql
• crates/api/src/auth/mod.rs
• crates/api/src/auth/password.rs
• crates/api/src/auth/jwt.rs
• crates/api/src/auth/middleware.rs
• crates/api/src/dto/auth.rs
• crates/api/src/routes/auth.rs
• docs/authentication.md

Modified Files

• crates/api/Cargo.toml - Added auth dependencies
• crates/api/src/main.rs - Added auth module, JWT config
• crates/api/src/state.rs - Added JWT config to AppState
• crates/api/src/server.rs - Added auth routes
• crates/api/src/dto/mod.rs - Exported auth DTOs
• crates/api/src/routes/mod.rs - Added auth routes module
• crates/api/src/middleware/error.rs - Added auth error conversions
• work-summary/TODO.md - Marked Phase 2.2 complete

Next Steps

1. Start database and run migration
2. Test authentication endpoints manually
3. Proceed to Phase 2.4: Action Management API
4. Continue with other CRUD APIs
5. Return to RBAC implementation in Phase 2.13

Notes

• JWT secret defaults to insecure value for development
• Production deployments MUST set a strong JWT_SECRET
• Password requirements: minimum 8 characters (can be enhanced)
• Tokens are stateless (no server-side session storage)
• Token revocation will be added in future enhancement

Build Status

✅ Successfully compiles with warnings (unused imports to be cleaned up) ✅ All authentication tests pass ✅ Ready for integration testing once database is available

Security Considerations

• Always use HTTPS in production
• Rotate JWT secrets periodically
• Consider implementing rate limiting on auth endpoints
• Add MFA support in future releases
• Implement token blacklisting for logout functionality