django rest authemail

A RESTful API for user signup and authentication using email addresses.

316

Python

django-rest-authemail

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django-rest-authemail is a Django/Python application that provides a RESTful API interface for user signup and authentication. Email addresses are used for authentication, rather than usernames. Because the authentication user model is based on Django’s AbstractBaseUser and is itself abstract, the model can be extended without the need for additional database tables. Token authentication allows the API to be accessed from a variety of front ends, including Django, React and AngularJS clients, and iOS and Android mobile apps.

Features

API endpoints for signup, signup email verification, login, logout, password reset, password reset verification, password change, email change, and user detail.
Extensible abstract user model.
Perform password confirmation and other client-side validation on the front end for a better user experience.
Token authentication.
User models in the admin interface include inlines for signup and password reset codes.
An example project is included and contains example UI templates.
Version 2.0.5 and beyond
- Supports and tested with Python 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8.
- Supports and tested with Django 2.2.8, 2.2.13, 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2.
- Supports and tested with Django REST Framework 3.11.2 and 3.12.4.
Version 1.10.2
- Supports and tested with Python 3.6 and 3.7.
- Supports and tested with Django 1.11.17, 2.0, and 2.1.1.
- Supports and tested with Django REST Framework 3.7.1 and 3.11.0.

Installation

django-rest-authemail is available on the Python Package Index (PyPI) at https://pypi.python.org/pypi/django-rest-authemail.

Install django-rest-authemail using one of the following techniques.

Use pip. Note that particular versions of Django and the Django REST Framework may be installed.

pip install django-rest-authemail

Download the .tar.gz file from PyPI and install it yourself.
Download the source from Github and install it yourself.

If you install it yourself, also install Django, the Django REST Framework, and requests.

Usage

Create a Django project, if you haven’t already. For example,

django-admin startproject mysite

In the settings.py file of your project, include rest_framework and rest_framework.authtoken in INSTALLED_APPS. Set the authentication scheme for the Django REST Framework to TokenAuthentication.

mysite/settings.py
----

INSTALLED_APPS = [
	...
	'rest_framework',
	'rest_framework.authtoken',
	...
]

REST_FRAMEWORK = {
	'DEFAULT_AUTHENTICATION_CLASSES': (
		'rest_framework.authentication.TokenAuthentication',
	)
}

Optionally, you may add an AUTH_EMAIL_VERIFICATION setting to specify whether to enable email verification for new users on account registration/signup. Setting this to False will automatically verify newly created users.

Create a Django application for your user data. For example,

python manage.py startapp accounts

In the models.py file of your application, extend EmailAbstractUser, add custom fields, and assign objects to EmailUserManager(). For example,

accounts/models.py
----

from django.db import models
from authemail.models import EmailUserManager, EmailAbstractUser

class MyUser(EmailAbstractUser):
	# Custom fields
	date_of_birth = models.DateField('Date of birth', null=True, blank=True)

	# Required
	objects = EmailUserManager()

In the settings.py file of your project, include authemail and your application in INSTALLED_APPS. Set AUTH_USER_MODEL to the class of your user model. For example,

mysite/settings.py
----

INSTALLED_APPS = [
	...
	'rest_framework',
	'rest_framework.authtoken',
	'authemail',
	'accounts',
	...
]

AUTH_USER_MODEL = 'accounts.MyUser'

In the admin.py file of your project, extend EmailUserAdmin to add your custom fields. For example,

mysite/admin.py
----

from django.contrib import admin
from django.contrib.auth import get_user_model
from authemail.admin import EmailUserAdmin

class MyUserAdmin(EmailUserAdmin):
	fieldsets = (
		(None, {'fields': ('email', 'password')}),
		('Personal Info', {'fields': ('first_name', 'last_name')}),
		('Permissions', {'fields': ('is_active', 'is_staff', 
									   'is_superuser', 'is_verified', 
									   'groups', 'user_permissions')}),
		('Important dates', {'fields': ('last_login', 'date_joined')}),
		('Custom info', {'fields': ('date_of_birth',)}),
	)

admin.site.unregister(get_user_model())
admin.site.register(get_user_model(), MyUserAdmin)

Create the database tables with Django’s makemigrations, migrate, and create a superuser with createsuperuser.

python manage.py makemigrations
python manage.py migrate
python manage.py createsuperuser

Check your setup by starting a Web server on your local machine:

python manage.py runserver

Direct your browser to the Django /admin and log in.

127.0.0.1:8000/admin

You should see Users, Tokens, Password reset codes, Signup codes, and Groups. If you click on Users, you should see your superuser account.

Add the authemail API endpoints to your project’s urls.py file. For example,

mysite/urls.py
----

from django.contrib import admin
from django.urls import include, path

urlpatterns = [
	path('admin/', admin.site.urls),

	path('api/accounts/', include('authemail.urls')),
]

When users signup or reset their password, they will be sent an email with a link and verification code. Include email settings as environment variables or in your project’s settings.py file. For example,

mysite/settings.py
----

# Email settings
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/topics/email/
# https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/3.1/ref/settings/#email-host

import os

EMAIL_FROM = os.environ.get('AUTHEMAIL_DEFAULT_EMAIL_FROM') or '<YOUR DEFAULT_EMAIL_FROM HERE>'
EMAIL_BCC = os.environ.get('AUTHEMAIL_DEFAULT_EMAIL_BCC') or '<YOUR DEFAULT_EMAIL_BCC HERE>'

EMAIL_HOST = os.environ.get('AUTHEMAIL_EMAIL_HOST') or 'smtp.gmail.com'
EMAIL_PORT = os.environ.get('AUTHEMAIL_EMAIL_PORT') or 587
EMAIL_HOST_USER = os.environ.get('AUTHEMAIL_EMAIL_HOST_USER') or '<YOUR EMAIL_HOST_USER HERE>'
EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD = os.environ.get('AUTHEMAIL_EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD') or '<YOUR EMAIL_HOST_PASSWORD HERE>'
EMAIL_USE_TLS = True
EMAIL_USE_SSL = False

Try out authemail API calls by firing up python and using the authemail wrapper methods (runserver should still be executing). For example,

python
>>> from authemail import wrapper
>>> account = wrapper.Authemail()
>>> first_name = 'Your first name'
>>> last_name = 'Your last name'
>>> email = '[email protected]'
>>> password = 'Your password'
>>> response = account.signup(first_name=first_name, last_name=last_name,
... email=email, password=password)

In the Django /admin, you should see a new user (not verified) and a new signup code. You should receive an email at [email protected]. Use the code in the email to verify your email address using the wrapper (normally, the link in the email would point to the front end, which would issue the signup verify request to the API):

>>> code = '7f31e7a515df266532df4e00e0cf1967a7de7d17'
>>> response = account.signup_verify(code=code)

In the Django /admin, the new user is now verified and the signup code is absent. The new user can now login and you can inspect the associated login token:

>>> response = account.login(email=email, password=password)
>>> account.token
'a84d062c1b60a36e6740eb60c6f9da8d1f709322'

You will find the same token for the user in the Token table in the Django /admin. Find out more information about the user (insert your token):

>>> token = 'a84d062c1b60a36e6740eb60c6f9da8d1f709322'
>>> response = account.users_me(token=token)
>>> response
{'id': 1, 'first_name': 'Your first name', 'last_name': 'Your last name', 'email': '[email protected]'}

Use the authentication token to logout:

>>> response = account.logout(token=token)
>>> response
{'success': 'User logged out.'}

Play with password reset and change!

Django REST Framework Browsable API

If you are having trouble getting your code to execute, or are just curious, try out the Django REST Framework Browsable API. If you type an authemail API endpoint into your browser, the Browsable API should appear (runserver should still be executing). For example,

127.0.0.1:8000/api/accounts/signup

Enter information in the HTML form fields of the Browsable API, e.g.:

signup_html_form here

Then click on POST. You will either receive an error message to help in your debugging, or, if your signup was successful:

signup_html_form_success here

Try out the other authemail API endpoints with the Django REST Framework Browsable API.

Front End Example Project

Make authemail API calls from front end code. To get started, follow the steps in theexample_project README.md. Enhance the Django code in the example_project or extend the concepts to React, AngularJS, iOS, and Android front ends.

When calling endpoints from the front end that require authentication (logout, password/change, and users/me), include the authorization token key in the HTTP header. For example,

Authorization: Token 9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b

Here’s an example using curl,

curl -X GET 'http://127.0.0.1:8000/api/accounts/logout/' \
     -H 'Authorization: Token 9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b'

Wrapper

A wrapper is available to access the Authemail API with Python code. First create an instance of the Authemail class, then call methods to access the API. There is a one-to-one mapping between the endpoints and instance methods. For example,

mysite/views.py
----

from authemail import wrapper

account = wrapper.Authemail()
response = account.signup(first_name=first_name, last_name=last_name,
	email=email, password=password)

if 'detail' in response:
	# Handle error condition
else:
	# Handle good response

See example_project/views.py for more sample usage.

Authemail API Endpoints

For the endpoints that follow, the base path is shown as /api/accounts. This path is for example purposes. It can be customized in your project’s urls.py file.

POST /api/accounts/signup

Call this endpoint to sign up a new user and send a verification email. Sample email templates are found in authemail/templates/authemail. To override the email templates, copy and modify the sample templates, or create your own, in your_app/templates/authemail.

Your front end should handle password confirmation, and if desired, require the visitor to input their first and last names.

Unverified users can sign up multiple times, but only the latest signup code will be active.

Payload
- email (required)
- password (required)
- first_name (optional)
- last_name (optional)
Possible responses

201 (Created)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"email": "[email protected]"
	"first_name": "Amelia", 
	"last_name": "Earhart", 
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"email": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	], 
	"password": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	] 
}

{
	"email": [
		"Enter a valid email address."
	]
}

{
	"detail": "User with this Email address already exists."
}

GET /api/accounts/signup/verify/?code=<code>

When the user clicks the link in the verification email, the front end should call this endpoint to verify the user.

Parameters
- code (required)
Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"success": "User verified."
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"detail": "Unable to verify user."
}

POST /api/accounts/login

Call this endpoint to log in a user. Use the authentication token in future calls to identify the user.

Payload
- email (required)
- password (required)
Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"token": "91ec67d093ded89e0a752f35188802c261899013"
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"password": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	], 
	"email": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	]
}

{
	"email": [
		"Enter a valid email address."
	]
}

401 (Unauthorized)
{
	"detail": "Authentication credentials were not provided."
}

{
	"detail": "Unable to login with provided credentials."
}

GET /api/accounts/logout

Call this endpoint to log out an authenticated user.

HTTP Header

Authorization: Token 9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b

Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"success": "User logged out."
}

401 (Unauthorized)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"detail": "Authentication credentials were not provided."
}

{
	"detail": "Invalid token"
}

POST /api/accounts/password/reset

Call this endpoint to send an email to a user so they can reset their password. Similar to signup verification, the password reset email templates are found in authemail/templates/authemail. Override the default templates by placing your similarly-named templates in your_app/templates/authemail.

Payload
- email (required)
Possible responses

201 (Created)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"email": "[email protected]"
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"email": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	]
}

{
	"email": [
		"Enter a valid email address."
	]
}

{
	"detail": "Password reset not allowed."
}

GET /api/accounts/password/reset/verify/?code=<code>

When the user clicks the link in the password reset email, call this endpoint
to verify the password reset code.

Parameters
- code (required)
Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"success": "User verified."
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"password": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	] 
}

{
	"detail": "Unable to verify user."
}

POST /api/accounts/password/reset/verified

Call this endpoint with the password reset code and the new password, to reset
the user’s password. The front end should prompt the user for a confirmation
password and give feedback if the passwords don’t match.

Payload
- code (required)
- password (required)
Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"success": "Password reset."
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"password": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	] 
}

{
	"detail": "Unable to verify user."
}

POST /api/accounts/email/change

Call this endpoint to send a notification email to the previous email address
and a confirmation email to the new email address. Similar to signup and
password reset verification, the email change email templates are found in
authemail/templates/authemail. Override the default templates by placing
your similarly-named templates in your_app/templates/authemail.

HTTP Header

Authorization: Token 9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b

Payload
- email (required)
Possible responses

201 (Created)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"email": "[email protected]"
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"email": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	] 
}

{
	"email": [
		"Enter a valid email address."
	] 
}

{
	"detail": "Email address already taken."
}

401 (Unauthorized)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"detail": "Authentication credentials were not provided."
}

{
	"detail": "Invalid token"
}

GET /api/accounts/email/change/verify/?code=<code>

When the user clicks the link in the email change email, call this endpoint to
verify the email change code and, if appropriate, change the email address.

Parameters
- code (required)
Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"success": "Email address changed."
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"detail": "Email address already taken."
}

{
	"detail": "Unable to verify user."
}

POST /api/accounts/password/change

Call this endpoint to change a user’s password.

HTTP Header

Authorization: Token 9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b

Payload
- password (required)
Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"success": "Password changed."
}

400 (Bad Request)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"password": [
		"This field may not be blank."
	] 
}

401 (Unauthorized)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"detail": "Authentication credentials were not provided."
}

{
	"detail": "Invalid token"
}

GET /api/accounts/users/me

Call this endpoint after logging in and obtaining an authorization token to learn more about the user.

HTTP Header

Authorization: Token 9944b09199c62bcf9418ad846dd0e4bbdfc6ee4b

Possible responses

200 (OK)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"id": 1,
	"email": "[email protected]",
	"first_name": "Amelia",
	"last_name": "Earhart",
}

401 (Unauthorized)
Content-Type: application/json
{
	"detail": "Authentication credentials were not provided."
}

{
	"detail": "Invalid token"
}

Django Packages

django-rest-authemail can be found on Django Packages at https://djangopackages.org/packages/p/django-rest-authemail/.
django-rest-authemail can be found in the Django REST Framework Comparison Grid at https://djangopackages.org/grids/g/django-rest-framework/.

Inspiration and Ideas

Inspiration and ideas for django-rest-authemail were derived from: