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Control Center authentication

Spanda Control Center uses a unified Bearer authentication model at the REST and gRPC boundary. Operators present either:

  1. Long-lived API keys — for automation, SDK clients, and local dev
  2. Short-lived session JWTs — for browser SSO after OIDC sign-in

Both map to the same RBAC roles and tenant isolation rules.

Architecture

flowchart TB
  subgraph clients [Clients]
    CLI[CLI / SDK]
    UI[Control Center UI]
    Agent[Deploy / fleet agents]
  end

  subgraph boundary [Control Center API]
    AH[AuthHandler]
    AK[ApiKeyStore — HMAC hashed]
    SJ[SessionTokenIssuer — HS256 JWT]
    RBAC[RBAC + tenant check]
  end

  CLI -->|Bearer API key| AH
  UI -->|Bearer API key or session JWT| AH
  Agent -->|Bearer API key| AH
  AH --> AK
  AH --> SJ
  AK --> RBAC
  SJ --> RBAC
Loading

Core crate: spanda-security — AuthHandler, ApiKeyStore, SessionTokenIssuer, ReadAuthPolicy.

API keys (long-lived)

Format

Authorization: Bearer <token>

gRPC accepts the same value in authorization metadata or x-api-key.

Storage

Source On disk In memory
SPANDA_API_KEY Not persisted Plaintext (dev convenience)
SPANDA_API_KEYS_FILE / .spanda/api-keys.json token_hash only (HMAC-SHA256) Hash only after create/load
Admin POST /v1/admin/api-keys Hash persisted; plaintext returned once Hash only

Legacy api-keys.json files with a plaintext token field are migrated on load — the server hashes the token and clears plaintext from memory. The next persist_file_keys write stores hashes only.

Pepper

Set a production pepper so key hashes are not portable across instances:

export SPANDA_API_KEY_PEPPER="$(openssl rand -hex 32)"
export SPANDA_SESSION_JWT_SECRET="$(openssl rand -hex 32)"   # recommended separate secret

When unset, the pepper falls back to SPANDA_CONTROL_CENTER_STATE_DIR (or .spanda). Use explicit secrets in production.

Generate keys

spanda control-center api-key generate --export
# or
export SPANDA_API_KEY="my-local-dev-key"
spanda control-center serve

See control-center.md for multi-key JSON and roles.

Session JWTs (short-lived, OIDC)

After OIDC sign-in, the server issues an HS256 JWT usable as Authorization: Bearer <jwt>.

Variable Default Purpose
SPANDA_SESSION_JWT_SECRET falls back to pepper JWT signing key
SPANDA_SESSION_JWT_ISSUER spanda-control-center iss claim
SPANDA_SESSION_TTL_SECS 900 (15 min) Access token lifetime
SPANDA_SESSION_REFRESH_WINDOW_SECS 86400 Refresh allowed after expiry

Claims

Claim Meaning
sub Operator user id (OIDC sub)
key_id session-<user_id>
role RBAC role (from IdP group map or directory)
tenant_id Instance tenant
exp / iat Standard JWT timestamps
iss spanda-control-center (configurable)

OIDC setup

  1. Administration → OIDC / SSO — configure issuer, client id/secret, group→role map, redirect URI
  2. Enable integration (enabled: true on PUT /v1/admin/oidc)
  3. Operators use Sign in with SSO in the Control Center UI, or call the public auth routes below

Redirect callback page: /admin/oauth/oidc/callback (PKCE, posts message to opener).

Auth routes

Method Path Auth Description
GET /v1/auth/config No OIDC login availability, session TTL, read-auth flags
GET /v1/auth/session Bearer Current principal (auth_kind, user_id, role)
POST /v1/auth/session/refresh Body { "token": "<jwt>" } Refresh near-expired session
POST /v1/auth/oidc/authorize-url No Build IdP authorize URL (requires OIDC enabled)
POST /v1/auth/oidc/callback No Exchange code → session_token + directory import

Admin directory import (requires existing Deploy token): POST /v1/admin/oidc/oauth/callback — also returns session_token when userinfo is present.

Example: OIDC login (curl)

# 1. Get authorize URL (browser opens authorize_url)
curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/auth/oidc/authorize-url \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"redirect_uri":"http://127.0.0.1:8080/admin/oauth/oidc/callback"}'

# 2. After IdP redirect, exchange code
curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:8080/v1/auth/oidc/callback \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"code":"<code>","state":"<state>"}'

# 3. Use session_token as Bearer on mutations and sensitive reads
export SPANDA_API_KEY="<session_token>"

RBAC and tenants

Unchanged from prior releases — see control-center.md.

  • Mutations (POST / PATCH / PUT / DELETE) require a valid Bearer principal with the matching role action.
  • SPANDA_TENANT_ID on the instance must match the key or session tenant_id.

GET /v1/rbac/me returns auth_kind (api_key | session) and user_id for sessions.

Optional read authentication

By default, GET /v1/* remains open except endpoints that already required Bearer (secrets, audit, rbac/me, etc.).

Enable stricter policies for network-exposed Control Center instances:

Variable Effect
SPANDA_API_REQUIRE_AUTH_READS=1 Sensitive GET prefixes require Bearer (dashboard, devices, fleet, program source, compliance, …)
SPANDA_API_REQUIRE_AUTH_ALL_READS=1 All GETs require Bearer except /v1/health, /v1/version, /v1/instance, /v1/tenant

Failed read-auth returns 401 and records AuthFailed with reason read_auth_required.

What is not JWT/OAuth

Concern Mechanism
Robot / fleet wire security mTLS, signed messages — secure-communication.md
OTLP push SPANDA_OTLP_TOKEN Bearer
Twin Cloud SPANDA_TWIN_CLOUD_API_KEY
OIDC code exchange Used only to obtain IdP userinfo and issue Spanda session JWTs — IdP access tokens are not accepted as Control Center API credentials

Security checklist (production)

  1. Set SPANDA_API_KEY_PEPPER and SPANDA_SESSION_JWT_SECRET to unique random values.
  2. Terminate TLS at ingress; do not bind Control Center to the public internet without TLS.
  3. Enable SPANDA_API_REQUIRE_AUTH_READS=1 (or ALL_READS) when the API is reachable beyond localhost.
  4. Restrict file permissions on .spanda/api-keys.json and state directory.
  5. Rotate API keys on compromise; session JWTs expire automatically.
  6. Run ./scripts/security_audit_prep.sh before third-party review — security-audit-third-party.md.

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