safeguard.js

One Identity Safeguard JavaScript/TypeScript SDK

Support

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Introduction

All functionality in Safeguard is available via the Safeguard API. There is nothing that can be done in the Safeguard UI that cannot also be performed using the Safeguard API programmatically.

safeguard.js is provided to facilitate calling the Safeguard API from JavaScript and TypeScript. It is meant to remove the complexity of dealing with authentication via Safeguard's embedded secure token service (STS). The basic usage is to create a SafeguardClient with your chosen authentication strategy, call connect(), then call API methods using the same authenticated client.

safeguard.js also provides an easy way to call Safeguard A2A from JavaScript. The A2A service requires client certificate authentication for retrieving passwords for application integration. When Safeguard A2A is properly configured, specified passwords can be retrieved with a single method call without requiring access request workflow approvals.

safeguard.js includes an SDK for listening to Safeguard's powerful, real-time event notification system. Safeguard provides role-based event notifications via SignalR to subscribed clients. The PersistentSafeguardEventListener provides automatic reconnection with token refresh for long-running listeners.

Features

• TypeScript-first with full type declarations
• Dual ESM/CJS — works with import and require()
• Node.js and Browser support
• Multiple auth strategies — Password, Certificate, PKCE (browser), PKCE Non-Interactive (headless), Device Code (Node + browser), Token, Anonymous
• A2A client — retrieve/set passwords, SSH keys, API key secrets, broker access requests
• SignalR events — one-shot and persistent event listeners with auto-reconnect
• Secure by default — TLS verification enabled, no secrets in memory longer than needed

Installation

npm install @oneidentity/safeguard

Requires Node.js 20 or later.

Getting Started

Password Authentication (Node.js)

import { SafeguardClient, PasswordAuth, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new PasswordAuth({
    username: 'Admin',
    password: 'Admin123',
    provider: 'Local',
  }),
});

await client.connect();

const me = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Me');
console.log(me);

await client.disconnect();

PKCE Authentication (Browser)

import { SafeguardClient, PkceAuth, handlePkceCallback, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

// On your callback page, call this first:
handlePkceCallback();

// On your main page:
const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new PkceAuth({ redirectUri: window.location.href }),
});

await client.connect(); // Redirects to Safeguard login if no stored tokens

const me = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Me');
console.log(me);

PKCE Non-Interactive (Headless Automation)

For automated scenarios where no browser is available (CI/CD, scripts):

import { SafeguardClient, PkceNonInteractiveAuth, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new PkceNonInteractiveAuth({
    username: 'Admin',
    password: 'Admin123',
    provider: 'Local',
  }),
});

await client.connect();
const me = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Me');
await client.disconnect();

Device Code Login (Node.js and Browser)

For headless and shared environments — containers, SSH sessions, CI/operator consoles — where the SDK cannot open a browser. The SDK requests a device code and polls; the user authenticates in their own browser on any device. Your code owns all display I/O via the required onDeviceCode callback.

This strategy is platform-agnostic and works in both Node.js and the browser.

Appliance prerequisite: the Device Code grant must be enabled in Safeguard settings (Settings -> OAuth 2.0 Grant Types; API Settings/Allowed OAuth2 Grant Types must include DeviceCode). If disabled, DeviceCodeAuth throws a ConfigurationError.

import { SafeguardClient, DeviceCodeAuth, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const abort = new AbortController();
const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new DeviceCodeAuth({
    signal: abort.signal,
    onDeviceCode: ({ verificationUriComplete, verificationUri, userCode, expiresIn, interval }) => {
      console.log(`Open: ${verificationUriComplete ?? verificationUri}`);
      console.log(`Code: ${userCode} (expires in ${expiresIn}s; poll ${interval}s)`);
    },
  }),
});

await client.connect();
const me = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Me');
console.log(me);

In the browser, import from @oneidentity/safeguard/browser and render the URL and code into the DOM instead of the console. Cancel with abort.abort().

Client Certificate Authentication

import { SafeguardClient, CertificateAuth, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new CertificateAuth({
    certFile: '/path/to/client.pem',
    keyFile: '/path/to/client.key',
    passphrase: 'optional-key-passphrase',
  }),
});

await client.connect();
const me = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Me');
await client.disconnect();

Anonymous Access

import { SafeguardClient, AnonymousAuth, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new AnonymousAuth(),
});

await client.connect();
const status = await client.get(Service.NOTIFICATION, 'Status');
console.log(status);

Pre-existing API Token

import { SafeguardClient, TokenAuth, Service } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new TokenAuth({ accessToken: 'your-token-here' }),
});

await client.connect();
const me = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Me');

Calling the API

The client provides typed HTTP methods. Pass relative paths only — the SDK prepends the configured API version automatically (v4 by default):

// GET
const users = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Users');

// GET with query parameters
const filtered = await client.get(Service.CORE, 'Users', {
  query: { filter: "Name eq 'Admin'", fields: 'Id,Name' },
});

// POST (create)
const newUser = await client.post(Service.CORE, 'Users', {
  json: { Name: 'newuser', PrimaryAuthenticationProvider: { Id: -1 } },
});

// PUT (update)
await client.put(Service.CORE, `Users/${newUser.Id}/Password`, {
  json: 'NewPassword123',
});

// DELETE
await client.delete(Service.CORE, `Users/${newUser.Id}`);

Services

| Service | Description | |---------|-------------| | Service.CORE | Most product functionality — access requests, asset management, policy, users | | Service.APPLIANCE | Appliance-specific operations — IP address, maintenance, backups | | Service.NOTIFICATION | Anonymous/unauthenticated — status, availability | | Service.A2A | Application integration — credential retrieval, access request brokering |

A2A (Application to Application)

import { A2AClient, CertificateAuth } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const a2a = new A2AClient('safeguard.sample.corp', {
  auth: new CertificateAuth({
    certFile: 'client.pem',
    keyFile: 'client.key',
  }),
});

// Retrieve a password
const password = await a2a.retrievePassword(apiKey);

// Retrieve an SSH private key
const sshKey = await a2a.retrievePrivateKey(apiKey);

// Set a password (write-back)
await a2a.setPassword(apiKey, 'NewPassword123');

// Discover retrievable accounts
const accounts = await a2a.getRetrievableAccounts();

Event Listeners (SignalR)

Real-time event support requires the optional @microsoft/signalr peer dependency:

npm install @microsoft/signalr

Event classes are imported from the @oneidentity/safeguard/events subpath:

import { SafeguardEventListener } from '@oneidentity/safeguard/events';
import { PasswordAuth, NodeHttpClient, MemoryStorage } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';
import * as signalR from '@microsoft/signalr';

One-Shot Listener

// Authenticate and build SignalR connection
const auth = new PasswordAuth({ username: 'Admin', password: 'Admin123', provider: 'Local' });
const httpClient = new NodeHttpClient();
const storage = new MemoryStorage();
const tokenSet = await auth.authenticate('safeguard.sample.corp', httpClient, storage);

const connection = new signalR.HubConnectionBuilder()
  .withUrl(`https://safeguard.sample.corp/service/event/signalr`, {
    accessTokenFactory: () => tokenSet.accessToken.expose(),
  })
  .withAutomaticReconnect()
  .build();

const listener = new SafeguardEventListener(connection);

listener.on('NotifyEventAsync', (event) => {
  console.log('Event received:', event);
});

await listener.start();

Persistent Listener (Auto-Reconnect)

For long-running processes that need to survive network interruptions and token expiration:

import { PersistentSafeguardEventListener } from '@oneidentity/safeguard/events';

const listener = new PersistentSafeguardEventListener(
  connection, auth, 'safeguard.sample.corp', httpClient, storage,
);

listener.onStateChange((state) => {
  console.log('State:', state);
});

listener.on('NotifyEventAsync', (event) => {
  console.log('Event:', event);
});

await listener.start();

The persistent listener automatically checks token lifetime and refreshes credentials before they expire (with a 60-second safety margin).

Security

Token Storage (Browser)

The SDK stores access tokens in memory only. Tokens do not survive a page refresh, which is the secure default for single-page applications without a backend-for-frontend (BFF).

If your application requires persistence across page reloads, you may explicitly store the token yourself — but be aware this exposes the token to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks:

await client.connect();
// ⚠️ Customer explicitly accepts the XSS risk:
sessionStorage.setItem('my_token', client.accessToken.expose());

For high-security environments, prefer in-memory tokens with re-authentication on refresh, or implement a BFF pattern where tokens never reach the browser.

SecretValue

Credentials and access tokens are wrapped in SecretValue, a class that redacts content from toString(), toJSON(), and console.log() output. This prevents accidental logging of secrets.

To retrieve the raw string value (e.g., for HTTP headers or storage), call .expose():

const tokenSet = await auth.authenticate(host, httpClient, storage);
const raw: string = tokenSet.accessToken.expose(); // explicit opt-in

TLS Verification

TLS certificate verification is enabled by default in this SDK. The Node-side NodeHttpClient constructs an undici.Agent with rejectUnauthorized: true, so connections to an appliance whose certificate chain does not validate are refused at the TLS layer.

Production: provide a custom CA bundle

The correct way to talk to an appliance whose certificate is issued by a private / corporate CA is to provide the CA bundle to the SDK — not to disable verification:

import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
import { SafeguardClient, NodeHttpClient, PasswordAuth } from '@oneidentity/safeguard';

const ca = readFileSync('/etc/ssl/corp-root-ca.pem');

const client = new SafeguardClient('safeguard.corp.example', {
  auth: new PasswordAuth({ /* ... */ }),
});
client.setHttpClient(new NodeHttpClient({ ca, rejectUnauthorized: true }));
await client.connect();

NodeHttpClient accepts a PEM string or Buffer (single cert or concatenated bundle). Verification stays on; only the trust anchor changes.

Development / lab appliances (self-signed)

For local appliances with self-signed certificates the supported opt-out is the per-instance rejectUnauthorized: false flag on the HTTP client:

// Development only — never use in production
client.setHttpClient(new NodeHttpClient({ rejectUnauthorized: false }));

This affects only this SafeguardClient instance.

The NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED environment variable

Node.js honours the process-wide NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 environment variable at the TLS layer below undici. If that variable is set when your program starts, all TLS verification in the entire Node process is disabled — including this SDK's connections, and any other HTTPS calls your application makes (telemetry, package mirrors, third-party APIs, etc.). Node itself prints a one-time warning when the variable is honoured.

This SDK deliberately does not override or unset this variable: it is a documented Node.js mechanism that operators sometimes set intentionally in CI or dev shells, and silently re-enabling verification from the library would be surprising. But you should be aware that:

• It is process-wide, not SDK-specific. Setting it to bypass a lab appliance also exposes every other outbound HTTPS call in the same process.
• It cannot be re-enabled per-connection from JavaScript once set — even new NodeHttpClient({ rejectUnauthorized: true }) is overridden by the env var.
• It must not be set in production. Prefer the custom-CA approach above.

If you find NODE_TLS_REJECT_UNAUTHORIZED=0 in a deployment environment, treat it as a finding to remediate, not as a working configuration.

Host Validation

The SafeguardClient constructor validates the host parameter to prevent injection attacks. Only bare hostnames or IP addresses are accepted — URLs, paths, ports, query strings, and whitespace are rejected with a ConfigurationError.

Token Lifetime

client.getAccessTokenLifetimeRemaining() decodes the JWT exp claim client-side. This is a convenience for scheduling token refresh — never use it as an authorization decision. The server is the sole authority on token validity.

About the Safeguard API

The Safeguard API is a REST-based Web API. Safeguard API endpoints are called using HTTP operators and JSON requests and responses. The Safeguard API is documented using Swagger. You may use Swagger UI to call the API directly or to read the documentation about URLs, parameters, and payloads.

To access the Swagger UI use a browser to navigate to: https://<address>/service/<service>/swagger

• <address> = Safeguard network address
• <service> = Safeguard service to use

To access the Swagger OpenAPI specification: https://<address>/service/<service>/swagger/v4/swagger.json

Query Parameters

| Parameter | Example | Description | |-----------|---------|-------------| | filter | filter=Name eq 'Admin' | Filter results | | fields | fields=Id,Name | Select specific properties | | orderby | orderby=Name or orderby=-Name | Sort ascending/descending | | page | page=0 | Page number (0-based) | | limit | limit=100 | Results per page | | count | count=true | Include total count | | q | q=admin | Full-text search |

Migration from v7.x

See MIGRATION.md for a complete guide to upgrading from the legacy JavaScript API to the v8.0 TypeScript SDK.

Related Projects

| Project | Language | Description | |---------|----------|-------------| | SafeguardDotNet | C# | .NET SDK | | PySafeguard | Python | Python SDK | | SafeguardJava | Java | Java SDK | | safeguard-ps | PowerShell | PowerShell module | | safeguard-bash | Bash | Bash utilities |