Ngnix plus as api gateway with JWT authorisation

Question

We are trying to get the ngnix + work as an API gateway with JWT token authorization.

https://auth0.com/blog/use-nginx-plus-and-auth0-to-authenticate-api-clients/

We are following the below document , but one question is not clear , how the front end will get the JWT token , that need to be passes as -H in every request ? Logically, the ngnix should expose one api to generate tokens. How this can be achieved.

Answer 1

Nginx can only validate, not generate JWT. You need to generate the JWT inside your application using the same secret key. See the Nginx blog for an example (Section "Issuing a JWT to API Clients"). In their example, they issue a JWT using shell commands but of course you can also do this with a JWT library of your choice inside your application.