Flask Social Login with Github

Hello Coders!

This article presents an open-source seed project that implements Github social login using Flask framework and Flask-Dance library. The project source code can be downloaded and used from Github (MIT Licence) and also configured to work with other well-known OAuth2 providers like Google, or Facebook. Thanks for reading!

Flask Social Login - Source Code (published on Github)

The code uses Flask-Dance to bridge the authentication flow to the Github OAuth interface. In order to make the app more appealing a few simple pages styled with Bootstrap 5 are also provided.

The authentication flow provided by Flask-Dance library requires only a few lines of code to implement a Social Authentication via Github and the first thing we need to do is to access Github and create a new OAuth application that will provide OAUTH_CLIENT_ID and OAUTH_SECRET_KEY required by Flask-dance library.

Create OAuth APP on Github

In order to do this, please access Github -> Settings (top right corner) -> Developer Settings from the left menu.

Access the OAuth Apps item from the left menu and click to create a new APP:

Once the new page is loaded we can create a sample APP. The most important settings are listed bellow:

• Client ID - (readonly) generated by Github - to be saved in .env file
• Client Secrets - we need to generate one and use it in .env file
• Application Name - important for public services
• Homepage URL: https://localhost:5000
• Authorization callback URL: https://localhost:5000/login/github/authorized

Please note that all URLs use HTTPS schema, something that we need to take care in our project. Once the project is saved, we can go back to our project, save the information provided by Github and start it.

Compile project from sources

As mentioned before, source code is published on Github and we can start and test this simple project with a few lines type in the terminal. Please note that the project requires a minimal programming kit already installed in the workstation:

• Python3 - a modern script language used for many types of projects
• GIT - a command-line tool used to download sources from Github
• A modern code editor - VSCode or Atom

Once all tools are installed and accessible in the terminal we can proceed further and compile the project by following the instruction provided by the README file.

Step #1 - Clone sources (public repo)

$ # Clone the sources
$ git clone https://github.com/app-generator/flask-social-login.git
$ cd flask-social-login

Step #2 - Create a virtual environment

$ # Virtualenv modules installation (Unix based systems)
$ virtualenv env
$ source env/bin/activate
$
$ # Virtualenv modules installation (Windows based systems)
$ # virtualenv env
$ # .\env\Scripts\activate

Step #3 - Install dependencies

$ # Install requirements
$ pip3 install -r requirements.txt

Step #4 - Set Up Environment

$ # Set the FLASK_APP environment variable
$ (Unix/Mac) export FLASK_APP=run.py
$ (Windows) set FLASK_APP=run.py
$ (Powershell) $env:FLASK_APP = ".\run.py"

Step #5 - Creating an OAuth App (on Github)

• SignIN to Github
• Access Settings -> Developer Settings -> OAuth Apps
• Edit your OAuth App
  • App Name
  • App Description
  • (mandatory) HomePage: https://localhost:5000
  • (mandatory) Authorization callback URL: https://localhost:5000/login/github/authorized
  • Generate a new secret key

Step #6 - Edit/Rename .env.sample to .env and edit the file

• GITHUB_OAUTH_CLIENT_ID - value provided by Github (step #5)
• GITHUB_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET - value provided by Github (step #5)

Step #7 - (optional) Enable DEBUG Environment (local development)

$ # Set up the DEBUG environment
$ (Unix/Mac) export FLASK_ENV=development
$ (Windows) set FLASK_ENV=development
$ (Powershell) $env:FLASK_ENV = "development"

Step #8 - Start the project (HTTPS)

$ flask run --cert=adhoc
$
$ # Access the app in browser: HTTPS://127.0.0.1:5000/

At this point, the app should be up & running in the browser ready to successfully authenticate users via Github.

Thanks for reading! For more resources, please access:

• Free Admin Dashboards - a curated list with starters
• Flask User Authentication - blog article (provides free sample)