For our new friends:

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 sign-in experience (user authentication) with WordPress plugin and Logto.

Prerequisites

• A running Logto instance. Check out the introduction page to get started.
• Basic knowledge of WordPress plugin.
• A usable Aliyun 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 Traditional web application, simply follow these steps:

1. 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.
2. In the opening modal, click the "Traditional web" section or filter all the available "Traditional web" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left. Click the "WordPress" framework card to start creating your application.
3. 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 WordPress with Logto

Install the plugin

From WordPress admin panel

1. Go to Plugins > Add New.
2. Search for "Logto", or enter https://wordpress.org/plugins/logto/ in the search box.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Click Activate.

From upload

1. Download the Logto WordPress plugin from one of the following links:
   • Latest release: Download the file which name in the format of logto-plugin-<version>.zip.
   • WordPress plugin directory: Download the file by clicking the Download button.
2. Download the plugin ZIP file.
3. Go to Plugins > Add New in your WordPress admin panel.
4. Click Upload Plugin.
5. Select the downloaded ZIP file and click Install Now.
6. Click Activate.

Configure the plugin

Now you should be able to see the Logto menu in your WordPress admin panel sidebar. Click Logto > Settings to configure the plugin.

note:

You should have a traditional web application created in Logto Console before configuring the plugin. If you haven't created one, please refer to Integrate Logto into your application for more information.

The minimum configuration to get started for the plugin is:

• Logto endpoint: The endpoint of your Logto tenant.
• App ID: The app ID of your Logto application.
• App secret: One of the valid app secrets of your Logto application.

All values can be found on the application details page in Logto Console.

After filling in the values, click Save Changes (scroll down to the bottom of the page if you can't find the button).

Configure redirect URI

The redirect URI is the URL to which Logto will redirect users after they have authenticated; and the post sign-out redirect URI is the URL to which Logto will redirect users after they have logged out.

Here's a non-normative sequence diagram to illustrate the sign-in flow:

Here's how the sign-out flow looks like in a non-normative sequence diagram:

To learn more about why redirect is needed, see Sign-in experience explained.

In our case, we need to configure both redirect URIs in your Logto Console. To find the redirect URI, go to the Logto > Settings page in your WordPress admin panel. You'll see the Redirect URI and Post sign-out redirect URI fields.

1. Copy the Redirect URI and Post sign-out redirect URI values and paste them into the Redirect URIs and Post sign-out redirect URIs fields in your Logto Console.
2. Click Save changes in Logto Console.

Checkpoint: Test your WordPress website

Now you can test your Logto integration in your WordPress website:

1. Open an incognito browser window if needed.
2. Visit your WordPress website and click the Log in link if applicable; or directly visit the login page (e.g., https://example.com/wp-login.php).
3. The page should redirect you to the Logto sign-in page.
4. Complete the sign-in or sign-up process.
5. After successful authentication, you should be redirected back to your WordPress website and logged in automatically.
6. Click the Log out link to log out of your WordPress website.
7. You should be redirected to the Logto sign-out page, then back to your WordPress website.
8. You should be logged out of your WordPress website.

To learn more about the WordPress plugin settings, see WordPress quick start.

Add Aliyun connector

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

To add a SMS connector, simply follow these steps:

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

note:

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

Set up Aliyun SMS connector

Set up a short message service in Aliyun SMS Console

Create an Aliyun account

Go to the Aliyun website and register your Aliyun account if you don't have one.

Enable and Configure Aliyun Short Message Service

1. Sign-in with your Aliyun account at the Aliyun website and go to the SMS service console page.
2. Click the "Open for free" (免费开通) button on the top left of the SMS service page and begin the configuration process.
3. Read and agree to the "SMS service activation Agreement" (短信服务开通条款) and click "Subscribe to a service" (开通服务) to move on.
4. You are now on the SMS service console page, go to either "Mainland China" (国内消息) or "Outside Mainland China" (国际/港澳台消息) button on the sidebar per your use case.
5. Add signature and template following the guidelines, and provide the materials or information required for review.
   • Remember to select "Verification Code Message" (验证码) as "Scenario" (适用场景) when filling out the signature application and also "Verification Code Message" (验证码) for "Type" (模板类型) when applying for a template review because we are using these signatures and templates to send verification code. Currently, we do not support sending SMS messages other than verification-code-related text messages.
   • Also, use {{code}} as a placeholder where you want to place your digital verification code in template contents.
6. After submitting your SMS signature and template application, you need to wait for it to take effect. At this point, we can go back to the SMS service console page and send a test SMS. If your signatures and templates are ready for use, you can try them directly; if they are not taking effect yet, Aliyun also provides test templates.
   • You may need to recharge a small amount of money before sending test messages.
   • You may also be asked to bind a test phone number before sending test messages. For more details, go to "Quick Start" (快速学习) tab from the sidebar of the SMS service console page.

Compose the connector JSON

1. From the SMS service 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.
2. Go to the "Mainland China" (国内消息) or "Outside Mainland China" (国际/港澳台消息) tab you just visited, you can find "Signature" (签名名称) and "Template Code" (模板 CODE) easily.
   • If you want to use the test-only signature and template, go to the "Quick Start" (快速学习) tab instead, and you will find them below "Signature & Templates (For Test Only)".
3. Fill out the Aliyun SMS Connector settings:
   • Fill out the accessKeyId and accessKeySecret fields with access key pairs you've got from step 1.
   • Fill out the signName field with "Signature" (签名名称) which is mentioned in step 2. All templates will share this signature name.
   • You can add multiple SMS connector templates for different cases. Here is an example of adding a single template:
     • Fill the templateCode field, which is how you can control SMS context, with "Template Code" (模板 CODE) from step 2.
     • 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 SMS connector

You can type in a phone number 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
signName	string
templates	Template[]

Template Properties	Type	Enum values
templateCode	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 connector should be available now.

Enable Aliyun connector in Sign-in Experience

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

1. Navigate to Console > Sign-in experience > Sign-up and sign-in.
2. Set up sign-up methods (Optional):
   1. Select "Phone number" 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.
3. Set up sign-in methods:
   1. Select Phone number 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.
4. 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 Phone number to profile. See End-user flows for more details.

Testing and Validation

Return to your WordPress plugin app. You should now be able to sign in with Aliyun. Enjoy!

Further readings

End-user flows: Logto provides a out-of-the-box authentication flows including MFA and enterprise SSO, along with powerful APIs for flexible implementation of account settings, security verification, and multi-tenant experience.

Authorization: Authorization defines the actions a user can do or resources they can access after being authenticated. Explore how to protect your API for native and single-page applications and implement Role-based Access Control (RBAC).

Organizations: Particularly effective in multi-tenant SaaS and B2B apps, the organization feature enable tenant creation, member management, organization-level RBAC, and just-in-time-provisioning.

Customer IAM series Our serial blog posts about Customer (or Consumer) Identity and Access Management, from 101 to advanced topics and beyond.