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A JWT token (JSON Web Token) is just a string with a well-defined format. A sample token might look like this:
```
eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJoZWxsbyI6ImZyb20gSldUIn0.XoByFQCJvii_iOTO4xlz23zXmb4yuzC3gqrWNt3EHrg
```
```
eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJoZWxsbyI6ImZyb20gSldUIn0.XoByFQCJvii_iOTO4xlz23zXmb4yuzC3gqrWNt3EHrg
```
There are 3 parts separated by a `.` (dot) character:
- header: eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9
- body: eyJoZWxsbyI6ImZyb20gSldUIn0
- signature: XoByFQCJvii_iOTO4xlz23zXmb4yuzC3gqrWNt3EHrg
- header: eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9
- body: eyJoZWxsbyI6ImZyb20gSldUIn0
- signature: XoByFQCJvii_iOTO4xlz23zXmb4yuzC3gqrWNt3EHrg
Header and Body are JSON strings encoded using the Base64Url algorithm (a URL-safe variation of the standard Base64 encoding algorithm).
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648#section-5
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4648#section-5
If we decode them this is what we get:
- header: { "alg": "HS256", "typ": "JWT" }
- body: { "hello": "from JWT" }
- header: { "alg": "HS256", "typ": "JWT" }
- body: { "hello": "from JWT" }
The signature part contains bytes which represent a cryptographic signature of header and body (also encoded using Base64Url) and can be used to verify the authenticity of a token.
JWT tokens are mostly used as a mechanism for "stateless" authentication and authorization. Let's try to discuss what this means with a simple example:
In this picture, John is authenticating against an auth server. The auth server recognizes his credentials and gives him back a token. John can now use the token to connect to specific services.
When John makes a request to a service, he will attach his token. The service looks at the token to understand if the request is authorized.
The service can read the information embedded within the token to understand that the request is coming from John and can verify that the signature was applied by the Auth server.
This process is "stateless" because this validation can be done without having to make an explicit request to the Auth server. This is a great property for distributed systems or, in general, systems that deal with a high load of requests.
If you want to "debug" (or visualize) the content of a JWT token, you can use http://jwt.io or a CLI tool such as jwtinfo ( https://github.com/lmammino/jwtinfo)
I hope this helps to shed some light on what JWT tokens are, how they work and when they can be used.
I posted this on dev as well, if you prefer a slightly more detailed format for this info: https://dev.to/loige/what-is-a-jwt-token-302k
I posted this on dev as well, if you prefer a slightly more detailed format for this info: https://dev.to/loige/what-is-a-jwt-token-302k
