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Handling Authentication via Front-End Bundles

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Enterprise Authentication and the Front-End

The Kinetic Platform supports enterprise authentication methods such as SSO (e.g., SAML, LDAP), but it’s important to note that authentication is not configured in the front-end. Instead, these settings must be defined at the platform level, typically by a system administrator with access to environment configuration or Helm chart customization.

This page explains what front-end developers can do to support authentication workflows once the platform has been correctly configured by your infrastructure or DevOps team.

What the Front-End Can (and Can’t) Do

What You Can Do:

  • Use the KineticLib wrapper to detect whether a user is authenticated
  • Render a login screen when needed
  • Use onSso to trigger SSO redirection after the backend strategy is already in place
  • Handle post-login redirection or show relevant content once the user is authenticated

What You Cannot Do:

  • Define or enable SSO strategies (e.g., LDAP, SAML, X.509)
  • Configure identity providers or trusted metadata URLs
  • Create or manage OAuth clients (these are configured in the Platform Console or backend)

⚠️

Pre-requisite: Before implementing front-end authentication, make sure your platform admin has configured:

Using onSso to Trigger SSO Redirects

The onSso prop is available when an SSO strategy (like SAML or LDAP) has already been configured for your space. It provides a function you can call to trigger the SSO login process, usually as part of a custom login screen.

💡

onSso will only be defined if SSO is enabled for the current Space and your bundle is hosted from a trusted domain.

Tips for Handling Auth Behavior in the UI

  • Display loading, login, or unauthorized states based on the initialized and loggedIn values from KineticLib
  • Provide user-friendly messaging if the user is not logged in or if onSso is undefined
  • Avoid hardcoding assumptions about available auth methods, always check your configuration

Troubleshooting

  • Blank screen after login? Double-check that the redirectUri is properly whitelisted in your OAuth client configuration and matches the route where your React app initializes.
  • 401 or 403 errors? Ensure the authenticated user has access to the target Kapp, form, or space. Also verify that your API calls include the appropriate include values (e.g., ['values', 'details']) to return the expected data.

Where Authentication is Configured

SSO is set up at the platform level using files like security.properties and security.space-slug.properties. These configurations are handled during the installation or deployment of the Kinetic Platform, often through Kubernetes and Helm chart values.

For more information:

Updated about 1 month ago