@ydbjs/auth

The @ydbjs/auth package provides authentication utilities for interacting with YDB services. It supports static credentials, token-based authentication, anonymous access, and VM metadata providers.

Features

• Static credentials support
• Token-based authentication
• Anonymous access for development and testing
• VM metadata authentication (Google Cloud, Yandex Cloud)
• Environment-based auto-detection of auth method and TLS
• TypeScript support with type definitions

Installation

Install the package using npm:

npm install @ydbjs/[email protected]@alpha

How Authentication Works with YDB

YDB requires authentication for most operations. The credentials provider you choose attaches authentication data to each gRPC request:

• Static credentials: The SDK sends your username and password to the YDB AuthService using a gRPC call. The server responds with a session token. This token is then sent as a header (x-ydb-auth-ticket: <token>) in all subsequent requests. The SDK automatically refreshes the token when it expires.
• Access token: The SDK sends the provided token directly as a header (x-ydb-auth-ticket: <token>) with every request. No login call is made.
• Anonymous: No authentication headers are sent. This is useful for local development or open databases.
• VM Metadata: The SDK fetches a token from your cloud provider's metadata service (e.g., Google Cloud, Yandex Cloud) and sends it as a header (x-ydb-auth-ticket: <token>). The token is refreshed automatically as needed.

Note: The SDK handles all token management and header injection automatically when you pass a credentials provider to the YDB driver. You do not need to manually manage tokens or headers.

Usage

Using with YDB Driver

import { Driver } from '@ydbjs/core'
import { query } from '@ydbjs/query'
import { StaticCredentialsProvider } from '@ydbjs/auth/static'

const driver = new Driver('grpc://localhost:2136/local', {
  credentialsProvider: new StaticCredentialsProvider({
    username: 'username',
    password: 'password',
  }),
})
await driver.ready()

const sql = query(driver)
const result = await sql`SELECT 1`

Static Credentials (Manual Usage)

import { StaticCredentialsProvider } from '@ydbjs/auth/static'

const provider = new StaticCredentialsProvider(
  {
    username: 'username',
    password: 'password',
  },
  'grpc://localhost:2136/local'
)

const token = await provider.getToken()
// The token can be used in custom gRPC calls if needed

Token-Based Authentication

import { AccessTokenCredentialsProvider } from '@ydbjs/auth/access-token'

const provider = new AccessTokenCredentialsProvider({
  token: 'your-access-token',
})

// Use with driver
import { Driver } from '@ydbjs/core'
const driver = new Driver('grpc://localhost:2136/local', {
  credentialsProvider: provider,
})
await driver.ready()

Anonymous Access

import { Driver } from '@ydbjs/core'
import { AnonymousCredentialsProvider } from '@ydbjs/auth/anonymous'

const driver = new Driver('grpc://localhost:2136/local', {
  credentialsProvider: new AnonymousCredentialsProvider(),
})
await driver.ready()

VM Metadata Authentication (Cloud)

import { MetadataCredentialsProvider } from '@ydbjs/auth/metadata'

const provider = new MetadataCredentialsProvider({
  // Optional: override endpoint or flavor for your cloud
  // endpoint: 'http://169.254.169.254/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token',
  // flavor: 'Google',
})

import { Driver } from '@ydbjs/core'
const driver = new Driver('grpc://localhost:2136/local', {
  credentialsProvider: provider,
})
await driver.ready()

Environment-Based Auto-Detection

EnvironCredentialsProvider auto-detects the authentication method and TLS configuration from environment variables:

import { Driver } from '@ydbjs/core'
import { EnvironCredentialsProvider } from '@ydbjs/auth/environ'

let cs = process.env.YDB_CONNECTION_STRING!
let creds = new EnvironCredentialsProvider(cs)

let driver = new Driver(cs, {
  credentialsProvider: creds,
  secureOptions: creds.secureOptions,
})
await driver.ready()

Credentials are detected in priority order:

| Variable | Auth method | | ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | YDB_ANONYMOUS_CREDENTIALS=1 | Anonymous | | YDB_METADATA_CREDENTIALS=1 | Cloud metadata | | YDB_METADATA_CREDENTIALS_ENDPOINT | Custom metadata endpoint (default: GCE metadata) | | YDB_METADATA_CREDENTIALS_FLAVOR | Custom metadata flavor (default: Google) | | YDB_ACCESS_TOKEN_CREDENTIALS | Access token | | YDB_STATIC_CREDENTIALS_USER | Username for static auth | | YDB_STATIC_CREDENTIALS_PASSWORD | Password (default: empty) | | YDB_STATIC_CREDENTIALS_ENDPOINT | Auth endpoint (default: derived from connection string) |

TLS options are read from YDB_SSL_ROOT_CERTIFICATES_FILE / YDB_SSL_ROOT_CERTIFICATES, YDB_SSL_CERTIFICATE_FILE / YDB_SSL_CERTIFICATE, YDB_SSL_PRIVATE_KEY_FILE / YDB_SSL_PRIVATE_KEY. See the environ example for full details.

What is Sent to YDB Server

• For Static Credentials and VM Metadata: The SDK first obtains a token (via login or metadata service), then sends x-ydb-auth-ticket: <token> in every gRPC request.
• For Access Token: The SDK sends x-ydb-auth-ticket: <token> in every gRPC request.
• For Anonymous: No authentication header is sent.

You do not need to manually set headers; the SDK handles this for you.

License

This project is licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

Links

• YDB Documentation
• GitHub Repository
• Issues