pulse/docs/OIDC.md

🔐 OIDC Single Sign-On

Enable Single Sign-On (SSO) with providers like Authentik, Keycloak, Okta, and Microsoft Entra ID.

🚀 Quick Start

Keep a working, independent administrator login and its browser session while setting up SSO. Saving a provider or seeing its login button is not proof of successful sign-in or administrator access.

1. Prepare the IdP application. Obtain its issuer URL, client ID and client secret through your IdP's normal registration flow. Enter the secret only in Pulse's HTTPS settings form or private deployment configuration, never in a command, URL or report. Start with openid profile email; follow the provider examples for group claims and any additional supported scope, rather than adding groups universally.
2. Configure access before saving. In Settings → Security → Single Sign-On, add an OIDC provider and enter those details. Select Show access restrictions & role mapping and set the intended login restrictions and Group Role Mappings, including a trusted group mapped to admin if administrators will use SSO. Check the access rules and role mappings first; blank login restrictions do not limit sign-ins to administrators. New UI providers are enabled on save.
3. Save, then register the actual callback. Copy Callback / Redirect URL from the saved provider card into the IdP's redirect allowlist. Pulse generates the provider ID when it is saved; do not register a guessed ID or the literal <provider-id> placeholder. Use the exact public HTTPS URL, not a backend address or wildcard. If the displayed URL is wrong, correct the HTTPS/proxy configuration before signing in, without disabling certificate or origin checks.
4. Verify without replacing the working login. In a separate browser session, sign in as an intended administrator and check administrator controls in Security settings. Where you already have suitable users, also check that an intended non-admin cannot use administrator controls and that an excluded user is refused. Do not change settings to test privileges. A successful provider Test checks discovery, not the callback, user claims or resulting permissions. Keep the independent administrator path until these checks pass; do not clear restrictions to make a failed login work. Use safe diagnosis.

Only after verifying SSO, optionally hide the local username/password form with PULSE_AUTH_HIDE_LOCAL_LOGIN=true through your normal deployment configuration. Appending ?show_local=true to your Pulse URL shows that form again; it does not create or restore local credentials, bypass the proxy or revoke SSO sessions.

⚙️ Configuration

Setting	Description
Issuer URL	The OIDC provider's issuer URL. Must match the iss claim in tokens.
Client ID	The application ID from your provider.
Client Secret	The application secret.
Redirect URL	Auto-detected. Override only if running behind a complex proxy setup.
Scopes	Space-separated scopes. Default: openid profile email.
Claim Mapping	Map email, username, and groups to specific token claims.

Note

: Setting OIDC_* environment variables locks those fields in the UI. See CONFIGURATION.md for the full list of overrides.

Access Control

Restrict access to specific users or groups:

• Allowed Groups: Only users with a matching group in the configured claim can login. Configure the IdP to include that claim; a groups scope is not universally supported.
• Allowed Domains: Restrict to specific email domains (e.g., example.com).
• Allowed Emails: Allow specific email addresses.

Administrator requirement: SSO authentication does not grant instance administrator privileges by itself. Before removing the configured local administrator or relying on SSO-only access, map a trusted IdP group to the built-in admin role. Keep that administrator group in Allowed Groups so the login and authorization boundaries describe the same trusted population. An empty Allowed Groups list allows every IdP user to sign in, but does not make those users administrators.

Group-to-Role Mapping

Automatically assign Pulse roles based on OIDC group membership. When a user logs in, Pulse checks their groups claim and assigns the corresponding roles. Mapping groups to the built-in admin, operator, and viewer roles is included with Community SSO. Creating custom roles and manually managing user assignments remain Pro RBAC features.

Configuration: Group-role mappings are configured per SSO provider through the UI (or the SSO provider API for automated setup). Go to Settings → Security → Single Sign-On, edit the provider, and populate Group Role Mappings with entries like:

• oidc-admins → admin
• oidc-operators → operator
• oidc-viewers → viewer

The mappings persist on the provider record as a groupRoleMappings JSON field. Provider-level config (including this field) can be PUT through the SSO provider API for automated setup.

OIDC_GROUP_ROLE_MAPPINGS populates the same field, but only for the legacy single-provider OIDC configuration built from OIDC_* environment variables — it has no effect on providers created through the UI or the SSO provider API. See CONFIGURATION.md.

How it works:

• On each login, Pulse reads the user's groups from the configured groups claim.
• For each group that matches a mapping, the corresponding role is assigned.
• Multiple groups can map to multiple roles (user gets all matching roles).
• Role assignments are updated on every login to reflect current group membership.
• Role changes are logged to the audit log for compliance tracking.
• Instance-administration routes require the built-in admin role or another role with an explicit admin grant on all resources. The operator and viewer mappings never inherit administrator access on SSO-only instances.

Example: If a user has groups ["oidc-admins", "developers"] and you have mappings:

• oidc-admins → admin
• developers → operator

The user will be assigned both admin and operator roles.

Note

: Pulse reads the configured groups claim, not a scope name. Some providers use groups, others use roles or custom claims. Request an extra scope only when that IdP supports and requires it to emit the claim. Microsoft Entra ID has no groups scope; use its token configuration below. The scope alone neither supplies group membership nor grants a Pulse role.

Sessions and offline_access

A Pulse browser session and the IdP's access and refresh tokens have different lifetimes. Requesting offline_access does not guarantee a 30- or 90-day Pulse login, and it is not an access-revocation mechanism.

• Request offline_access only when you need token refresh and your IdP supports it. The IdP must actually issue a refresh token; the scope alone is not enough. SSO can work without a refresh token.
• Pulse creates the browser cookies with a 24-hour lifetime. Valid requests extend the server-side session's sliding expiry; this does not extend the browser cookie's expiry. A successful token refresh also extends the server-side session, not the browser cookie.
• While a valid session is being used, Pulse can start a background refresh near the access token's expiry. This is request-driven, not continuous polling of the IdP, and the triggering request can finish before refresh completes.
• A rejected or failed token exchange invalidates that Pulse session. Failure to initialise the provider, or no matching enabled provider, instead skips refresh. Do not assume that a discovery failure, disabled provider or changed issuer/client ID has signed existing users out.
• Refresh tokens are encrypted when persisted. Treat the Pulse data directory, encryption key and backups as sensitive; never publish session files.

Changing or removing access

Allowed Groups, Allowed Domains and Allowed Emails are checked at login; every non-empty restriction must pass. Group-role mappings are also applied at login. Refreshing a token does not re-evaluate those restrictions or group-role mappings. Removing someone from an IdP group therefore does not prove that their existing Pulse session or role assignments have been revoked.

Disabling or deleting a provider, or changing its issuer/client ID, likewise must not be treated as revoking existing Pulse sessions. Keep a working, independent administrator login before changing SSO. For planned access removal:

1. Block future sign-ins for the affected identity at the IdP or its application assignment, without changing access for unrelated users.
2. Where Pro RBAC user administration is available, use the documented Remove user access operation for the exact provider-scoped identity. It removes the role assignment and revokes that identity's active Pulse sessions; it does not disable the IdP account, and a later authorised SSO login can recreate the identity. Do not remove your own current administrator identity.
3. Check the result through the existing administrator session and, where available, the affected user's ordinary browser session. A successful save, hidden login button or blocked new login is not proof that an old session lost access. Keep session cookies out of commands and reports.

If targeted user removal is unavailable, do not assume there is a universal session-revocation control on your plan. For urgent containment, use your existing network or authenticated reverse-proxy access boundary, preserving an administrator recovery path; blocking only the IdP login is not enough. Do not disable Pulse authentication, delete session/configuration files or restart the service as a substitute for verified revocation.

📚 Provider Examples

Authentik

• Type: OAuth2/OpenID (Confidential)
• Redirect URI: the exact Callback / Redirect URL copied from the saved Pulse provider card.
• Signing Key: Must use RS256 (create a certificate/key pair if needed).
• Issuer URL: https://auth.example.com/application/o/pulse/

Keycloak

• Client ID: pulse
• Access Type: Confidential
• Valid Redirect URIs: the exact Callback / Redirect URL copied from the saved Pulse provider card, without a wildcard.
• Issuer URL: https://keycloak.example.com/realms/myrealm

Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD)

Prepare the Entra app registration and client credentials first, then save the Pulse provider with its access restrictions as in Quick Start. Finally register the callback copied from that saved provider card. Do not use dummy client details or a guessed provider ID to break the setup order.

In the Entra admin center:

1. App registrations → New registration: give it a name (e.g. Pulse SSO) and choose Accounts in this organizational directory only (Single tenant).
2. Certificates & secrets → New client secret: copy the secret Value (not the Secret ID) — it is only shown once. Keep it private for Pulse's HTTPS form.
3. Token configuration → Add groups claim: select Groups assigned to the application, expand ID, and choose Group ID.
4. Enterprise applications → (your app) → Properties: set Assignment required? to Yes, so only assigned users and groups can sign in.
5. Enterprise applications → (your app) → Users and groups: assign the security group (e.g. Pulse-Admins) and copy its Object ID — a GUID like a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-123456789abc.

In Pulse:

• Issuer URL: https://login.microsoftonline.com/<tenant-id>/v2.0
• Client ID: the app registration's Application (client) ID.
• Client Secret: the secret value from step 2.
• Redirect URL: normally leave the override empty; save to obtain the actual callback from the provider card. The bare /api/oidc/callback is a v5 compatibility path. It is mapped to the legacy (v5-migrated or env-configured) provider; if that provider is not enabled, Pulse instead serves the provider whose login started from it (recovered from the pending login state). Don't use it as the redirect URI for a new provider.
• Scopes: exactly openid profile email. Do not add groups. Entra has no groups scope and fails the whole authorization request with AADSTS650053; group membership arrives in the ID token from the Token configuration step, not from a scope.
• Groups Claim: groups
• Allowed Groups: the group's Object ID (GUID), not its display name.
• Group Role Mappings: <guid>=admin. Keying on the Object ID means the mapping survives a group rename in Entra.

Complete the redirect registration before signing in: In Entra, Authentication → Add a platform → Web, paste the exact Callback / Redirect URL from the saved Pulse card and tick ID tokens. It must match exactly; do not use a wildcard, guessed ID or compatibility callback. Then follow the separate-session login and permission checks in Quick Start.

Warning — group overage: if a user belongs to more groups than Entra will fit in a token, Entra omits the groups claim entirely and sends a _claim_names / _claim_sources overage marker pointing at Microsoft Graph instead. Pulse does not follow that marker, so it sees the user as having no groups — and because a configured group-role mapping is authoritative, that login clears the user's role assignments instead of leaving them alone. Selecting Groups assigned to the application rather than Security groups in Token configuration keeps the claim small and avoids the overage. If the token still carries every security group after that, check the app registration Manifest: groupMembershipClaims must be exactly "ApplicationGroup". A value like "SecurityGroup, ApplicationGroup" (left over from an earlier Token configuration choice) keeps emitting all security groups no matter what Assignment required is set to, so edit the manifest to drop SecurityGroup.

Note

: Plain SSO login, Allowed Groups gating, and group mapping to built-in roles work on every plan. Creating custom roles and manually managing user assignments require Pro RBAC.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
invalid_id_token	Compare the configured issuer with the IdP issuer locally; use the existing redacted error, not a token dump or newly enabled Debug logs.
unexpected signature algorithm "HS256"	Your IdP is signing with HS256. Configure it to use RS256.
Redirect Loop	Check X-Forwarded-Proto header (must be https) and cookie settings.
Self-Signed Certs	The SSO provider form in Settings has no CA Bundle field. Set oidc.caBundle on the provider through the SSO provider API (/api/security/sso/providers) to a host path readable by Pulse (e.g. /etc/ssl/certs/oidc-ca.pem mounted into the container). For a provider configured with the legacy OIDC_ENABLED environment variables, set OIDC_CA_BUNDLE instead (see Configuration).

Safe diagnosis

Start with the existing login error, its time, the provider type and whether the failure is at the IdP, callback, login restriction or Pulse permission check. Use the configured callback URL and claim names locally; do not paste a full IdP response or token to diagnose a missing group. A working login does not prove that the user has the intended Pulse role.

Review existing server and IdP logs privately. Do not enable Debug or restart Pulse solely to fill in a report; debug logs can contain identity and claim details. Share only a locally reviewed, redacted error and the relevant claim names or consistent group aliases. Keep client secrets, authorization codes, ID/access/refresh tokens, cookies, email addresses, full callback query strings, HAR exports and “Copy as cURL” output private. Never disable TLS verification or access restrictions as a diagnostic shortcut.