Web3 Token

Web3 Token is a new way to authenticate users. A replacement for JWT in hybrid dApps. See this article for more info (later I'll add this info to this readme).

Install

With web3 package:

$ npm i web3-token web3

or with ethers package:

$ npm i web3-token ethers

Example usage (Client side)

Using Web3 package:

import Web3 from 'web3';
import Web3Token from 'web3-token';

// Connection to MetaMask wallet
const web3 = new Web3(ethereum);
await ethereum.request({ method: 'eth_requestAccounts'});

// getting address from which we will sign message
const address = (await web3.eth.getAccounts())[0];

// generating a token with 1 day of expiration time
const token = await Web3Token.sign(msg => web3.eth.personal.sign(msg, address), '1d');

// attaching token to authorization header ... for example

Using Ethers package:

import { ethers } from "ethers";
import Web3Token from 'web3-token';

// Connection to MetaMask wallet
const provider = new ethers.providers.Web3Provider(window.ethereum);
const signer = provider.getSigner();

// generating a token with 1 day of expiration time
const token = await Web3Token.sign(async msg => await signer.signMessage(msg), '1d');

// attaching token to authorization header ... for example

Example usage (Server side)

const Web3Token = require('web3-token');

// getting token from authorization header ... for example
const token = req.headers['Authorization']

const { address, body } = await Web3Token.verify(token);

// now you can find that user by his address 
// (better to do it case insensitive)
req.user = await User.findOne({ address });

Handle exceptions

const generateToken = async () => {
  if (!window.ethereum) {
    return console.log('Please install and activate the metamask extension!');
  }

  const provider = new ethers.providers.Web3Provider(window.ethereum);
  const signer = provider.getSigner();

  try {
    return await Web3Token.sign(async msg => {
      try {
        return await signer.signMessage(msg);
      }
      catch (err) {
        const { reason } = err;
        if (reason === "unknown account #0") {
          return console.log('Have you unlocked metamask and are connected to this page?')
        }

        console.log(err.toString());
      }
    }, '1d');
  }
  catch (err) {
    if (/returns a signature/.test(err.toString())) {
      return;
    }
    console.log(err.toString());
  }
}

API

Argument	Name	Description	Required	Example
1	`signer`	A function that returns a promise with signature string eg: web3.personal.sign(`data`, `address`)	`required`	`(body) => web3.personal.sign(body, 0x23..1234)`
2	`expire_in`	A string that represents a time span (see ms module) or a number of milliseconds	`optional` (default: `1d`)	`1 day`
3	`body`	An object that will be appended to a signature's body. Can only contain string values. Can be used for some custom data.	`optional`	`{ 'Custom-data': 'some custom data' }`

gpalrepo/web3-token

Web3 Token

Install

Example usage (Client side)

Example usage (Server side)

Handle exceptions

API

License