Create Login Flow for Native Apps
GEThttps://accounts.<domain>/auth/self-service/login/api
This endpoint initiates a login flow for native apps that do not use a browser, such as mobile devices, smart TVs, and so on.
If a valid provided session cookie or session token is provided, a 400 Bad Request error
will be returned unless the URL query parameter ?refresh=true
is set.
To fetch an existing login flow call /login/flows?flow=<flow_id>
.
You MUST NOT use this endpoint in client-side (Single Page Apps, ReactJS, AngularJS) nor server-side (Java Server Pages, NodeJS, PHP, Golang, ...) browser applications. Using this endpoint in these applications will make you vulnerable to a variety of CSRF attacks, including CSRF login attacks.
In the case of an error, the error.id
of the JSON response body can be one of:
session_already_available
: The user is already signed in.
session_aal1_required
: Multi-factor auth (e.g. 2fa) was requested but the user has no session yet.
security_csrf_violation
: Unable to fetch the flow because a CSRF violation occurred.
This endpoint MUST ONLY be used in scenarios such as native mobile apps (React Native, Objective C, Swift, Java, ...).
Request
Query Parameters
Refresh a login session
If set to true, this will refresh an existing login session by asking the user to sign in again. This will reset the authenticated_at time of the session.
Request a Specific AuthenticationMethod Assurance Level
Use this parameter to upgrade an existing session's authenticator assurance level (AAL). This allows you to ask for multi-factor authentication. When an identity sign in using e.g. username+password, the AAL is 1. If you wish to "upgrade" the session's security by asking the user to perform TOTP / WebAuth/ ... you would set this to "aal2".
EnableSessionTokenExchangeCode requests the login flow to include a code that can be used to retrieve the session token after the login flow has been completed.
The URL to return the browser to after the flow was completed.
Header Parameters
The Session Token of the Identity performing the settings flow.
Responses
- 200
- 400
- default
loginFlow
- application/json
- Schema
- Example (from schema)
Schema
Possible values: [password
, totp
, oidc
, webauthn
, lookup_secret
, code
]
and so on.
CreatedAt is a helper struct field for gobuffalo.pop.
ExpiresAt is the time (UTC) when the flow expires. If the user still wishes to log in, a new flow has to be initiated.
ID represents the flow's unique ID. When performing the login flow, this represents the id in the login UI's query parameter: http://<selfservice.flows.login.ui_url>/?flow=<flow_id>
IssuedAt is the time (UTC) when the flow started.
OAuth 2.0 Login Challenge.
This value is set using the login_challenge
query parameter of the registration and login endpoints.
If set will cooperate with OAuth2 and OpenID to act as an OAuth2 server / OpenID Provider.
oauth2_login_request object
Refresh stores whether this login flow should enforce re-authentication.
RequestURL is the initial URL that was requested. It can be used to forward information contained in the URL's path or query for example.
Possible values: [aal0
, aal1
, aal2
, aal3
]
The authenticator assurance level can be one of "aal1", "aal2", or "aal3". A higher number means that it is harder for an attacker to compromise the account.
Generally, "aal1" implies that one authentication factor was used while AAL2 implies that two factors (e.g. password + TOTP) have been used.
ReturnTo contains the requested return_to URL.
SessionTokenExchangeCode holds the secret code that the client can use to retrieve a session token after the login flow has been completed. This is only set if the client has requested a session token exchange code, and if the flow is of type "api", and only on creating the login flow.
State represents the state of this request:
choose_method: ask the user to choose a method to sign in with sent_email: the email has been sent to the user passed_challenge: the request was successful and the login challenge was passed.
The flow type can either be api
or browser
.
ui objectrequired
UpdatedAt is a helper struct field for gobuffalo.pop.
{
"active": "password",
"created_at": "2025-04-17T12:10:30.804Z",
"expires_at": "2025-04-17T12:10:30.804Z",
"id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
"issued_at": "2025-04-17T12:10:30.804Z",
"oauth2_login_challenge": "string",
"oauth2_login_request": {
"AdditionalProperties": {},
"challenge": "string",
"client": {
"AdditionalProperties": {},
"access_token_strategy": "string",
"allowed_cors_origins": [
"string"
],
"audience": [
"string"
],
"authorization_code_grant_access_token_lifespan": "string",
"authorization_code_grant_id_token_lifespan": "string",
"authorization_code_grant_refresh_token_lifespan": "string",
"backchannel_logout_session_required": true,
"backchannel_logout_uri": "string",
"client_credentials_grant_access_token_lifespan": "string",
"client_id": "string",
"client_name": "string",
"client_secret": "string",
"client_secret_expires_at": 0,
"client_uri": "string",
"contacts": [
"string"
],
"created_at": "2025-04-17T12:10:30.804Z",
"frontchannel_logout_session_required": true,
"frontchannel_logout_uri": "string",
"grant_types": [
"string"
],
"implicit_grant_access_token_lifespan": "string",
"implicit_grant_id_token_lifespan": "string",
"jwks_uri": "string",
"jwt_bearer_grant_access_token_lifespan": "string",
"logo_uri": "string",
"metadata": {},
"owner": "string",
"policy_uri": "string",
"post_logout_redirect_uris": [
"string"
],
"redirect_uris": [
"string"
],
"refresh_token_grant_access_token_lifespan": "string",
"refresh_token_grant_id_token_lifespan": "string",
"refresh_token_grant_refresh_token_lifespan": "string",
"registration_access_token": "string",
"registration_client_uri": "string",
"request_object_signing_alg": "string",
"request_uris": [
"string"
],
"response_types": [
"string"
],
"scope": "string",
"sector_identifier_uri": "string",
"skip_consent": true,
"subject_type": "string",
"token_endpoint_auth_method": "string",
"token_endpoint_auth_signing_alg": "string",
"tos_uri": "string",
"updated_at": "2025-04-17T12:10:30.804Z",
"userinfo_signed_response_alg": "string"
},
"oidc_context": {
"AdditionalProperties": {},
"acr_values": [
"string"
],
"display": "string",
"id_token_hint_claims": {},
"login_hint": "string",
"ui_locales": [
"string"
]
},
"request_url": "string",
"requested_access_token_audience": [
"string"
],
"requested_scope": [
"string"
],
"session_id": "string",
"skip": true,
"subject": "string"
},
"organization_id": "string",
"refresh": true,
"request_url": "string",
"requested_aal": "aal0",
"return_to": "string",
"session_token_exchange_code": "string",
"type": "string",
"ui": {
"action": "string",
"messages": [
{
"context": {},
"id": 0,
"text": "string",
"type": "info"
}
],
"method": "string",
"nodes": [
{
"attributes": {},
"group": "default",
"messages": [
{
"context": {},
"id": 0,
"text": "string",
"type": "info"
}
],
"meta": {
"label": {
"context": {},
"id": 0,
"text": "string",
"type": "info"
}
},
"type": "text"
}
]
},
"updated_at": "2025-04-17T12:10:30.804Z"
}
errorGeneric
- application/json
- Schema
- Example (from schema)
Schema
error objectrequired
{
"error": {
"code": 404,
"debug": "SQL field \"foo\" is not a bool.",
"details": {},
"id": "string",
"message": "The resource could not be found",
"reason": "User with ID 1234 does not exist.",
"request": "d7ef54b1-ec15-46e6-bccb-524b82c035e6",
"status": "Not Found"
}
}
errorGeneric
- application/json
- Schema
- Example (from schema)
Schema
error objectrequired
{
"error": {
"code": 404,
"debug": "SQL field \"foo\" is not a bool.",
"details": {},
"id": "string",
"message": "The resource could not be found",
"reason": "User with ID 1234 does not exist.",
"request": "d7ef54b1-ec15-46e6-bccb-524b82c035e6",
"status": "Not Found"
}
}
- curl
- python
- go
- nodejs
- ruby
- csharp
- php
- java
- powershell
- CURL
curl -L -X GET 'https://accounts.<domain>/auth/self-service/login/api' \
-H 'Accept: application/json'