page_type	sample
languages	javascript typescript
products	node-js ms-graph msal-node azure-app-service azure-key-vault azure-resource-manager microsoft-entra-id microsoft-identity-platform
description	Tutorial: Enable your Node.js & Express web app to sign-in users and call APIs with the Microsoft identity platform
urlFragment	ms-identity-javascript-nodejs-tutorial

Tutorial: Enable your Node.js & Express web app to sign-in users and call APIs with the Microsoft identity platform

The Microsoft identity platform and Microsoft Entra ID are central to the Azure cloud ecosystem. This tutorial aims to take you through the fundamentals of modern authentication with Node.js, using the Microsoft Authentication Library for Node.js (MSAL Node).

This tutorial also features a simple wrapper around MSAL Node ConfidentialClientApplication class in order to streamline routine authentication tasks such as login, logout, token acquisition. You can find the wrapper here: msal-node-wrapper. Fork it and customize as you need. Suggestions and contributions are welcome!

⚠️ msal-node-wrapper is for demo purposes only and is not recommended for production applications. If you're looking for using MSAL Node directly in your web app, please refer to:

• Express.js web app using MSAL Node to authenticate users with Microsoft Entra ID and call Microsoft Graph
• A React SPA on an Express.js web app using the Backend For Frontend (BFF) Proxy architecture to authenticate users with Microsoft Entra ID and call Microsoft Graph

For new basic sign-in and Microsoft Graph implementations, start with ms-identity-node, which uses MSAL Node directly. Chapters 1 and 2 remain available as legacy, wrapper-based prerequisites for the deployment and access-control chapters in this tutorial.

We recommend following the chapters in successive order. However, the code samples are self-contained, so feel free to pick samples by topics that you may need at the moment.

⚠️ This is a work in progress. Come back frequently to discover more samples.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (>= v16.x)
• Express.js (>= v4.x)
• Visual Studio Code
• VS Code Azure Tools Extension
• A modern web browser

Please refer to each chapter's README for sample-specific prerequisites.

Recommendations

• jwt.ms for inspecting your tokens
• Fiddler for monitoring your network activity and troubleshooting
• Check the MSAL Node FAQ for your questions first
• Follow the Microsoft Entra ID Blog to stay up-to-date with the latest developments

Please refer to each chapter's README for sample-specific recommendations.

Contents

Chapter 1: Add Authentication to your web app

	Sign-in with Microsoft Entra ID (legacy tutorial prerequisite) Sign-in your users with Microsoft Entra ID and learn to work with ID Tokens. For new applications, use ms-identity-node.

Chapter 2: Sign-in a user and get an Access Token for Microsoft Graph

	Get an Access Token from Microsoft Entra ID and call Microsoft Graph (legacy tutorial prerequisite) Authenticate your users and acquire an Access Token for Microsoft Graph. For new applications, use ms-identity-node.

Chapter 3: Deploy your app to Azure

	Deploy to Azure App Service Prepare your app for deployment to various Azure services. Learn how to package and upload files, configure authentication parameters and use Azure services for managing your operations.

Chapter 4: Control access to your app using App Roles and Security Groups

	Use App Roles for access control Define App Roles and use roles claim in a token to implement Role-based Access Control (RBAC) for your web app.
	Use Security Groups for access control Create Security Groups and use groups claim in a token to implement Role-based Access Control (RBAC) for your web app.

Chapter 5: Dive into advanced scenarios

	Authenticate using Backend for Frontend proxy Sign-in users via the Backend for Frontend proxy pattern in a React SPA hosted on top of a Node.js & Express web app using MSAL Node.

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More information

Learn more about the Microsoft identity platform:

• Microsoft identity platform
• Overview of Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL)
• Application types for Microsoft identity platform
• Understanding Microsoft Entra application consent experiences
• Understand user and admin consent
• Application and service principal objects in Microsoft Entra ID
• Microsoft identity platform best practices and recommendations

See more code samples:

• MSAL code samples

Community Help and Support

Use Stack Overflow to get support from the community. Ask your questions on Stack Overflow first and browse existing issues to see if someone has asked your question before. Make sure that your questions or comments are tagged with [ms-identity azure-ad msal node].

If you find a bug in the sample, please raise the issue on GitHub Issues.

To provide a recommendation, visit the following User Voice page.

Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.

Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact opencode@microsoft.com with any additional questions or comments.

Appendix: Archived Azure AD B2C sample

The Azure AD B2C sign-in scenario has been removed from the active tutorial and is no longer maintained. Its last version remains available for reference on the archive/azure-ad-b2c branch:

• Sign in users with Azure AD B2C