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Overview

When a user authenticates, for example by signing in with their username and password, they receive a session. The session is proof that the user is authenticated and allows to interact with the system without the need to re-authenticate for every request.

Sessions can be issued in two formats:

  • Ory Session Cookie - when the system detects that the interaction is performed through a web browser, a cookie which represents the user's session is stored in the browser.
  • Ory Session Token - when the system detects that the interaction is performed by a client other than a web browser, for example a native mobile app, a session token is issued to the client.
note

For security reasons, you can't break the isolation between cookies and session tokens.

Ory session​

This is a sample session:

{
  "active": true,
  "authenticated_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
  "authentication_methods": [
    {
      "aal": "aal0",
      "completed_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
      "method": "link_recovery"
    }
  ],
  "authenticator_assurance_level": "aal0",
  "devices": [
    {
      "id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
      "ip_address": "string",
      "location": "string",
      "user_agent": "string"
    }
  ],
  "expires_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
  "id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
  "identity": {
    "created_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
    "credentials": {
      "property1": {
        "config": {},
        "created_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "identifiers": ["string"],
        "type": "password",
        "updated_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "version": 0
      },
      "property2": {
        "config": {},
        "created_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "identifiers": ["string"],
        "type": "password",
        "updated_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "version": 0
      }
    },
    "id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
    "metadata_admin": {},
    "metadata_public": {},
    "recovery_addresses": [
      {
        "created_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
        "updated_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "value": "string",
        "via": "string"
      }
    ],
    "schema_id": "string",
    "schema_url": "string",
    "state": "active",
    "state_changed_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
    "traits": null,
    "updated_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
    "verifiable_addresses": [
      {
        "created_at": "2014-01-01T23:28:56.782Z",
        "id": "497f6eca-6276-4993-bfeb-53cbbbba6f08",
        "status": "string",
        "updated_at": "2014-01-01T23:28:56.782Z",
        "value": "string",
        "verified": true,
        "verified_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",
        "via": "string"
      }
    ]
  },
  "issued_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"
}
PropertyDescription
activeWhen set to true, the Ory Session is active and can be used to authenticate requests.
expires_atDefines the time when the Session expires. This value depends on the session lifespan configuration.
authenticated_atIndicates the time of the most recent successful authentication. This value is updated when:

An Ory Session Cookie is issued when the user signs in through the browser-based login flow. To get the session payload, send a request to the /sessions/whoami endpoint.

note

Browser-based applications including single-page applications (SPAs) and server-side rendered apps should use session cookies instead of session tokens.

Checking current session
import { Configuration, FrontendApi, Session } from "@ory/client"
import { useState } from "react"

const ory = new FrontendApi(
  new Configuration({
    basePath: "http://localhost:4000", // Use your local Ory Tunnel URL
    baseOptions: {
      withCredentials: true,
    },
  }),
)

// Example of a modal component
export function CheckSession() {
  const [session, setSession] = useState<Session>(undefined)

  const handleCheckSession = async () => {
    try {
      const result = await ory.toSession()
      setSession(result.data)
    } catch (error) {
      // The session could not be fetched
      // This might occur if the current session has expired
    }
  }

  return (
    <>
      <button onClick={handleCheckSession}>Get my Session payload</button>
      {session && (
        <table>
          <tr>
            <th>Session ID</th>
            <th>Expires at</th>
            <th>Authenticated at</th>
          </tr>
          <tr id={session.id}>
            <td>{session.id}</td>
            <td>{session.expires_at || ""}</td>
            <td>{session.authenticated_at || ""}</td>
          </tr>
        </table>
      )}
    </>
  )
}

Using Ory Session Token​

An Ory Session Token is issued when the user authenticates through a client other than a web browser. To get the session payload, send a request to the /sessions/whoami endpoint.

note

Native applications such as desktop applications, mobile applications, or terminal-based apps that do not run inside a browser should use session tokens instead of session cookies.

Checking current session
package main

import (
  "context"
  "fmt"
  "github.com/ory/client-go"
  "os"
)

func init() {
  cfg := client.NewConfiguration()
  cfg.Servers = client.ServerConfigurations{
    {URL: fmt.Sprintf("https://%s.projects.oryapis.com", os.Getenv("ORY_PROJECT_SLUG"))},
  }

  ory = client.NewAPIClient(cfg)
}

func CheckSession(ctx context.Context, sessionToken string) (session *client.Session, err error) {
  session, _, err = ory.FrontendApi.ToSession(ctx).
    XSessionToken(sessionToken).
    Execute()

  if err != nil {
    // error revoking the session, for example due to expired token provided
    return nil, err
  }

  return session, nil
}

JSON Web Token (JWT) support​

danger

Ory doesn't issue sessions as JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).

Sessions are not issued as JWTs for two main reasons:

  1. Sessions can end at any point in time, indicating that the user is no longer signed in. With JWTs, it's difficult to determine if a session is still valid before the token expires.
  2. Sessions can be updated and changed at any point in time, for example, when the user updates their profile. Such change can't be easily reflected in a JWT before it is refreshed.

Ory Network employs a session caching mechanism to reduce the latency for toSession / /sessions/whoami endpoint calls across the globe so that latency is not an issue for users. Read more about session caching.

If you don't want to make repeated calls to toSession / /sessions/whoami, or you need to use JWTs in your setup, you can convert sessions to JWTs on your entry point. There, you could add caching to further reduce the amount of API calls made.

tip

Ory Oathkeeper is an API Gateway capable of converting sessions to JWTs.