CLI Authentication

CLI Authentication#

The command line tools uctl or union must authenticate to Union in order to perform operations on the platform. The authentication mechanism is configured in the config.yaml file used by the command line tool. There are three authentication mechanisms available: PKCE, DeviceFlow, and ClientSecret.

PKCE#

Proof Key of Code Exchange (PKCE) is the default mechanism. It opens a browser window allowing the user to login. The authentication flow with this mechanism works like this:

  • The user invokes uctl or union to perform an operation in Union.

  • A browser window opens allowing the user to log in.

  • On successful login, the command-line action completes.

Here is an example config.yaml that uses PKCE:

admin:
  endpoint: https://<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
  insecure: false
  authType: Pkce
logger:
  show-source: true
  level: 0
union:
  connection:
    host: https://<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
    insecure: false
  auth:
    type: Pkce

DeviceFlow#

With DeviceFlow the command line tool returns a URL that the user can then navigate to. The authentication flow with this mechanism works like this:

  • The user invokes uctl or union to perform an operation in Union.

  • The command returns a URL.

  • The user navigates to that URL and follows the instructions.

  • Upon successful login, the command-line action completes.

Here is an example config.yaml that uses DeviceFlow:

admin:
  endpoint: dns:///<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
  insecure: false
  authType: DeviceFlow
logger:
  show-source: true
  level: 0
union:
  connection:
    host: dns:///<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
    insecure: false
  auth:
    type: DeviceFlow

Note

During authentication, Union attempts to store an authentication token on the keyring service of the operating system. If you are authenticating from within an SSH session on a Linux based machine, there may not be a keyring service by default. If you find that browser based authentication is required every time you run or register your workflows, you may need to run pip install keyring or pip install keyrings.alt to install a keyring service on your machine.

ClientSecret#

This is the headless option. It is useful for CIs and other bots.

The authentication flow with ClientSecret works like this:

  • The user (or machine bot) invokes uctl or union to perform an operation in Union.

  • Internally the tool authenticates to using the configured secret.

  • Upon successful authentication, the command-line action completes.

With this mechanism, you need to first set up an application. Create the app as described in Applications, assigning it a clientId and recording the AppSecret that is returned.

You then store the AppSecret in either a local file or an environment variable and set up your config.yaml to reference it.

Here is an example config.yaml that uses ClientSecret with a file:

admin:
  endpoint: dns:///<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
  insecure: false
  authType: ClientSecret
  clientId: <YourAppId>
  clientSecretLocation: /path/to/secret.txt
logger:
  show-source: true
  level: 0
union:
  connection:
    host: dns:///<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
    insecure: false
  auth:
    type: ClientSecret
    clientId: <YourAppId>
    clientSecretLocation: /path/to/secret.txt

Here is an example that uses ClientSecret with an environment variable:

admin:
  endpoint: dns:///<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
  insecure: false
  authType: ClientSecret
  clientId: <YourAppId>
  clientSecretEnvVar: YOUR_APP_SECRET
logger:
  show-source: true
  level: 0
union:
  connection:
    host: dns:///<YourOrg>.hosted.unionai.cloud
    insecure: false
  auth:
    type: ClientSecret
    clientId: <YourAppId>
    clientSecretEnvVar: YOUR_APP_SECRET
Contents