implementing-scalekit-fastapi-auth

name	implementing-scalekit-fastapi-auth
description	Guides implementation of Scalekit OIDC/OAuth2 authentication and authorization in an existing FastAPI project. Use when the user wants to add Scalekit login, SSO, token management, session handling, or permission-based route protection to a FastAPI app.

Scalekit Auth for FastAPI

Reference implementation: scalekit-inc/scalekit-fastapi-auth-example

Step 1 — Install dependencies

pip install scalekit-sdk python-dotenv pydantic-settings starlette

Add to requirements.txt:

scalekit-sdk>=0.1.0
python-dotenv
pydantic-settings
starlette

---

Step 2 — Environment variables

Create .env (never commit this):

SCALEKIT_ENV_URL=https://your-env.scalekit.com
SCALEKIT_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
SCALEKIT_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
SCALEKIT_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:8000/auth/callback
SCALEKIT_SCOPES=openid profile email offline_access
SECRET_KEY=change-me-in-production
DEBUG=True

offline_access scope is required to receive a refresh_token.

---

Step 3 — Config (app/config.py)

import os
from typing import List
from pydantic_settings import BaseSettings
from dotenv import load_dotenv

load_dotenv()

class Settings(BaseSettings):
    scalekit_env_url: str = os.getenv('SCALEKIT_ENV_URL', '')
    scalekit_client_id: str = os.getenv('SCALEKIT_CLIENT_ID', '')
    scalekit_client_secret: str = os.getenv('SCALEKIT_CLIENT_SECRET', '')
    scalekit_redirect_uri: str = os.getenv('SCALEKIT_REDIRECT_URI', 'http://localhost:8000/auth/callback')
    scalekit_scopes: List[str] = os.getenv('SCALEKIT_SCOPES', 'openid profile email offline_access').split()
    debug: bool = os.getenv('DEBUG', 'True') == 'True'
    secret_key: str = os.getenv('SECRET_KEY', 'change-me')
    session_max_age: int = 3600

settings = Settings()

---

Step 4 — Scalekit client wrapper (app/scalekit_client.py)

import logging
from functools import lru_cache
from scalekit import ScalekitClient as _ScalekitClient
from app.config import settings

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

class ScalekitClientWrapper:
    def __init__(self):
        self._client = _ScalekitClient(
            env_url=settings.scalekit_env_url,
            client_id=settings.scalekit_client_id,
            client_secret=settings.scalekit_client_secret,
        )

    def get_authorization_url(self, state: str) -> str:
        return self._client.get_authorization_url(
            redirect_uri=settings.scalekit_redirect_uri,
            scopes=settings.scalekit_scopes,
            state=state,
        )

    def exchange_code_for_tokens(self, code: str) -> dict:
        return self._client.authenticate_with_code(
            code=code,
            redirect_uri=settings.scalekit_redirect_uri,
        )

    def get_user_info(self, access_token: str) -> dict:
        return self._client.get_user_info(access_token)

    def validate_token_and_get_claims(self, access_token: str) -> dict:
        return self._client.validate_access_token(access_token)

    def refresh_access_token(self, refresh_token: str) -> dict:
        return self._client.refresh_token(refresh_token)

    def has_permission(self, access_token: str, permission: str) -> bool:
        try:
            claims = self.validate_token_and_get_claims(access_token)
            permissions = (
                claims.get('permissions', []) or
                claims.get('https://scalekit.com/permissions', [])
            )
            return permission in permissions
        except Exception:
            return False

    def logout(self, access_token: str) -> str:
        return self._client.get_logout_url(
            access_token=access_token,
            post_logout_redirect_uri=settings.scalekit_redirect_uri.replace('/auth/callback', '/'),
        )

@lru_cache(maxsize=1)
def scalekit_client() -> ScalekitClientWrapper:
    return ScalekitClientWrapper()

---

Step 5 — FastAPI dependencies (app/dependencies.py)

from typing import Union
from fastapi import HTTPException, Request, status
from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse
from app.scalekit_client import scalekit_client

def require_login(request: Request) -> Union[dict, RedirectResponse]:
    user = request.session.get('scalekit_user')
    if not user:
        return RedirectResponse(url=f"/login?next={request.url.path}", status_code=302)
    return user

def require_permission(permission: str):
    def checker(request: Request) -> Union[dict, RedirectResponse]:
        user = request.session.get('scalekit_user')
        if not user:
            return RedirectResponse(url=f"/login?next={request.url.path}", status_code=302)
        token_data = request.session.get('scalekit_tokens', {})
        access_token = token_data.get('access_token')
        if not access_token:
            raise HTTPException(status_code=403, detail="No access token")
        client = scalekit_client()
        if not client.has_permission(access_token, permission):
            raise HTTPException(status_code=403, detail=f"Permission '{permission}' required")
        return user
    return checker

---

Step 6 — Token refresh middleware (app/middleware.py)

Auto-refreshes the access token 5 minutes before expiry on every request.

import logging
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from starlette.middleware.base import BaseHTTPMiddleware
from starlette.requests import Request

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
REFRESH_BEFORE_SECONDS = 300  # 5 minutes

class ScalekitTokenRefreshMiddleware(BaseHTTPMiddleware):
    async def dispatch(self, request: Request, call_next):
        token_data = request.session.get('scalekit_tokens', {})
        if token_data.get('access_token') and token_data.get('refresh_token'):
            try:
                expires_at_str = token_data.get('expires_at')
                if expires_at_str:
                    expires_at = datetime.fromisoformat(expires_at_str.replace('Z', '+00:00'))
                    now = datetime.now()
                    if expires_at.tzinfo:
                        from datetime import timezone
                        now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
                    if (expires_at - now).total_seconds() < REFRESH_BEFORE_SECONDS:
                        from app.scalekit_client import scalekit_client
                        client = scalekit_client()
                        new_tokens = client.refresh_access_token(token_data['refresh_token'])
                        expires_in = new_tokens.get('expires_in', 3600)
                        request.session['scalekit_tokens'] = {
                            'access_token': new_tokens.get('access_token'),
                            'refresh_token': new_tokens.get('refresh_token', token_data['refresh_token']),
                            'id_token': new_tokens.get('id_token', token_data.get('id_token')),
                            'expires_at': (datetime.now() + timedelta(seconds=expires_in)).isoformat(),
                            'expires_in': expires_in,
                        }
            except Exception as e:
                logger.warning(f"Token refresh failed in middleware: {e}")
        return await call_next(request)

---

Step 7 — Auth routes (app/routes.py)

import secrets
from datetime import datetime, timedelta
from fastapi import APIRouter, Request, Depends
from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse, HTMLResponse
from app.scalekit_client import scalekit_client
from app.dependencies import require_login, require_permission

router = APIRouter()

@router.get("/login")
async def login(request: Request):
    if request.session.get('scalekit_user'):
        return RedirectResponse(url="/dashboard")
    state = secrets.token_urlsafe(32)
    request.session['oauth_state'] = state
    client = scalekit_client()
    auth_url = client.get_authorization_url(state=state)
    return RedirectResponse(url=auth_url)

@router.get("/auth/callback")
async def callback(request: Request):
    # CSRF check
    state = request.query_params.get('state')
    if state != request.session.pop('oauth_state', None):
        return HTMLResponse("Invalid state", status_code=400)

    code = request.query_params.get('code')
    error = request.query_params.get('error')
    if error or not code:
        return HTMLResponse(f"Auth error: {error or 'no code'}", status_code=400)

    client = scalekit_client()
    token_response = client.exchange_code_for_tokens(code)

    access_token = token_response.get('access_token') or token_response.get('accessToken')
    refresh_token = token_response.get('refresh_token') or token_response.get('refreshToken')
    id_token = token_response.get('id_token') or token_response.get('idToken')
    expires_in = token_response.get('expires_in') or token_response.get('expiresIn') or 3600
    user_obj = token_response.get('user', {})

    request.session['scalekit_user'] = {
        'sub': user_obj.get('id'),
        'email': user_obj.get('email'),
        'name': user_obj.get('name') or f"{user_obj.get('givenName','')} {user_obj.get('familyName','')}".strip(),
        'given_name': user_obj.get('givenName'),
        'family_name': user_obj.get('familyName'),
    }
    request.session['scalekit_tokens'] = {
        'access_token': access_token,
        'refresh_token': refresh_token,
        'id_token': id_token,
        'expires_at': (datetime.now() + timedelta(seconds=expires_in)).isoformat(),
        'expires_in': expires_in,
    }

    # Store roles and permissions for route protection
    try:
        user_info = client.get_user_info(access_token)
        request.session['scalekit_roles'] = user_info.get('roles', [])
        request.session['scalekit_permissions'] = (
            user_info.get('permissions', []) or
            user_info.get('https://scalekit.com/permissions', [])
        )
    except Exception:
        pass

    return RedirectResponse(url="/dashboard", status_code=302)

@router.post("/logout")
async def logout(request: Request):
    token_data = request.session.get('scalekit_tokens', {})
    access_token = token_data.get('access_token')
    request.session.clear()
    if access_token:
        try:
            client = scalekit_client()
            logout_url = client.logout(access_token)
            return RedirectResponse(url=logout_url, status_code=302)
        except Exception:
            pass
    return RedirectResponse(url="/", status_code=302)

@router.get("/dashboard")
async def dashboard(request: Request, user: dict = Depends(require_login)):
    return {"user": user}

@router.get("/admin/settings")
async def admin_settings(request: Request, user: dict = Depends(require_permission('organization:settings'))):
    return {"message": "You have organization:settings permission"}

---

Step 8 — Wire up main.py

Middleware registration order is critical. In Starlette, middleware added later wraps earlier ones and executes first.

from fastapi import FastAPI
from fastapi.middleware.gzip import GZipMiddleware
from starlette.middleware.sessions import SessionMiddleware
from app.config import settings
from app.middleware import ScalekitTokenRefreshMiddleware
from app.routes import router

app = FastAPI()

# Order matters: add ScalekitTokenRefreshMiddleware first (runs after SessionMiddleware)
app.add_middleware(ScalekitTokenRefreshMiddleware)
# SessionMiddleware runs before token refresh so session data is available
app.add_middleware(
    SessionMiddleware,
    secret_key=settings.secret_key,
    max_age=settings.session_max_age,
    same_site='lax',
    https_only=False,  # Set True in production with HTTPS
)
app.add_middleware(GZipMiddleware, minimum_size=1000)

app.include_router(router)

---

Session data structure

Key	Contents
scalekit_user	sub, email, name, given_name, family_name
scalekit_tokens	access_token, refresh_token, id_token, expires_at, expires_in
scalekit_roles	["admin", ...]
scalekit_permissions	["organization:settings", ...]

---

Common patterns

Read current user in any route:

user = request.session.get('scalekit_user', {})

Read access token:

token_data = request.session.get('scalekit_tokens', {})
access_token = token_data.get('access_token')

Check a permission ad-hoc:

client = scalekit_client()
if client.has_permission(access_token, 'reports:read'):
    ...

Decode JWT claims without validation (e.g. for expiry):

import base64, json
payload = access_token.split('.')[1]
payload += '=' * (4 - len(payload) % 4)
claims = json.loads(base64.urlsafe_b64decode(payload))

---

Checklist

• .env populated with all 5 Scalekit env vars
• SCALEKIT_REDIRECT_URI matches the redirect URI registered in Scalekit dashboard
• offline_access in scopes (for refresh token)
• SessionMiddleware added after ScalekitTokenRefreshMiddleware in main.py
• SECRET_KEY is a strong random string in production
• https_only=True on SessionMiddleware in production
• CSRF state check in /auth/callback is present

Tactics

SameSite=Lax — never Strict

SessionMiddleware same_site must be 'lax', not 'strict'. The OAuth callback is a cross-site redirect from Scalekit back to your app — 'strict' drops the session cookie on that redirect so oauth_state is missing and the CSRF check fails.

CORS for browser clients

If a JavaScript frontend calls the FastAPI backend, add CORS before SessionMiddleware:

from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware

app.add_middleware(CORSMiddleware,
    allow_origins=["http://localhost:3000"],  # explicit origin required
    allow_credentials=True,                  # required for session cookies
    allow_methods=["*"],
    allow_headers=["*"],
)

⚠️ allow_origins=["*"] does not work with allow_credentials=True. Always specify explicit origins.

AJAX: 401 instead of redirect

Browser clients making AJAX calls expect 401, not a 302 redirect. Detect JSON requests in require_login:

def require_login(request: Request):
    user = request.session.get('scalekit_user')
    if not user:
        if 'application/json' in request.headers.get('Accept', ''):
            raise HTTPException(status_code=401, detail="Authentication required")
        return RedirectResponse(url=f"/login?next={request.url.path}", status_code=302)
    return user

Fix: clear session on invalid_grant in middleware

The middleware currently only logs invalid_grant. It should also clear the session to force re-login:

except Exception as e:
    logger.warning(f"Token refresh failed in middleware: {e}")
    if 'invalid_grant' in str(e).lower():
        request.session.clear()  # force re-login on next request

Deep link preservation

@router.get("/login")
async def login(request: Request, next: str = "/dashboard"):
    state = secrets.token_urlsafe(32)
    request.session['oauth_state'] = state
    request.session['next'] = next       # preserve intended URL

@router.get("/auth/callback")
async def callback(request: Request):
    ...
    next_url = request.session.pop('next', '/dashboard')
    if not next_url.startswith('/'):     # prevent open redirect
        next_url = '/dashboard'
    return RedirectResponse(url=next_url, status_code=302)

Cache-Control: no-store on protected responses

from fastapi import Response

@router.get("/dashboard")
async def dashboard(request: Request, response: Response, user: dict = Depends(require_login)):
    response.headers["Cache-Control"] = "no-store"
    return {"user": user}

Prevents the browser from serving a cached authenticated page after logout via the back button.