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JWT-Based Authentication with OpenID Connect (OIDC) Explained

Andrios Robert

• 1 min read

The login request hits the server. A token is returned. You trust it—because OpenID Connect (OIDC) with JWT-based authentication makes trust verifiable.

OIDC is an identity layer built on top of OAuth 2.0. It adds a standardized way to retrieve user identity using JSON Web Tokens (JWTs). This combination delivers authentication that is stateless, cryptographically secure, and easy to integrate across systems.

With OIDC, a client requests an ID token from the authorization server after the user authenticates. The ID token is a JWT — a compact, URL-safe string that contains signed claims about the user and the authentication event. Because JWTs are self-contained, your application can validate them locally by checking the signature, issuer, audience, and expiration. No need to call back to the identity provider on every request.

JWT-based authentication under OIDC includes three essential steps:

  1. Authorization Request – The client sends the user to the authorization endpoint with specific parameters, including response_type=id_token and the desired scopes.
  2. Token Issuance – The authorization server signs and returns a JWT as the ID token, often alongside an OAuth access token.
  3. Token Validation – The application verifies the JWT’s signature using the provider’s public keys, typically fetched from the OIDC discovery document (/.well-known/openid-configuration).

Security comes from asymmetric key signing (usually RS256 or ES256), strict claim checks, and short token lifespans. Always validate iss (issuer), sub (subject), and aud (audience). Enforce HTTPS everywhere. Rotate keys on a fixed schedule.

The benefits of JWT-based authentication with OIDC are clear: reduced server load, faster requests, and portability across microservices, APIs, and mobile apps. It works equally well for single sign-on (SSO) in enterprise environments and public-facing applications. By following the OIDC specification, you ensure compatibility with major identity providers such as Google, Azure AD, Okta, and Auth0.

If you need both authentication and authorization without maintaining your own user store, OIDC is the standard to follow. Its JWT tokens provide integrity you can prove, without chasing down session state.

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