Streamlined Linking with OAuth and Google Sign-In

Overview

OAuth-based Google Sign-In Streamlined linking adds Google Sign-In on top of OAuth linking. This provides a seamless linking experience for Google users, and it also enables account creation, which allows the user to create a new account on your service using their Google account.

To perform account linking with OAuth and Google Sign-In, follow these general steps:

First, ask the user to give consent to access their Google profile.
Use the information in their profile to check if the user account exists.
For existing users, link the accounts.
If you can't find a match for the Google user in your authentication system, validate the ID token received from Google. You can then create a user based on the profile information contained in the ID token.

This figure shows the steps for a user to link their Google account using the streamlined linking flow. The first screenshot shows how a user can select your app for linking. The second screenshot lets the user confirm whether or not they have an existing account on your service. The third screenshot lets the user select the Google account they want to link with. The fourth screenshot shows the confirmation for linking their Google account with your app. The fifth screenshot shows a successfully linked user account in the Google app.

Figure 1. Account Linking on a user's phone with Streamlined Linking

Requirements for Streamlined Linking

Implement the basic web OAuth linking flow. Your service must support OAuth 2.0-compliant authorization and token exchange endpoints.
Your token exchange endpoint must support JSON Web Token (JWT) assertions and implement the check, create, and get intents.

Implement your OAuth server

Your token exchange endpoint must support the check, create, get intents. The below shows the steps completed through the account linking flow and indicates when the different intents are called:

Does the user have an account in your authentication system? (User decides by selecting YES or NO)
1. YES : Does the user use the email associated with their Google account to sign into your platform? (User decides by selecting YES or NO)
  1. YES : Does the user have a matching account in your authentication system? (check intent is called to confirm)
    1. YES : get intent is called and the account is linked if get intent returns successfully.
    2. NO : Create New Account? (User decides by selecting YES or NO)
      1. YES : create intent is called and the account is linked if create intent returns successfully.
      2. NO : The Web OAuth flow is triggered, the user is directed to their browser, and the user is given the option to link with a different email.
  2. NO : The Web OAuth flow is triggered, the user is directed to their browser, and the user is given the option to link with a different email.
2. NO : Does the user have a matching account in your authentication system? (check intent is called to confirm)
  1. YES : get intent is called and the account is linked if get intent returns successfully.
  2. NO : create intent is called and the account is linked if create intent returns successfully.

Check for an existing user account (check intent)

After the user gives consent to access their Google profile, Google sends a request that contains a signed assertion of the Google user's identity. The assertion contains information that includes the user's Google Account ID, name, and email address. The token exchange endpoint configured for your project handles that request.

If the corresponding Google account is already present in your authentication system, your token exchange endpoint responds with account_found=true. If the Google account doesn't match an existing user, your token exchange endpoint returns an HTTP 404 Not Found error with account_found=false.

The request has the following form:

POST /token HTTP/1.1
Host: oauth2.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer&intent=check&assertion=JWT&scope=SCOPES&client_id=GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET

Your token exchange endpoint must be able to handle the following parameters:

Token endpoint parameters
`intent`	For these requests, the value of this parameter is `check`.
`grant_type`	The type of token being exchanged. For these requests, this parameter has the value `urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer`.
`assertion`	A JSON Web Token (JWT) that provides a signed assertion of the Google user's identity. The JWT contains information that includes the user's Google Account ID, name, and email address.
`client_id`	The client ID you assigned to Google.
`client_secret`	The client secret you assigned to Google.

To respond to the check intent requests, your token exchange endpoint must perform the following steps:

Validate and decode the JWT assertion.
Check if the Google account is already present in your authentication system.

Validate and decode the JWT assertion

You can validate and decode the JWT assertion by using a JWT-decoding library for your language. Use Google's public keys, available in JWK or PEM formats, to verify the token's signature.

When decoded, the JWT assertion looks like the following example:

{
  "sub": "1234567890",      // The unique ID of the user's Google Account
  "iss": "https://accounts.google.com",        // The assertion's issuer
  "aud": "123-abc.apps.googleusercontent.com", // Your server's client ID
  "iat": 233366400,         // Unix timestamp of the assertion's creation time
  "exp": 233370000,         // Unix timestamp of the assertion's expiration time
  "name": "Jan Jansen",
  "given_name": "Jan",
  "family_name": "Jansen",
  "email": "jan@gmail.com", // If present, the user's email address
  "email_verified": true,   // true, if Google has verified the email address
  "hd": "example.com",      // If present, the host domain of the user's GSuite email address
                            // If present, a URL to user's profile picture
  "picture": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14GjlTnZKHAeb94A-FmEbwZv7uJD986VOF1mJGb2YYQ",
  "locale": "en_US"         // User's locale, from browser or phone settings
}

In addition to verifying the token's signature, verify that the assertion's issuer (iss field) is https://accounts.google.com, that the audience (aud field) is your assigned client ID, and that the token has not expired (exp field).

Using the email, email_verified and hd fields you can determine if Google hosts and is authoritative for an email address. In cases where Google is authoritative the user is currently known to be the legitimate account owner and you may skip password or other challenges methods. Otherwise, these methods can be used to verify the account prior to linking.

Cases where Google is authoritative:

email has a @gmail.com suffix, this is a Gmail account.
email_verified is true and hd is set, this is a G Suite account.

Users may register for Google Accounts without using Gmail or G Suite. When email does not contain a @gmail.com suffix and hd is absent Google is not authoritative and password or other challenge methods are recommended to verify the user. email_verfied can also be true as Google initially verified the user when the Google account was created, however ownership of the third party email account may have since changed.

Check if the Google account is already present in your authentication system

Check whether either of the following conditions are true:

The Google Account ID, found in the assertion's sub field, is in your user database.
The email address in the assertion matches a user in your user database.

If either condition is true, the user has already signed up. In that case, return a response like the following:

HTTP/1.1 200 Success
Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8

{
  "account_found":"true",
}

If neither the Google Account ID nor the email address specified in the assertion matches a user in your database, the user hasn't signed up yet. In this case, your token exchange endpoint needs to reply with a HTTP 404 error that specifies "account_found": "false", as in the following example:

HTTP/1.1 404 Not found
Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8

{
  "account_found":"false",
}

处理自动链接（获取 intent）

在用户同意访问其 Google 个人资料后，Google 会发送一个请求，其中包含 Google 用户身份的签名断言。该断言包含用户的 Google 帐号 ID、姓名和电子邮件地址。为您的项目配置的令牌交换端点会处理该请求。

如果您的身份验证系统中已存在相应的 Google 帐号，则您的令牌交换端点会返回用户的令牌。如果 Google 帐号与现有用户不匹配，您的令牌交换端点会返回 linking_error 错误和可选的 login_hint。

请求的格式如下：

POST /token HTTP/1.1
Host: oauth2.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer&intent=get&assertion=JWT&scope=SCOPES&client_id=GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET

您的令牌交换端点必须能够处理以下参数：

令牌端点参数
`intent`	对于这些请求，此参数的值为 `get`。
`grant_type`	要交换的令牌的类型。对于这些请求，此参数的值为 `urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer`。
`assertion`	一个 JSON Web 令牌 (JWT)，用于提供 Google 用户身份的签名断言。JWT 包含用户的 Google 帐号 ID、姓名和电子邮件地址等信息。
`scope`	可选：您已将 Google 配置为向用户请求的任何范围。
`client_id`	您分配给 Google 的客户端 ID。
`client_secret`	您分配给 Google 的客户端密钥。

为了响应 get intent 请求，您的令牌交换端点必须执行以下步骤：

验证并解码 JWT 断言。
检查您的身份验证系统中是否已存在该 Google 帐号。

Validate and decode the JWT assertion

You can validate and decode the JWT assertion by using a JWT-decoding library for your language. Use Google's public keys, available in JWK or PEM formats, to verify the token's signature.

When decoded, the JWT assertion looks like the following example:

{
  "sub": "1234567890",      // The unique ID of the user's Google Account
  "iss": "https://accounts.google.com",        // The assertion's issuer
  "aud": "123-abc.apps.googleusercontent.com", // Your server's client ID
  "iat": 233366400,         // Unix timestamp of the assertion's creation time
  "exp": 233370000,         // Unix timestamp of the assertion's expiration time
  "name": "Jan Jansen",
  "given_name": "Jan",
  "family_name": "Jansen",
  "email": "jan@gmail.com", // If present, the user's email address
  "email_verified": true,   // true, if Google has verified the email address
  "hd": "example.com",      // If present, the host domain of the user's GSuite email address
                            // If present, a URL to user's profile picture
  "picture": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14GjlTnZKHAeb94A-FmEbwZv7uJD986VOF1mJGb2YYQ",
  "locale": "en_US"         // User's locale, from browser or phone settings
}

Cases where Google is authoritative:

email has a @gmail.com suffix, this is a Gmail account.
email_verified is true and hd is set, this is a G Suite account.

检查您的身份验证系统中是否已存在该 Google 帐号

检查是否满足以下任一条件：

Google 帐号 ID 可在用户的数据库中找到，可在断言的 sub 字段找到。
断言中的电子邮件地址与您的用户数据库中的用户匹配。

如果找到了用户的帐号，请发出访问令牌，并在 HTTPS 响应的正文中以 JSON 对象形式返回值，如以下示例所示：

{
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "access_token": "ACCESS_TOKEN",

  "expires_in": SECONDS_TO_EXPIRATION
}

在某些情况下，基于 ID 令牌的帐号关联可能会为用户失败。如果出现任何此类情况，您的令牌交换端点都需要使用返回 error=linking_error 的 HTTP 401 错误进行响应，如以下示例所示：

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8

{
  "error":"linking_error",
  "login_hint":"foo@bar.com"
}

Google 收到包含 linking_error 的 401 错误响应后，会将用户作为授权参数 login_hint 发送到您的授权端点。用户在浏览器中使用 OAuth 关联流程完成帐号关联。

Handle account creation via Google Sign-In (create intent)

When a user needs to create an account on your service, Google makes a request to your token exchange endpoint that specifies intent=create.

The request has the following form:

POST /token HTTP/1.1
Host: oauth2.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

response_type=token&grant_type=urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer&scope=SCOPES&intent=create&assertion=JWT&client_id=GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID&client_secret=GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET

Your token exchange endpoint must able to handle the following parameters:

Token endpoint parameters
`intent`	For these requests, the value of this parameter is `create`.
`grant_type`	The type of token being exchanged. For these requests, this parameter has the value `urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer`.
`assertion`	A JSON Web Token (JWT) that provides a signed assertion of the Google user's identity. The JWT contains information that includes the user's Google Account ID, name, and email address.
`client_id`	The client ID you assigned to Google.
`client_secret`	The client secret you assigned to Google.

The JWT within the assertion parameter contains the user's Google Account ID, name, and email address, which you can use to create a new account on your service.

To respond to the create intent requests, your token exchange endpoint must perform the following steps:

Validate and decode the JWT assertion.
Validate user information and create new account.

Validate and decode the JWT assertion

You can validate and decode the JWT assertion by using a JWT-decoding library for your language. Use Google's public keys, available in JWK or PEM formats, to verify the token's signature.

When decoded, the JWT assertion looks like the following example:

{
  "sub": "1234567890",      // The unique ID of the user's Google Account
  "iss": "https://accounts.google.com",        // The assertion's issuer
  "aud": "123-abc.apps.googleusercontent.com", // Your server's client ID
  "iat": 233366400,         // Unix timestamp of the assertion's creation time
  "exp": 233370000,         // Unix timestamp of the assertion's expiration time
  "name": "Jan Jansen",
  "given_name": "Jan",
  "family_name": "Jansen",
  "email": "jan@gmail.com", // If present, the user's email address
  "email_verified": true,   // true, if Google has verified the email address
  "hd": "example.com",      // If present, the host domain of the user's GSuite email address
                            // If present, a URL to user's profile picture
  "picture": "https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a-/AOh14GjlTnZKHAeb94A-FmEbwZv7uJD986VOF1mJGb2YYQ",
  "locale": "en_US"         // User's locale, from browser or phone settings
}

Cases where Google is authoritative:

email has a @gmail.com suffix, this is a Gmail account.
email_verified is true and hd is set, this is a G Suite account.

Validate user information and create new account

Check whether either of the following conditions are true:

The Google Account ID, found in the assertion's sub field, is in your user database.
The email address in the assertion matches a user in your user database.

If either condition is true, prompt the user to link their existing account with their Google Account. To do so, respond to the request with an HTTP 401 error that specifies error=linking_error and gives the user's email address as the login_hint. The following is a sample response:

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json;charset=UTF-8

{
  "error":"linking_error",
  "login_hint":"foo@bar.com"
}

When Google receives a 401 error response with linking_error, Google sends the user to your authorization endpoint with login_hint as a parameter. The user completes account linking using the OAuth linking flow in their browser.

If neither condition is true, create a new user account with the information provided in the JWT. New accounts don't typically have a password set. It's recommended that you add Google Sign-In to other platforms to enable users to log in with Google across the surfaces of your application. Alternatively, you can email the user a link that starts your password recovery flow to allow the user to set a password to sign in on other platforms.

When the creation is completed, issue an access token and return the values in a JSON object in the body of your HTTPS response, like in the following example:

{
  "token_type": "Bearer",
  "access_token": "ACCESS_TOKEN",

  "expires_in": SECONDS_TO_EXPIRATION
}

Get your Google API Client ID

You will be required to provide your Google API Client ID during the Account Linking registration process.

To get your API Client ID using the project you created while completing the OAuth Linking steps. To do so, complete the following steps:

Open the Credentials page of the Google API console.
Create or select a Google APIs project.

If your project doesn't have a Client ID for the Web application Type, click Create credentials > OAuth Client ID to create one. Be sure to include your site's domain in the Authorized JavaScript origins box. When you perform local tests or development, you must add both http://localhost and http://localhost:<port_number> to the Authorized JavaScript origins field.

Key Point: Add both http://localhost and http://localhost:<port_number> to the Authorized JavaScript origins field for local tests or development.
Note: A Client ID looks like the following example:
```
1234567890-abc123def456.apps.googleusercontent.com
```

Validating your implementation

You can validate your implementation by using the OAuth 2.0 Playground tool.

In the tool, do the following steps:

Click Configuration to open the OAuth 2.0 Configuration window.
In the OAuth flow field, select Client-side.
In the OAuth Endpoints field, select Custom.
Specify your OAuth 2.0 endpoint and the client ID you assigned to Google in the corresponding fields.
In the Step 1 section, don't select any Google scopes. Instead, leave this field blank or type a scope valid for your server (or an arbitrary string if you don't use OAuth scopes). When you're done, click Authorize APIs.
In the Step 2 and Step 3 sections, go through the OAuth 2.0 flow and verify that each step works as intended.

You can validate your implementation by using the Google Account Linking Demo tool.

In the tool, do the following steps:

Click the Sign-in with Google button.
Choose the account you'd like to link.
Enter the service ID.
Optionally enter one or more scopes that you will request access for.
Click Start Demo.
When prompted, confirm that you may consent and deny the linking request.
Confirm that you are redirected to your platform.