Authentication

Every API call must contain an access token to authorize access to your project’s data. This is sent in every API request. This article explains how you get an access token for your requests.

Contents

Participant Access Tokens vs Service Access Tokens
Getting a Service Access Token
- Code Examples
Understanding Public Key Authentication
Creating and Signing JWT Assertions
- Header
- Claims
- Payload
Sending a Token Request
Troubleshooting Request Errors
Using an Access Token

Participant Access Tokens vs Service Access Tokens

MyDataHelps has two different types of access tokens:

Service access tokens are associated with a service account. Server-to-server applications use them with the REST API to access project resources from an administration standpoint.
Participant access tokens are associated with a single participant. Client applications use them with the SDK to access data for a single participant.

This guide deals with service access tokens. See Participant Access Tokens for information about participant-based access.

Getting a Service Access Token

The basic steps for getting an service access token are:

Create a JSON Web Token (JWT) Assertion with details about your application and access request.
Sign the JWT with your private key.
Send a token request containing the JWT to the MyDataHelps server.
The server will use the public key to verify the validity of the request and issue an access token.
You can use that token in multiple API calls until it expires.

These steps are described in more detail below.

Note
Before you can get an access token, you must first create a service account and associate it with a public key. See Service Accounts for details.

Code Examples

For examples of how to get a service account token (and generally access the API), check out one of our quickstart apps:

Node.JS
Python
Java
C# coming soon

Understanding Public Key Authentication

Service accounts do not have passwords, but instead use a highly secure method for authenticating automated server-to-server applications called public key authentication. This mechanism is based on industry standards for data security, such as FHIR SMART Backend Services Authorization. In public key authentication, the server (MyDataHelps) uses the public key associated with your service account to confirm that your application has the correct private key.

Warning
Guard your private keys carefully. With your private key, anyone could access, manipulate, and even delete your project’s data. Inventory your private keys, change them regularly (as you would a password), and never embed them within source code or disclose them.

Creating and Signing JWT Assertions

When requesting an access token, your application will create a JSON Web Token Assertion (JWT Assertion) specifying information about the request.

Header

The first part of this JWT Assertion is the header, which tells the server about the format of the assertion. Header fields include:

Field	Meaning	Value
alg	Algorithm	`RS256`
typ	Type	`JWT`

Claims

Next are the claims, which contain information about the system making the request and the request itself. Claim fields include:

Field	Meaning	Value
iss	Issuer	Your service account name (e.g., MyDataHelps.1234.test).
sub	Subject	Same as Issuer.
aud	Audience	`https://mydatahelps.org/identityserver/connect/token`
exp	Expiration	A timestamp (seconds since the Unix epoch) representing when the JWT token expires.
jti	Identifier	A unique identifier for each request.

This claim is then signed using the private key that only your application knows.

Payload

The signed assertion is bundled in with a few other fields in a package called the JWT payload.

Field	Meaning	Value
scope	The scope of access being requested.	`api`
grant_type	The type of access being requested.	`client_credentials`
client_assertion_type	Defines the format of the assertion.	`urn:ietf:params:oauth:client-assertion-type:jwt-bearer`
client_assertion	The assertion itself.	Your signed assertion.

Finally the JWT payload and header are sent to the MyDataHelps server. The server uses the public key associated with your service account to verify the validity of the signature, and thus the identity of your application.

Sending a Token Request

Once you have a signed JWT, you can send it to the MyDataHelps server’s token request URL:

POST https://mydatahelps.org/identityserver/connect/token

Note
Be sure to use the application/x-www-form-urlencoded content type. The payload must be posted as form parameters, not in the body data as JSON.

You can find sample code for making a token request in API Quickstart Apps. If the request is successful, the server’s response will include the following data:

Field	Meaning
access_token	The alphanumeric access token.
expires_in	When the token expires (in seconds).
token_type	`Bearer`

Troubleshooting Request Errors

If the request is unsuccessful, you will get an HTTP error code, typically a “400 - Bad Request” error. Here are some common reasons for a token request to fail:

An invalid service account name. Be sure to use the full name, including the “MyDataHelps” prefix (e.g., MyDataHelps.1234.test).
The wrong private key. Be sure you are using the correct public/private key pair associated with the service account.
The incorrect signing algorithm. Only RS256 is supported.
The wrong request format. Be sure that you are sending the payload as form parameters, not body data.
An invalid JWT Assertion. Double-check that all the fields are provided, and that the ones with specified values have those exact values.

Using an Access Token

After receiving the access token, you will need to include it in every API call. You can use the same token in multiple API calls until the token expires.

In your HTTP request, add a header named “Authorization” containing the value “Bearer YOUR_TOKEN”.