Pico-Client-Auth

Pico-Client-Auth provides JWT authentication for pico-fastapi applications. It integrates with the pico-ioc container to deliver automatic Bearer token validation, a request-scoped SecurityContext, role-based access control, and JWKS key rotation support.

Requires Python 3.11+ Built on pico-fastapi + pico-ioc Fully async-compatible Real JWKS-based token validation Auth by default with opt-out via @allow_anonymous

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Why pico-client-auth?

Concern	DIY Middleware	pico-client-auth
Token validation	Implement yourself	Built-in with JWKS
Key rotation	Manual handling	Automatic on unknown kid
Security context	request.state ad-hoc	Typed SecurityContext with ContextVar
Role checking	Scattered if/else	@requires_role decorator
Configuration	Hardcoded	@configured from YAML/env
Testing	Build your own fixtures	RSA keypair + make_token pattern

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Core Features

• Auth by default on all routes
• @allow_anonymous to opt out specific endpoints
• @requires_role("admin") for declarative role-based authorization
• @requires_group("team-id") for group-based access control
• SecurityContext accessible from controllers, services, and any code within a request
• JWKS fetch with TTL cache and automatic key rotation
• Extensible RoleResolver protocol
• Fail-fast startup if issuer/audience are missing
• Auto-discovered via pico_boot.modules entry point
• Post-quantum ready: ML-DSA-65 / ML-DSA-87 signature verification (optional pqc extra)

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Installation

pip install pico-client-auth

# With post-quantum (ML-DSA) support
pip install pico-client-auth[pqc]

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Quick Example

# application.yaml
auth_client:
  issuer: https://auth.example.com
  audience: my-api

from pico_fastapi import controller, get
from pico_client_auth import SecurityContext, allow_anonymous, requires_role, requires_group

@controller(prefix="/api")
class ApiController:

    @get("/me")
    async def get_me(self):
        claims = SecurityContext.require()
        return {"sub": claims.sub, "email": claims.email}

    @get("/health")
    @allow_anonymous
    async def health(self):
        return {"status": "ok"}

    @get("/admin")
    @requires_role("admin")
    async def admin_panel(self):
        return {"admin": True}

from pico_boot import init
from pico_ioc import configuration, YamlTreeSource
from fastapi import FastAPI

config = configuration(YamlTreeSource("application.yaml"))
container = init(modules=["controllers"], config=config)
app = container.get(FastAPI)
# pico-client-auth is auto-discovered — all routes are now protected

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Quick Example (without pico-boot)

from pico_ioc import init, configuration, YamlTreeSource
from fastapi import FastAPI

config = configuration(YamlTreeSource("application.yaml"))
container = init(
    modules=[
        "controllers",
        "pico_fastapi",
        "pico_client_auth",  # Required without pico-boot
    ],
    config=config,
)
app = container.get(FastAPI)

---

SecurityContext

Access authenticated user information from anywhere within a request:

from pico_client_auth import SecurityContext

# In controller, service, or repository
claims = SecurityContext.require()    # TokenClaims (raises if not auth'd)
claims = SecurityContext.get()         # TokenClaims | None
roles  = SecurityContext.get_roles()   # list[str]
SecurityContext.has_role("admin")      # bool
SecurityContext.require_role("admin")  # raises InsufficientPermissionsError
groups = SecurityContext.get_groups()  # tuple[str, ...]
SecurityContext.has_group("team-id")   # bool
SecurityContext.require_group("team")  # raises InsufficientPermissionsError

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Custom Role Resolver

Override how roles are extracted from tokens:

from pico_ioc import component
from pico_client_auth import RoleResolver, TokenClaims

@component
class MyRoleResolver:
    async def resolve(self, claims: TokenClaims, raw_claims: dict) -> list[str]:
        return raw_claims.get("roles", [])

---

Configuration

Key	Default	Description
auth_client.enabled	true	Enable/disable auth middleware
auth_client.issuer	""	Expected JWT issuer (iss claim)
auth_client.audience	""	Expected JWT audience (aud claim)
auth_client.jwks_ttl_seconds	300	JWKS cache TTL in seconds
auth_client.jwks_endpoint	""	JWKS URL (default: {issuer}/api/v1/auth/jwks)
auth_client.accepted_algorithms	["RS256"]	List of accepted JWT signing algorithms

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Testing

from pico_client_auth import SecurityContext, TokenClaims
from pico_client_auth.errors import MissingTokenError

def test_require_raises_when_empty():
    SecurityContext.clear()
    with pytest.raises(MissingTokenError):
        SecurityContext.require()

def test_authenticated_flow():
    claims = TokenClaims(sub="u1", email="a@b.com", role="admin",
                         org_id="o1", jti="j1")
    SecurityContext.set(claims, ["admin"])
    assert SecurityContext.require().sub == "u1"
    assert SecurityContext.has_role("admin")
    SecurityContext.clear()

For full e2e testing with mock JWKS and signed tokens, see the Testing Guide.

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Post-Quantum (ML-DSA) Support

pico-client-auth supports ML-DSA-65 (NIST Level 3) and ML-DSA-87 (NIST Level 5) post-quantum signature verification via the optional pqc extra.

auth_client:
  issuer: https://auth.example.com
  audience: my-api
  accepted_algorithms:
    - RS256
    - ML-DSA-65

ML-DSA tokens use the draft-ietf-cose-dilithium JOSE standard:

• kty: "AKP" (Algorithm Key Pair)
• alg: "ML-DSA-65" or "ML-DSA-87"
• pub: base64url-encoded raw public key

Requires liboqs-python (installed automatically with pip install pico-client-auth[pqc]). When liboqs is not installed, ML-DSA tokens are rejected with AuthConfigurationError.

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How It Works

• AuthFastapiConfigurer (priority=10) registers as an inner middleware
• Every request: extract Bearer token → validate JWT via JWKS → resolve roles → populate SecurityContext
• Algorithm dispatch: RS256 tokens use python-jose, ML-DSA tokens use liboqs
• @allow_anonymous endpoints skip validation entirely
• @requires_role endpoints check resolved roles, return 403 if missing
• @requires_group endpoints check group membership, return 403 if missing
• SecurityContext is cleared in finally — no leakage between requests

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License

MIT