How to build Aliyun Direct Mail Email passwordless sign-in with Webflow

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Logto is an Auth0 alternative designed for modern apps and SaaS products. It offers both Cloud and Open-source services to help you quickly launch your identity and management (IAM) system. Enjoy authentication, authorization, and multi-tenant management all in one.

We recommend starting with a free development tenant on Logto Cloud. This allows you to explore all the features easily.

In this article, we will go through the steps to quickly build the Aliyun Direct Mail sign-in experience (user authentication) with Webflow and Logto.

Prerequisites

A running Logto instance. Check out the introduction page to get started.
Basic knowledge of Webflow.
A usable Aliyun Direct Mail account.

Create an application in Logto

Logto is based on OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication and OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports federated identity management across multiple applications, commonly called Single Sign-On (SSO).

To create your Single page app application, simply follow these steps:

Open the Logto Console. In the "Get started" section, click the "View all" link to open the application frameworks list. Alternatively, you can navigate to Logto Console > Applications, and click the "Create application" button.
In the opening modal, click the "Single page app" section or filter all the available "Single page app" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left. Click the "Webflow" framework card to start creating your application.
Enter the application name, e.g., "Bookstore," and click "Create application".

🎉 Ta-da! You just created your first application in Logto. You'll see a congrats page which includes a detailed integration guide. Follow the guide to see what the experience will be in your application.

Integrate Webflow with Logto

tip:

The sample project is available at Webflow project preview.

Init Logto Provider

note:

In the following steps, we assume your Webflow site is running on https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io.

In this step, we'll add global-level custom code to your Webflow site. Since NPM is not supported in Webflow, we'll use the jsdelivr.com CDN service to import the Logto SDK.

Open the "Site settings" page, and navigate to the "Custom code" section. Add the following code to the "Head code" section.

<script type="module">
  // Import \`@logto/browser\` SDK from the jsdelivr CDN
  import LogtoClient from 'https://esm.run/@logto/browser';

  // Assign the \`logtoClient\` instance to window object,
  // enabling global usage in other pages
  window.logtoClient = new LogtoClient({
    endpoint: '<your-logto-endpoint>', // E.g. http://localhost:3001
    appId: '<your-application-id>',
  });
</script>

Before we dive into the details, here's a quick overview of the end-user experience. The sign-in process can be simplified as follows:

Your app invokes the sign-in method.
The user is redirected to the Logto sign-in page. For native apps, the system browser is opened.
The user signs in and is redirected back to your app (configured as the redirect URI).

This authentication process follows the OpenID Connect (OIDC) protocol, and Logto enforces strict security measures to protect user sign-in.
If you have multiple apps, you can use the same identity provider (Logto). Once the user signs in to one app, Logto will automatically complete the sign-in process when the user accesses another app.

To learn more about the rationale and benefits of redirect-based sign-in, see Logto sign-in experience explained.

Let's switch to the Application details page of Logto Console. Add a Redirect URI https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io/callback and click "Save changes".

Return to your Webflow designer, drag and drop a "Sign in" button to the home page, and assign it an ID “sign-in” for later reference using getElementById().

<script type="module">
  const signInButton = document.getElementById('sign-in');
  const onClickSignIn = () => logtoClient.signIn('https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io/callback');
  signInButton.addEventListener('click', onClickSignIn);
</script>

Handle redirect

We're almost there! In the last step, we use https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io/callback as the Redirect URI, and now we need to handle it properly.

First let's create a "Callback" page in Webflow, and simply put some static text "Redirecting..." on it. Then add the following page-level custom code to "Callback" page.

<script type="module">
  (async () => {
    // Handle sign-in callback logic by calling the SDK method
    await logtoClient.handleSignInCallback(window.location.href);

    // Redirect back to the home page when the handling is done
    window.location.assign('https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io');
  })();
</script>

Implement sign-out

Calling .signOut() will clear all the Logto data in memory and localStorage if they exist.

After signing out, it'll be great to redirect your user back to your website. Let's add https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io as one of the Post Sign-out URIs in Admin Console (shows under Redirect URIs), and use the URL as the parameter when calling .signOut().

Implement a sign-out button

Return to the Webflow designer, and add a “Sign out” button on your home page. Similarly, assign an ID “sign-out” to the button, and add the following code to the page-level custom code.

const signOutButton = document.getElementById('sign-out');
const onClickSignOut = () => logtoClient.signOut('https://your-awesome-site.webflow.io');
signOutButton.addEventListener('click', onClickSignOut);

Handle authentication status

In Logto SDK, generally we can use logtoClient.isAuthenticated() method to check the authentication status, if the user is signed in, the value will be true; otherwise, it will be false.

In your Webflow site, you can also use it to programmatically show and hide the sign-in and sign-out buttons. Apply the following custom code to adjust button CSS accordingly.

const isAuthenticated = await logtoClient.isAuthenticated();

signInButton.style.display = isAuthenticated ? 'none' : 'block';
signOutButton.style.display = isAuthenticated ? 'block' : 'none';

Checkpoint: Test your Webflow site

Now, test your site:

Deploy and visit your site URL, the sign-in button should be visible.
Click the sign-in button, the SDK will initiate the sign-in process, redirecting you to the Logto sign-in page.
After signing in, you will be redirected back to your site, seeing the username and the sign-out button.
Click the sign-out button to sign-out.

Add Aliyun Direct Mail connector

Email connector is a method used to send one-time passwords (OTPs) for authentication. It enables Email address verification to support passwordless authentication, including Email-based registration, sign-in, two-factor authentication (2FA), and account recovery. You can easily connect Aliyun Direct Mail as your Email provider. With the Logto Email connector, you can set this up in just a few minutes.

To add a Email connector, simply follow these steps:

Navigate to Console > Connector > Email and SMS connectors.
To add a new Email connector, click the "Set up" button and select "Aliyun Direct Mail".
Review the README documentation for your selected provider.
Complete the configuration fields in the "Parameter Configuration" section.
Customize the Email template using the JSON editor.
Test your configuration by sending a verification code to your Email address.

note:

If you are following the in-place Connector guide, you can skip the next section.

Set up Aliyun email connector

Set up an email service in Aliyun DirectMail Console

Create an Aliyun account

Head to Aliyun and create your Aliyun account if you don't have one.

Enable and configure Aliyun Direct Mail

Go to the DM service console page and sign in. Enable the Direct Mail service by clicking the "Apply to enable" (申请开通) button on the top left of the page and begin the configuration process.

Starting from the DM admin console page, you should:

Go to "Email Domains" (发信域名) from the sidebar and add "New Domain" (新建域名) following the instructions.
Customize "Sender Addresses" (发信地址) and "Email Tags" (邮件标签) respectively.

After finishing setup, there are two different ways to test:

Go to the DirectMail Overview page, find "Operation Guide" (操作引导) at the bottom of the page, and click on "Send Emails" (发送邮件). You will find all the different kinds of testing methods.
Follow the path "Send Emails" (发送邮件) -> "Email Tasks" (发送邮件) in the sidebar to create a testing task.

Compose the connector JSON

From the DM admin console page, hover on your avatar in the top right corner and go to "AccessKey Management" (AccessKey 管理), and click "Create AccessKey" (创建 AccessKey). You will get an "AccessKey ID" and "AccessKey Secret" pair after finishing security verification. Please keep them properly.
Go to the "Sender Addresses" (发信地址) or "Email Tags" (邮件标签) tab you just visited from the DM admin console page, you can find Sender Address or Email Tag easily.
Fill out the Aliyun DM Connector settings:
- Fill out the accessKeyId and accessKeySecret fields with access key pairs you've got from step 1.
- Fill out the accountName and fromAlias field with "Sender Address" and "Email Tag" which were found in step 2. All templates will share this signature name. (You can leave fromAlias blank as it is OPTIONAL.)
- You can add multiple DM connector templates for different cases. Here is an example of adding a single template:
  - Fill out the subject field, which will work as title of the sending email.
  - Fill out the content field with arbitrary string-type contents. Do not forget to leave {{code}} placeholder for random verification code.
  - Fill out usageType field with either Register, SignIn, ForgotPassword or Generic for different use cases. (usageType is a Logto property to identify the proper use case.) In order to enable full user flows, templates with usageType Register, SignIn, ForgotPassword and Generic are required.

Test Aliyun DM connector

You can type in an email address and click on "Send" to see whether the settings can work before "Save and Done".

That's it. Don't forget to Enable connector in sign-in experience.

Config types

Name	Type
accessKeyId	string
accessKeySecret	string
accountName	string
fromAlias	string (OPTIONAL)
templates	Template[]

Template Properties	Type	Enum values
subject	string	N/A
content	string	N/A
usageType	enum string	'Register' \| 'SignIn' \| 'ForgotPassword' \| 'Generic'

Save your configuration

Double check you have filled out necessary values in the Logto connector configuration area. Click "Save and Done" (or "Save changes") and the Aliyun Direct Mail connector should be available now.

Once you create a connector successfully, you can enable phone number-based passwordless login and registration.

Navigate to Console > Sign-in experience > Sign-up and sign-in.
Set up sign-up methods (Optional):
1. Select "Email address" or "Email or phone number" as the sign-up identifier.
2. "Verify at sign-up" is forced to be enabled. You can also enable "Create a password" on registration.
Set up sign-in methods:
1. Select Email address as one of sign-in identifiers. You can provide multiple available identifiers (email, phone number, and username).
2. Select "Verification code" and / or "Password" as the authentication factor.
Click "Save changes" and test it in "Live preview".

In addition to registration and login via OTPs, you can also have password recovery and -based security verification enabled, as well as linking Email address to profile. See End-user flows for more details.

Testing and Validation

Return to your Webflow app. You should now be able to sign in with Aliyun Direct Mail. Enjoy!

Create an application in Logto​

Integrate Webflow with Logto​

Init Logto Provider​

Implement sign-in​

Regarding redirect-based sign-in​

Configure sign-in redirect URI​

Implement a sign-in button​

Handle redirect​

Implement sign-out​

Implement a sign-out button​

Handle authentication status​

Checkpoint: Test your Webflow site​

Add Aliyun Direct Mail connector​

Set up Aliyun email connector​

Set up an email service in Aliyun DirectMail Console​

Create an Aliyun account​

Enable and configure Aliyun Direct Mail​

Compose the connector JSON​

Test Aliyun DM connector​

Config types​

Save your configuration​

Enable Aliyun Direct Mail connector in Sign-in Experience​

Testing and Validation​

Further readings​