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This section explains how to authenticate your API requests to the WaaS service in Cobo Portal Apps using Cobo OAuth.

Cobo OAuth vs Cobo Auth

Cobo Auth and Cobo OAuth are two authentication mechanisms. Cobo Auth identifies clients using an API key and an API secret, while Cobo OAuth identifies clients using an app key and an app secret, and controls access to resources in other organizations through an Org Access Token, along with its permissions and scopes.
  • If you are developing Cobo Portal Apps for installation and use across different organizations, use Cobo OAuth to authenticate your API requests.
  • If you are developing other types of apps to access data and resources within your own organization, use Cobo Auth instead. For more details about Cobo Auth, refer to Authentication with Cobo Auth.

With the WaaS SDK

If you are using the WaaS SDK, you only need to provide the app secret and Org Access Token in the API request as follows:

Without the WaaS SDK

If you donโ€™t use the WaaS SDK, you need to provide all the required authentication information in the request header as follows:

App key and app secret

To ensure secure and authenticated communication between Cobo Portal Apps and the WaaS 2.0 service, a mechanism based on the app key and app secret is used. This mechanism relies on cryptographic key pairs to verify the identity of the app and the integrity of the requests.

App key

The app key is the public key in the cryptographic key pair. It is used to identify the Cobo Portal App making the API request.

App secret

The app secret is the private key in the key pair. It is used to sign API requests, guaranteeing their authenticity and integrity. The app secret must always remain confidential and secure to prevent unauthorized access. The app key and app secret form a cryptographic key pair that enables secure communication with the WaaS service:
  • The app key is included in API requests to identify the application to the WaaS service. It is also required in the app manifest file. For more information, refer to Configure the manifest file.
  • The app secret signs the requests. The WaaS service verifies the signature to confirm the requestโ€™s authenticity and integrity.

Generate an app key and an app secret

This section introduces three ways to generate an app key pair (an app key and an app secret) using the Ed25519 algorithm. You can also generate app key pairs using other tools that use the Ed25519 algorithm. The public key will be used as an app key, and the private key will be used as an app secret.

Use Cobo CLI

Cobo Command Line Interface (CLI) is a powerful developer tool designed to help you build, test, and manage your integration with Cobo Wallet-as-a-Service (WaaS) 2.0 directly from the command line.
  1. Install Cobo CLI using the following command:
    For more details about the system requirements for Cobo CLI, please refer to Install Cobo CLI.
  2. Use the keys generate command to generate an app key pair using the Ed25519 algorithm as follows:
    Generated keys are securely stored in your configuration file (default: ~/.cobo/config.toml). For more information about this command, refer to Key management.

Use OpenSSL

In a terminal window, run the following OpenSSL commands to generate a key pair using the Ed25519 algorithm:
You will see the output similar to the following example:
Use the Private Key (Hex) as your app secret and the Public Key (Hex) as your app key.

Use a Python library

  1. Install the PyNaCl Python library. In a terminal window, run the following command:
  2. Generate a key pair. Import the function from the Python library to generate a key pair using the Ed25519 algorithm as follows:

Calculate an API signature

The following steps introduce how to calculate an API signature.
  1. First, concatenate a string based on your request as follows: str_to_sign = {METHOD}|{PATH}|{TIMESTAMP}|{PARAMS}|{BODY}
  2. Use the hashlib library to perform SHA-256 hashing twice on the string as follows:
  3. Use your app secret to sign the string as follows:
Now youโ€™ve calculated an API signature.