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# MSC2858: Multiple SSO Identity Providers
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Matrix already has generic SSO support, but it does not yield the best user experience especially for
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instances which wish to offer multiple identity providers (IdPs). This MSC provides a simple and fully
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backwards compatible way to extend the current spec which would allow clients to give users options
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like `Continue with Google` and `Continue with Github` side-by-side.
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Currently, Matrix supports `m.login.sso`, `m.login.token` and `/login/sso/redirect` for clients to
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pass their user to the configured Identity provider and for them to come back with something which
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is exchangeable for a Matrix access token. This flow offers no insight to the user as to what
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Identity providers are available: clients can offer only a very generic `Sign in with SSO`
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button. With the currently possible solutions and workarounds the experience is far from great
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and users have to blindly click `Sign in with SSO` without any clue as to what's hiding on the other
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side of the door. Some users will definitely not be familiar with `SSO` but will be with the concept of
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"Continue with Google" or similar.
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## Proposal
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We extend the [login
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flow](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/client_server/r0.6.1#login) to allow clients
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to choose an SSO Identity provider before control is handed over to the
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server. The following sequence diagram illustrates the proposed, updated, login flow:
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<!-- source for the following is in images/2858-seq-diagram.txt -->
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### Extensions to login flow discovery
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The response to [`GET /_matrix/client/r0/login`](https://matrix.org/docs/spec/client_server/r0.6.1#get-matrix-client-r0-login)
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is extended to **optionally** include an `identity_providers` property for
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flows whose type `m.login.sso`. This would look like this:
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```json
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{
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"flows": [
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{
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"type": "m.login.sso",
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"identity_providers": [
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{
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"id": "google",
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"name": "Google",
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"icon": "mxc://...",
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"brand": "google"
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},
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{
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"id": "github",
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"name": "Github",
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"icon": "mxc://...",
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"brand": "github"
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}
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]
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},
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{
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"type": "m.login.token"
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}
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]
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}
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```
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The value of the `identity_providers` property is a list, each entry consisting
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of an object with the following fields:
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* The `id` field is **required**. It is an opaque string chosen by the
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homeserver implementation, and uniquely identifies the identity provider on
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that server. Clients should not infer any semantic meaning from the
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identifier. The identifier should be between 1 and 255 characters in length,
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and should consist of the characters matching unreserved URI characters as
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defined in [RFC3986](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3986.txt):
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```
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ALPHA DIGIT "-" / "." / "_" / "~"
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```
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* The `name` field is **required**. It should be a human readable string
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intended for printing by the client. No explicit length limit or grammar is
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specified.
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* The `icon` field is **optional**. It should point to an icon representing
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the IdP. If present then it must be an MXC URI to an image resource.
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* The `brand` field is **optional**. It allows the client to style the login
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button to suit a particular brand. It should be a string using the following
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grammar:
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* Must be at least one character and no more than 255 characters in length.
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* Must start with one of the characters `[a-z]`, and be entirely composed
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of the characters `[a-z]`, `[0-9]`, `-`, `_` and `.`.
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To reduce confusion over which identifier should be used for each brand
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(for example: should "Sign in with Microsoft" be `microsoft` or
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`azure`?), it is proposed to maintain a registry of identifiers outside
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the core specification document, avoiding the need for a full MSC to add
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entries to the list. An initial list of proposed identifiers is given below.
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[Rationale: this grammar is based on the
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[MSC2758](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2758), removing the
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requirements for a namespaced heirarchy. In
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[discussion](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2858#discussion_r565506802),
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it was agreed that a separate registry was seen as important for a
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lightweight process by which implementations can agree on identifiers. The
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registry makes the namespacing of MSC2758 redundant; the namespacing system
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was also somewhat confusing.]
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Server implementations are free to add additional brands, though they should
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be mindful of clients which do not recognise any given brand.
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Clients are free to implement any set of brands they wish, including all or
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any of the brands listed in the registry, but are expected to apply a
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sensible unbranded fallback for any brand they do not recognise/support.
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Where `icon` and `brand` are both present, it is recommended that clients
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which support the `brand` give precedence to `brand` over `icon`.
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### Extend the `/login/sso/redirect` endpoint
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A new endpoint is added to support redirecting directly to one of the IdPs:
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`GET /_matrix/client/r0/login/sso/redirect/{idp_id}`
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This would behave identically to the existing endpoint without the last argument
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except would allow the server to forward the user directly to the correct IdP.
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For the case of backwards compatibility the existing endpoint is to remain,
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and if the server supports multiple SSO IdPs it should offer the user a page
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which lets them choose between the available IdP options as a fallback.
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If the `idp_id` is unrecognised, the server should display some sort of error
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page to the user. (A protocol whereby an error can be returned to the original
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client could be a matter for a future improvement, but is out of scope for now.)
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### Notes on user-interactive auth
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No change is proposed to the SSO flow for User-Interactive Authentication.
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For a reauthentication operation, the server implementation is free to choose
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any suitable IdP to authenticate the user. (Often, this will simply be
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the IdP that the user logged in with.)
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### Proposed initial identifiers for the `brand` indentifier
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The following identifiers are proposed for the initial content of the `brand`
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identifier registry. The descriptions are guidelines to help server
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administrators pick a suitable brand identifier, and to help client authors
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style buttons in their clients.
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* Identifier: `apple`
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Description: Suitable for "Sign in with Apple": see
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https://developer.apple.com/design/human-interface-guidelines/sign-in-with-apple/overview/buttons/.
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* Identifier: `facebook`
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Description: "Continue with Facebook": see
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https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-login/web/login-button/.
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* Identifier: `github`
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Description: Logos available at https://github.com/logos.
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* Identifier: `gitlab`
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Description: Logos available at https://about.gitlab.com/press/press-kit/.
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* Identifier: `google`
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Description: Suitable for "Google Sign-In": see
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https://developers.google.com/identity/branding-guidelines.
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* Identifier: `twitter`
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Description: Suitable for "Log in with Twitter": see
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https://developer.twitter.com/en/docs/authentication/guides/log-in-with-twitter#tab1.
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When considering a new identifier for private use, administrators should pick
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some sensible name following the advice of [RFC6648 sec
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3](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6648#section-3).
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## Alternatives
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An alternative to the whole approach would be to allow `m.login.sso.$idp` but this forces
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treating an opaque identifier as hierarchical and offers worse backwards compatibility.
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An alternative to the proposed backwards compatibility plan where the server offers a
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fallback page which fills the gap and lets the user choose which SSO IdP they need is
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for the server to deterministically always pick one, maybe the first option and let
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old clients only auth via that one but that means potentially locking users out of their
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accounts.
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[MSC2964](https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/pull/2964) proposes
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replacing much of Matrix's authentication mechanism with OAuth2.0. If that is
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adopted, then the Matrix client would not be able to specify an authentication
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mechanism; rather it is left up to the server to host pages allowing the user
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to choose their authentication mechanism.
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### Styling information as an alternative to `brand`
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The `brand` field is intended to allow clients to style "login" buttons according
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to the identity provider in question. For example, a mobile application might
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show:
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Some identity providers have very specific rules about how such buttons should
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be presented, so a fine level of control is important.
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An alternative way to achieve this would be for the server to give full details
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about the styling: icon, font colour, border colour, background colour,
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etc. However, this soon becomes unscalable. For example, it might be desirable
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to offer each logo at a range of resolutions to suit different screen sizes.
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Likewise, some brands need different styling depending on the background
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colour, so a complete second set of colours must be specified to account for
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dark or light themes.
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## Potential issues
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* New Identity Providers added by server administators will be unbranded until
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clients adopt support for the new brand.
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## Security considerations
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This could potentially aid phishing attacks by bad homeservers, where if the app says
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`Continue with Google` and then they are taken to a page which is styled to look like
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the Google login page they might be a tiny bit more susceptible to being phished as opposed
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as to when they click a more generic `Sign in with SSO` button, but this attack was possible
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anyhow using a different vector of a controlled Element/client instance which modifies
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the text.
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## Unstable prefix
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Whilst in development use `org.matrix.msc2858.identity_providers` for the flow
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discovery and
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`/_matrix/client/unstable/org.matrix.msc2858/login/sso/redirect/{idp_id}` for
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the new endpoints.
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When identity providers are listed under the experimental
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`org.matrix.msc2858.identity_providers` field of the response to `/login`,
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(instead of `identity_providers`), different values for the `brand` field are
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used. In particular the following were defined:
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* `org.matrix.gitlab` (now `gitlab`).
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* `org.matrix.github` (now `github`).
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* `org.matrix.apple` (now `apple`).
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* `org.matrix.google` (now `google`).
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* `org.matrix.facebook` (now `facebook`).
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* `org.matrix.twitter` (now `twitter`).
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