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",
}

Handle automatic linking (get intent)

If the corresponding Google Account is already present in your authentication system, your token exchange endpoint returns a token for the user. If the Google Account doesn't match an existing user, your token exchange endpoint returns a linking_error error and optional login_hint.

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=get&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 `get`.
`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.
`scope`	Optional: Any scopes that you've configured Google to request from users.
`client_id`	The client ID you assigned to Google.
`client_secret`	The client secret you assigned to Google.

To respond to the get 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
}

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.

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 an account is found for the user, 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
}

In some cases, account linking based on ID token might fail for the user. If it does so for any reason, your token exchange endpoint needs to reply with a HTTP 401 error that specifies error=linking_error, as the following example shows:

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.

通过 Google 登录功能创建帐号（创建 intent）

当用户需要在您的服务上创建帐号时，Google 会向您的令牌交换端点发出请求，并指定 intent=create。

请求的格式如下：

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

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 `create`。
`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。
`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。

assertion 参数中的 JWT 包含用户的 Google 帐号 ID、名称和电子邮件地址，您可以使用这些信息在服务中创建新帐号。

为了响应 create 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。
验证用户信息并创建新帐号。

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.

验证用户信息并创建新帐号

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。

如果任一条件为 true，请提示用户将其现有帐号与其 Google 帐号相关联。为此，请对请求进行响应，并提供指定 error=linking_error 并将用户的电子邮件地址作为 login_hint 的 HTTP 401 错误。以下是一个示例响应：

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。

如果两个条件都不满足，请使用 JWT 中提供的信息创建新的用户帐号。新帐号通常不会设置密码。建议您将 Google 登录功能添加到其他平台，以便用户能够在应用界面使用 Google 帐号登录。或者，您也可以通过电子邮件向用户发送一个启动密码恢复流程的链接，以便用户设置密码以在其他平台上登录。

创建完成后，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
}

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.