🛡️ Authentik

This guide walks you through setting up Authentik as an OIDC provider for Booklore. By the end, your users will be able to sign in to Booklore with their Authentik account.

The setup has two parts: creating an OAuth2 application in Authentik, then entering the credentials in Booklore. The whole process takes about 5 minutes.

Already have OIDC working?

This guide covers the initial setup. For details on user provisioning, group mapping, OIDC-Only Mode, and other advanced features, see the OIDC Settings reference.

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🚀 Part 1: Configure Authentik

Create the Application

Open your Authentik admin dashboard and click "Create a new application". This launches the setup wizard.

Fill in the application details:

• Name: Booklore (this is what users see on the Authentik dashboard)
• Slug: booklore (used in URLs, keep it lowercase)

Click Next.

Select Provider Type

Choose OAuth2/OpenID Provider and click Next.

Configure the Provider

• Name: Booklore OAuth2
• Authorization Flow: default-provider-authorization-implicit-consent (users won't be prompted to approve access each time they log in)
• Client Type: Public (Booklore uses PKCE, so a client secret isn't needed)

Set Up Redirect URIs

This tells Authentik where to send users after they authenticate. The redirect URI must match exactly or the login will fail.

Add the following (replace books.example.com with your actual Booklore domain):

• Strict: https://books.example.com/oauth2-callback
• Regex: https://books.example.com/*

Where do I find the exact Redirect URI?

After you configure the provider in Booklore (Part 2), the OIDC settings page shows a Provider Configuration Reference panel with the exact Redirect URI, Post-Logout Redirect URI, and Back-Channel Logout URI. You can come back to Authentik and update these to match exactly.

Set the Signing Key to authentik Self-signed Certificate.

Local development example:

Strict: http://localhost:4200/oauth2-callback
Regex: http://localhost:4200/*

Configure Scopes

Add these scopes (all required):

Scope	Why Booklore needs it
openid	Required for OIDC. Provides the user's unique subject identifier.
profile	Username and display name.
email	Email address for notifications and email-to-device.
offline_access	Allows Booklore to issue refresh tokens for extended sessions.

Click Save.

Bind Users

Control which Authentik users can access Booklore. Users who aren't bound to the application won't see it in their dashboard and can't authenticate.

• Type: Select User to bind individual users, or Group to bind all members of a group
• Select the users or groups who should have access
• Click Save Binding

Use groups for easier management

Create a group like booklore-users in Authentik and bind it to the application. Then just add or remove users from the group instead of editing bindings each time. This also pairs well with Booklore's Group Mapping feature.

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🔑 Part 2: Get Your Credentials

You need two values from Authentik to configure Booklore: the Client ID and the Issuer URL.

Go to Applications > Providers and click on the provider you just created.

Copy these two values:

Value	Where to find it	Example
Client ID	Shown on the provider detail page	a1b2c3d4e5f6... (long alphanumeric string)
Issuer URL	Listed as "OpenID Configuration Issuer"	https://auth.example.com/application/o/booklore/

Keep these handy for the next step.

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⚙️ Part 3: Configure Booklore

Navigate to Settings > OIDC in Booklore.

Fill in the provider configuration:

Field	Value
Provider Name	Authentik (shown on the login button)
Client ID	Paste the Client ID from Authentik
Client Secret	Leave empty (public client)
Issuer URI	Paste the Issuer URL from Authentik (include the trailing slash)

The default claim mappings work with Authentik out of the box:

Claim	Value
Username	preferred_username
Email	email
Display Name	name
Groups	groups

Click Test Connection to verify Booklore can reach Authentik's discovery endpoint. All checks should pass.

Click Save, then toggle OIDC Login to ON in the Login Methods section.

Optional: Configure Back-Channel Logout

For sessions to stay in sync (so logging out of Authentik also logs the user out of Booklore), configure back-channel logout in Authentik:

1. In Booklore's OIDC settings, find the Provider Configuration Reference panel
2. Copy the Back-Channel Logout URI
3. In Authentik, go to your provider settings and paste it into the Backchannel Logout URL field

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🧪 Test It

The fastest way to test without logging out of your admin account:

1. Go to Authentik > Directory > Users, select a user bound to Booklore, and click Impersonate
2. Navigate to your Booklore instance. You should see the Authentik login/dashboard.

3. Click the Booklore tile. You should be redirected and logged in automatically.

4. Verify the username and email are correct, and that you can access your libraries.

Alternative: Open an incognito window, go to Booklore, and click "Sign in with Authentik".

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🔧 What's Next

Now that basic OIDC is working, you can configure additional features in Booklore's OIDC Settings:

• User Provisioning: Automatically create Booklore accounts when users sign in for the first time
• Group Mapping: Map Authentik groups to Booklore permissions and library access (Authentik includes groups in the groups claim by default, no extra configuration needed)
• OIDC-Only Mode: Hide the local login form and redirect everyone to Authentik
• Account Linking: Migrate existing local users to OIDC without losing their data

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🛠️ Troubleshooting

Login Redirects But Fails

• The Redirect URI in Authentik must match exactly. Copy it from Booklore's Provider Configuration Reference panel.
• Check that all four scopes (openid, profile, email, offline_access) are assigned to the provider.
• Verify the Client ID has no extra spaces.

"User Not Provisioned" Error

Auto-provisioning is off by default. Either enable it in OIDC Settings, or create a Booklore user with a username that exactly matches the Authentik preferred_username (case-sensitive).

"Invalid Client" Error

• Make sure the provider is set to Public client type.
• Check that the Issuer URI ends with a trailing slash (Authentik requires it).

User Logged In But Wrong Permissions

If you're using group mapping, check that:

• The group names in Authentik match the Group Claim values in your Booklore mappings (case-sensitive)
• Group Sync Mode is set to something other than Disabled

Back-Channel Logout Not Working

• The Back-Channel Logout URI must be reachable from Authentik's server. If both run on the same Docker network, use the internal hostname (e.g., http://booklore:8080/api/v1/auth/oidc/backchannel-logout).
• Not all Authentik versions support back-channel logout. Check your Authentik version.

Can't Access Booklore At All

• Admin backdoor: /login?local=true
• Nuclear option: set FORCE_DISABLE_OIDC=true as an environment variable and restart

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📚 Additional Resources

• Authentik Documentation
• Booklore OIDC Settings Reference