# 3.6. Authentication and Authorization

## 3.6.1. Server Administrators

`[admins]`

Changed in version 3.0.0: CouchDB requires an admin account to start. If an admin account has not been created, CouchDB will print an error message and terminate.

CouchDB server administrators and passwords are not stored in the `_users` database, but in the last `[admins]` section that CouchDB finds when loading its ini files. See :config:intro for details on config file order and behaviour. This file (which could be something like `/opt/couchdb/etc/local.ini` or `/opt/couchdb/etc/local.d/10-admins.ini` when CouchDB is installed from packages) should be appropriately secured and readable only by system administrators:

    [admins]
    ;admin = mysecretpassword
    admin = -hashed-6d3c30241ba0aaa4e16c6ea99224f915687ed8cd,7f4a3e05e0cbc6f48a0035e3508eef90
    architect = -pbkdf2-43ecbd256a70a3a2f7de40d2374b6c3002918834,921a12f74df0c1052b3e562a23cd227f,10000

Administrators can be added directly to the `[admins]` section, and when CouchDB is restarted, the passwords will be salted and encrypted. You may also use the HTTP interface to create administrator accounts; this way, you don’t need to restart CouchDB, and there’s no need to temporarily store or transmit passwords in plaintext. The HTTP `/_node/{node-name}/_config/admins` endpoint supports querying, deleting or creating new admin accounts:

    GET /_node/nonode@nohost/_config/admins HTTP/1.1
    Accept: application/json
    Host: localhost:5984

    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    Cache-Control: must-revalidate
    Content-Length: 196
    Content-Type: application/json
    Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:37:18 GMT
    Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

    {
        "admin": "-hashed-6d3c30241ba0aaa4e16c6ea99224f915687ed8cd,7f4a3e05e0cbc6f48a0035e3508eef90",
        "architect": "-pbkdf2-43ecbd256a70a3a2f7de40d2374b6c3002918834,921a12f74df0c1052b3e562a23cd227f,10000"
    }

If you already have a salted, encrypted password string (for example, from an old ini file, or from a different CouchDB server), then you can store the “raw” encrypted string, without having CouchDB doubly encrypt it.

    PUT /_node/nonode@nohost/_config/admins/architect?raw=true HTTP/1.1
    Accept: application/json
    Content-Type: application/json
    Content-Length: 89
    Host: localhost:5984

    "-pbkdf2-43ecbd256a70a3a2f7de40d2374b6c3002918834,921a12f74df0c1052b3e562a23cd227f,10000"

    HTTP/1.1 200 OK
    Cache-Control: must-revalidate
    Content-Length: 89
    Content-Type: application/json
    Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:39:18 GMT
    Server: CouchDB (Erlang/OTP)

    "-pbkdf2-43ecbd256a70a3a2f7de40d2374b6c3002918834,921a12f74df0c1052b3e562a23cd227f,10000"

Further details are available in security, including configuring the work factor for `PBKDF2`, and the algorithm itself at PBKDF2 (RFC-2898).

Changed in version 1.4: PBKDF2 server-side hashed salted password support added, now as a synchronous call for the `_config/admins` API.

## 3.6.2. Authentication Configuration

`[chttpd]`
  `require_valid_user`

    When this option is set to `true`, no requests are allowed from anonymous users. Everyone must be authenticated.

        [chttpd]
        require_valid_user = false

  `require_valid_user_except_for_up`

    When this option is set to `true`, no requests are allowed from anonymous users, except for the `/_up` endpoint. Everyone else must be authenticated.

        [chttpd]
        require_valid_user_except_for_up = false

`[chttpd_auth]`

  Changed in version 3.2: These options were moved to [chttpd_auth] section: authentication_redirect, require_valid_user, timeout, auth_cache_size, allow_persistent_cookies, iterations, min_iterations, max_iterations, secret, users_db_public, x_auth_roles, x_auth_token, x_auth_username, cookie_domain, same_site.

  `allow_persistent_cookies`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    When set to `true`, CouchDB will set the Max-Age and Expires attributes on the cookie, which causes user agents (like browsers) to preserve the cookie over restarts.

        [chttpd_auth]
        allow_persistent_cookies = true

  `cookie_domain`

    New in version 2.1.1.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    Configures the `domain` attribute of the `AuthSession` cookie. By default the `domain` attribute is empty, resulting in the cookie being set on CouchDB’s domain.

        [chttpd_auth]
        cookie_domain = example.com

  `same_site`

    New in version 3.0.0.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    When this option is set to a non-empty value, a `SameSite` attribute is added to the `AuthSession` cookie. Valid values are `none`, `lax` or `strict`.:

        [chttpd_auth]
        same_site = strict

  `auth_cache_size`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    Number of User Context Object to cache in memory, to reduce disk lookups.

        [chttpd_auth]
        auth_cache_size = 50

  `authentication_redirect`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    Specifies the location for redirection on successful authentication if a `text/html` response is accepted by the client (via an `Accept` header).

        [chttpd_auth]
        authentication_redirect = /_utils/session.html

  `iterations`

    New in version 1.3.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The number of iterations for password hashing by the PBKDF2 algorithm. A higher number provides better hash durability, but comes at a cost in performance for each request that requires authentication.

        [chttpd_auth]
        iterations = 10000

  `min_iterations`

    New in version 1.6.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The minimum number of iterations allowed for passwords hashed by the PBKDF2 algorithm. Any user with fewer iterations is forbidden.

        [chttpd_auth]
        min_iterations = 100

  `max_iterations`

    New in version 1.6.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The maximum number of iterations allowed for passwords hashed by the PBKDF2 algorithm. Any user with greater iterations is forbidden.

        [chttpd_auth]
        max_iterations = 100000

  `password_regexp`

    New in version 3.2.

    A list of Regular Expressions to check new/changed passwords. When set, new user passwords must match all RegExp in this list.

    A RegExp can be paired with a reason text: `[{"RegExp", "reason text"}, ...]`. If a RegExp doesn’t match, its reason text will be appended to the default reason of `Password does not conform to requirements.`

        [couch_httpd_auth]
        ; Password must be 10 chars long and have one or more uppercase and
        ; lowercase char and one or more numbers.
        password_regexp = [{".{10,}", "Min length is 10 chars."}, "[A-Z]+", "[a-z]+", "\\d+"]

  `proxy_use_secret`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    When this option is set to `true`, the `chttpd_auth/secret` option is required for Proxy Authentication.

        [chttpd_auth]
        proxy_use_secret = false

  `public_fields`

    New in version 1.4.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    A comma-separated list of field names in user documents (in `couchdb/users_db_suffix`) that can be read by any user. If unset or not specified, authenticated users can only retrieve their own document.

        [chttpd_auth]
        public_fields = first_name, last_name, contacts, url

    Note

    Using the `public_fields` allowlist for user document properties requires setting the `chttpd_auth/users_db_public` option to `true` (the latter option has no other purpose):

        [chttpd_auth]
        users_db_public = true

  `require_valid_user`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    When this option is set to `true`, no requests are allowed from anonymous users. Everyone must be authenticated.

        [chttpd_auth]
        require_valid_user = false

  `secret`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The secret token is used for Proxy Authentication and for Cookie Authentication.

        [chttpd_auth]
        secret = 92de07df7e7a3fe14808cef90a7cc0d91

  `timeout`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    Number of seconds since the last request before sessions will be expired.

        [chttpd_auth]
        timeout = 600

  `users_db_public`

    New in version 1.4.

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    Allow all users to view user documents. By default, only admins may browse all users documents, while users may browse only their own document.

        [chttpd_auth]
        users_db_public = false

  `x_auth_roles`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The HTTP header name (`X-Auth-CouchDB-Roles` by default) that contains the list of a user’s roles, separated by a comma. Used for Proxy Authentication.

        [chttpd_auth]
        x_auth_roles = X-Auth-CouchDB-Roles

  `x_auth_token`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The HTTP header name (`X-Auth-CouchDB-Token` by default) containing the token used to authenticate the authorization. This token is an HMAC-SHA1 created from the `chttpd_auth/secret` and `chttpd_auth/x_auth_username`. The secret key should be the same on the client and the CouchDB node. This token is optional if the value of the `chttpd_auth/proxy_use_secret` option is not `true`. Used for Proxy Authentication.

        [chttpd_auth]
        x_auth_token = X-Auth-CouchDB-Token

  `x_auth_username`

    Changed in version 3.2: moved from [couch_httpd_auth] to [chttpd_auth] section

    The HTTP header name (`X-Auth-CouchDB-UserName` by default) containing the username. Used for Proxy Authentication.

        [chttpd_auth]
        x_auth_username = X-Auth-CouchDB-UserName

`[jwt_auth]`
  `required_claims`

    This parameter is a comma-separated list of additional mandatory JWT claims that must be present in any presented JWT token. A :code 400:Bad Request is sent if any are missing.

        [jwt_auth]
            required_claims = exp,iat