Capabilities

Porta is a full-featured, multi-tenant OpenID Connect (OIDC) provider designed for organizations that need enterprise-grade identity management with complete control over the authentication experience.

Multi-Tenant OIDC

Porta is multi-tenant from the ground up. Every organization gets its own isolated OIDC endpoints, user pool, and configuration — all from a single deployment.

Capability	Description
Path-based tenancy	Each org gets its own OIDC namespace: /{orgSlug}/.well-known/openid-configuration
Per-org user pools	Users belong to a specific organization; the same email can exist in different orgs
Per-org branding	Logo, favicon, primary color, company name, and custom CSS — all configurable via API
Per-org login methods	Choose which authentication methods are available per organization
Per-org 2FA policy	Enforce two-factor authentication with configurable policies
Organization lifecycle	Active → Suspended → Archived status transitions with audit logging

OIDC Standards Compliance

Built on the battle-tested node-oidc-provider library, Porta supports:

• Authorization Code + PKCE — The recommended flow for all client types
• Client Credentials — Machine-to-machine authentication
• Refresh Tokens — Long-lived sessions with configurable TTLs
• Discovery — Standard /.well-known/openid-configuration per organization
• JWKS — Public key endpoint for token verification
• UserInfo — Standard claims endpoint
• Token Revocation and Introspection
• End Session — RP-initiated logout

Intentional Omission

Porta does not support the Implicit flow. This is by design — the Authorization Code + PKCE flow is more secure and recommended by current OAuth 2.0 best practices.

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Flexible Authentication

Porta supports multiple authentication methods that can be mixed and matched per organization and even per client.

Login Methods

Method	Description
Password	Traditional email + password with Argon2id hashing and NIST SP 800-63B compliant validation
Magic Link	Passwordless email-based authentication with secure one-time tokens

Login methods are configured at two levels:

1. Organization default — Sets the baseline for all clients in the organization
2. Per-client override — Individual clients can restrict or expand available methods

Organization default: [password, magic_link]
├── Client A: inherits → [password, magic_link]
├── Client B: override → [password]           # password only
└── Client C: override → [magic_link]         # magic link only

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)

Porta provides three 2FA methods that can be combined:

Method	Description
Email OTP	6-digit code sent via email, configurable expiry
TOTP	Authenticator app support (Google Authenticator, Authy, etc.) with QR code setup
Recovery Codes	One-time backup codes for account recovery, Argon2id hashed

2FA can be enforced per-organization with policies:

• Optional — Users choose whether to enable 2FA
• Encouraged — Users are prompted but not required
• Required — All users must configure 2FA

See Authentication Modes for the full deep dive.

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Customizable Login UI

Every user-facing page in Porta — login, consent, password reset, magic link, 2FA, invitations, and all emails — is fully customizable.

Zero-Code Branding (API-Driven)

Without touching any templates, you can customize per organization via the Admin API or CLI:

Setting	Effect
Logo URL	Displayed in page headers and email headers
Favicon URL	Browser tab icon
Primary Color	Buttons, links, and accent colors (CSS --primary variable)
Company Name	Page titles, headers, footers, and email signatures
Custom CSS	Up to 10KB of raw CSS injected into every page (full style override)

# Set branding via CLI
porta org branding <org-id> \
  --logo-url "https://example.com/logo.png" \
  --primary-color "#E11D48" \
  --company-name "Acme Corp"

Full Template Override

For complete UI control, Porta uses Handlebars templates with a clear structure:

templates/default/
├── layouts/main.hbs          # Base HTML layout (head, body wrapper)
├── pages/                     # Login, consent, password reset, 2FA, etc.
│   ├── login.hbs
│   ├── consent.hbs
│   ├── forgot-password.hbs
│   ├── reset-password.hbs
│   ├── magic-link-sent.hbs
│   ├── two-factor-verify.hbs
│   └── ... (12 pages total)
├── partials/                  # Reusable components (header, footer, flash)
├── emails/                    # HTML + plain-text email templates
│   ├── magic-link.hbs
│   ├── password-reset.hbs
│   ├── invitation.hbs
│   ├── otp-code.hbs
│   └── ... (6 email types × 2 formats)

Mount your own templates via Docker volume and override any or all pages:

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  porta:
    image: blendsdk/porta:latest
    volumes:
      - ./my-templates:/app/templates/default

See the Custom UI Tutorial for a complete step-by-step guide.

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RBAC & Custom Claims

Role-Based Access Control

Porta provides a full RBAC system scoped per application:

• Roles — Named collections of permissions (e.g., admin, editor, viewer)
• Permissions — Granular actions (e.g., users:read, users:write, reports:export)
• Role-Permission Mappings — Assign permissions to roles
• User-Role Assignments — Assign roles to users per organization

Roles and permissions are included in OIDC tokens, so your applications can make authorization decisions without additional API calls:

{
  "sub": "user-uuid",
  "roles": ["admin", "editor"],
  "permissions": ["users:read", "users:write", "reports:export"]
}

Custom Claims

Define application-specific claims with type validation:

Claim Type	Example
string	department: "Engineering"
number	employee_id: 42
boolean	is_manager: true
string[]	teams: ["frontend", "platform"]

Custom claims are injected into OIDC tokens alongside standard claims, giving your applications rich user context without extra API calls.

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Admin Tooling

CLI (porta)

A comprehensive command-line tool for managing every aspect of Porta:

Command	Description
porta init	Bootstrap the admin system (first-time setup)
porta login / logout / whoami	OIDC-based CLI authentication
porta org	Create, list, update, suspend, archive organizations + branding
porta app	Manage applications, modules, roles, permissions, claims
porta client	Create clients, manage secrets, configure login methods
porta user	Full user lifecycle, roles, claims, 2FA management
porta keys	ES256 signing key management (list, generate, rotate)
porta config	System configuration management
porta audit	View audit logs with filtering
porta migrate	Database migration management

REST Admin API

Every CLI operation is backed by a JWT-authenticated REST API at /api/admin/*:

• 10 Organization endpoints — CRUD, status transitions, branding
• 11 Application endpoints — CRUD, modules
• 10 Client endpoints — CRUD, secrets, login methods
• 13 User endpoints — CRUD, status transitions, passwords, 2FA
• 9 Role endpoints — CRUD, permission assignment
• 6 Permission endpoints — CRUD
• 9 Custom Claim endpoints — Definitions and user values
• Plus: config, keys, audit log endpoints

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Security & Compliance

Feature	Implementation
Token Signing	ES256 (ECDSA P-256) — keys auto-generated, stored as PEM in database
Password Hashing	Argon2id with NIST SP 800-63B compliant validation
Client Secrets	Argon2id hashed with SHA-256 pre-hash for length normalization
PKCE	Required for public clients, supported for all
CSRF Protection	Token-based CSRF on all form submissions
Rate Limiting	Redis-backed per-IP limiting: token (30/5min), admin API (60/60s), introspection (100/60s), login interactions
Account Lockout	Auto-lock after N failed logins (default: 5), auto-unlock after cooldown (default: 15 min)
Audit Logging	Every admin operation and security event logged with actor, target, metadata
Audit Retention	Configurable audit_retention_days with CLI/API cleanup command
CORS	Configurable per OIDC endpoint
Session Security	Short-lived sessions in Redis with signed cookies
Key Rotation	Active/retired/revoked key lifecycle with JWKS endpoint
2FA Secret Encryption	AES-256-GCM for TOTP secrets at rest
Recovery Code Hashing	Argon2id for recovery codes
Secure Headers	CSP, X-Frame-Options, X-Content-Type-Options on all responses
No Information Leakage	Root page returns neutral content; no product/vendor identification
PII Redaction	Sensitive fields (password, token, cookie, client_secret) redacted from all log output
Config Safety	Production startup validation — rejects dev placeholders, weak keys, insecure URLs (9 rules)
Body Size Limits	100 KB limit on JSON, form, and text request bodies
Graceful Shutdown	SIGTERM/SIGINT → drain connections → close DB/Redis → 10s kill switch
GDPR Compliance	Data export (Article 20) and data purge (Article 17) via API and CLI
Prometheus Metrics	Optional GET /metrics endpoint with prom-client (counter, default Node.js metrics)
Readiness Probe	GET /ready with DB + Redis connectivity check (2s timeout)

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Infrastructure

Component	Technology
Runtime	Node.js ≥ 22
Framework	Koa (required for node-oidc-provider compatibility)
Language	TypeScript (strict mode)
Database	PostgreSQL 16
Cache/Sessions	Redis 7
OIDC Engine	node-oidc-provider 9.x
Deployment	Docker image, Docker Compose, or standalone

Hybrid Storage Architecture

Porta uses a hybrid adapter strategy for optimal performance:

Data Type	Storage	Reason
Sessions, Interactions, Auth Codes	Redis	Ephemeral, high-speed, auto-expiry
Access Tokens, Refresh Tokens, Grants	PostgreSQL	Durable, queryable, audit trail
Organizations, Users, Clients, Roles	PostgreSQL	Primary data store
Tenant resolution, RBAC lookups	Redis cache	Performance with graceful degradation

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At a Glance

Capability	Porta
Multi-tenant	✅ Path-based org isolation
OIDC compliant	✅ Authorization Code + PKCE, Client Credentials, Refresh
Password login	✅ Argon2id + NIST validation
Magic link login	✅ Secure one-time email tokens
2FA — Email OTP	✅ Configurable expiry
2FA — TOTP	✅ Authenticator app with QR setup
2FA — Recovery codes	✅ Argon2id hashed backup codes
Per-org login methods	✅ Default + override per client
Account lockout	✅ Auto-lock/unlock with configurable thresholds
Custom login UI	✅ Handlebars templates + Docker volume mount
Per-org branding (API)	✅ Logo, colors, CSS, company name
Custom email templates	✅ HTML + plain text
RBAC	✅ Roles + permissions per application
Custom claims	✅ Type-validated, injected into tokens
Admin CLI	✅ 14+ commands
Admin REST API	✅ JWT-authenticated, 70+ endpoints
Audit logging	✅ All operations logged with configurable retention
Rate limiting	✅ Per-IP on token, admin API, introspection, login
Key rotation	✅ ES256 with lifecycle management
GDPR compliance	✅ Data export (Article 20) + purge (Article 17)
Prometheus metrics	✅ Optional /metrics endpoint
Readiness probe	✅ GET /ready with DB + Redis check
Config safety	✅ Production startup validation (9 rules)
PII redaction	✅ Sensitive fields redacted from logs
Graceful shutdown	✅ SIGTERM drain with 10s kill switch
i18n	✅ Locale-based translations
Docker support	✅ Production-ready image