Using the Ignore Authentication middleware with Tyk OAS APIs

The Ignore Authentication middleware instructs Tyk Gateway to skip the authentication step for calls to an endpoint, even if authentication is enabled for the API.

When working with Tyk OAS APIs the middleware is configured in the Tyk OAS API Definition. You can do this via the Tyk Dashboard API or in the API Designer.

If you’re using the legacy Tyk Classic APIs, then check out the Tyk Classic page.

Configuring the middleware in the Tyk OAS API Definition

The design of the Tyk OAS API Definition takes advantage of the operationId defined in the OpenAPI Document that declares both the path and method for which the middleware should be added. Endpoint paths entries (and the associated operationId) can contain wildcards in the form of any string bracketed by curly braces, for example /status/{code}. These wildcards are so they are human readable and do not translate to variable names. Under the hood, a wildcard translates to the “match everything” regex of: (.*).

The ignore authentication middleware (ignoreAuthentication) can be added to the operations section of the Tyk OAS Extension (x-tyk-api-gateway) in your Tyk OAS API Definition for the appropriate operationId (as configured in the paths section of your OpenAPI Document).

The ignoreAuthentication object has the following configuration:

• enabled: enable the middleware for the endpoint
• ignoreCase: if set to true then the path matching will be case insensitive

For example:

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{
    "info": {
        "title": "example-ignore-authentication",
        "version": "1.0.0"
    },
    "openapi": "3.0.3",
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "http://localhost:8181/example-ignore-authentication/"
        }
    ], 
    "security": [
        {
            "authToken": []
        }
    ],     
    "paths": {
        "/anything": {
            "get": {
                "operationId": "anythingget",
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": ""
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "securitySchemes": {
            "authToken": {
                "type": "apiKey",
                "in": "header",
                "name": "Authorization"
            }
        }        
    },    
    "x-tyk-api-gateway": {
        "info": {
            "name": "example-ignore-authentication",
            "state": {
                "active": true,
                "internal": false
            }
        },
        "upstream": {
            "url": "http://httpbin.org/"
        },
        "server": {
            "authentication": {
                "enabled": true,
                "securitySchemes": {
                    "authToken": {
                        "enabled": true
                    }
                }
            },
            "listenPath": {
                "strip": true,
                "value": "/example-ignore-authentication/"
            }        
        },
        "middleware": {
            "operations": {
                "anythingget": {
                    "ignoreAuthentication": {
                        "enabled": true
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

In this example the ignore authentication middleware has been configured for requests to the GET /anything endpoint. Any such calls will skip the authentication step in the Tyk Gateway’s processing chain.

• the middleware has been configured to be case sensitive, so calls to GET /Anything will not skip authentication

The configuration above is a complete and valid Tyk OAS API Definition that you can import into Tyk to try out the Ignore Authentication middleware.

Configuring the middleware in the API Designer

Adding and configuring the Ignore Authentication middleware to your API endpoints is easy when using the API Designer in the Tyk Dashboard, simply follow these steps:

Step 1: Add an endpoint

From the API Designer add an endpoint that matches the path and method to which you want to apply the middleware.

Step 2: Select the Ignore Authentication middleware

Select ADD MIDDLEWARE and choose the Ignore Authentication middleware from the Add Middleware screen.

Step 3: Optionally configure case-insensitivity

If you want to disable case-sensitivity for the path that you wish to skip authentication, then you must select EDIT on the Ignore Authentication icon.

This takes you to the middleware configuration screen where you can alter the case sensitivity setting.

Select UPDATE MIDDLEWARE to apply the change to the middleware configuration.

Step 4: Save the API

Select SAVE API to apply the changes to your API.