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Integrate with WordPress

Support level: Community

What is WordPress?​

WordPress is an open source publishing platform used to create websites, blogs, and other web content.

-- https://wordpress.org/

Plugin selection

There are many WordPress plugins that support SSO with different authentication protocols. This guide uses the OpenID Connect Generic Client plugin by Jonathan Daggerhart from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Preparation​

The following placeholders are used in this guide:

  • wp.company is the FQDN of the WordPress installation.
  • authentik.company is the FQDN of the authentik installation.
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This documentation lists only the settings that you need to change from their default values. Be aware that any changes other than those explicitly mentioned in this guide could cause issues accessing your application.

authentik configuration​

To support the integration of WordPress with authentik, you need to create an application/provider pair in authentik.

Create an application and provider​

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.

  2. Navigate to Applications > Applications and click New Application to open the application wizard.

    • Application: provide a descriptive name, an optional group for the type of application, the policy engine mode, and optional UI settings. Set the Launch URL to https://wp.company/wp-login.php.
    • Choose a Provider type: select OAuth2/OpenID Connect as the provider type.
    • Configure the Provider: provide a name (or accept the auto-provided name), the authorization flow to use for this provider, and the following required configurations.
      • Note the Client ID, Client Secret, and application slug values because they will be required later.
      • Set a Strict redirect URI to https://wp.company/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?action=openid-connect-authorize.
      • Select any available signing key.
      • Under Advanced protocol settings > Scopes, add authentik default OAuth Mapping: OpenID 'offline_access' to the Selected Scopes list.
    • Configure Bindings (optional): you can create a binding (policy, group, or user) to manage the listing and access to applications on a user's Application Dashboard page.

  3. Click Submit to save the new application and provider.

Redirect URI

If WordPress is installed in a subdirectory, use the Redirect URI shown in the OpenID Connect Generic Client plugin's Notes section instead of the example redirect URI.

WordPress configuration​

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This guide assumes that you have installed and activated the OpenID Connect Generic Client plugin.

  1. Log in to WordPress as an administrator.
  2. In the WordPress dashboard, navigate to Settings > OpenID Connect Client.
  3. Expand Quick Setup: Import from Discovery Document and set the Discovery URL to https://authentik.company/application/o/<application_slug>/.well-known/openid-configuration.
  4. Click Load Configuration.
  5. Review the populated endpoint settings, then configure the following settings:
    • Client ID: <Client ID from authentik>
    • Client Secret Key: <Client Secret from authentik>
    • OpenID Scope: email profile openid offline_access
  6. Click Save Changes.
Refresh tokens

The offline_access scope lets WordPress use refresh tokens for longer-lived sessions.

Optional settings

Review the WordPress plugin's optional settings for your environment. Common settings include Link Existing Users, Create user if does not exist, and Enforce Privacy.

Configuration verification​

To confirm that authentik is properly configured with WordPress, log out of WordPress and open the WordPress integration from authentik. On the WordPress login page, click Login with OpenID Connect and authenticate with authentik.

Resources​