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Authentication

Overview

ModernFi's approach to authentication is designed to ensure the security and safety of user data and assets. Follow these steps to get up and running with the ModernFi API.

1. Obtain Client ID and Secret

To get your Client ID and Client Secret, please contact the ModernFi team. ModernFi will onboard your bank to the network and share the corresponding Client ID and Client Secret. Then, you are ready to move onto Step 2 and request an access_token!

2. Request an Access Token

With your Client ID and Client Secret, you can make requests to the ModernFi oauth2/token endpoint. The following snippet outlines how to make a cURL request to the oauth2/token endpoint:

# export client ID / secret as env var
export MODERNFI_CLIENT_ID="my-client-id"
export MODERNFI_CLIENT_SECRET="my-client-secret"
# base64 encode MODERNFI_CLIENT_ID:MODERNFI_CLIENT_SECRET
CREDS=$(echo -n "$MODERNFI_CLIENT_ID:$MODERNFI_CLIENT_SECRET" | base64)
# use base64 encoded value in authorization header
curl --request POST \
     --url https://api.sandbox.modernfi.com/oauth2/token \
     --header "authorization: Basic $CREDS" \
     --header 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' --data "[email protected]"

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Warning

The originator value must be set in the body of the request. This value can
be anything that represents the triggering actor's context. It is
recommended you set it to an email associated with the financial institution.

The response is of the following shape:

{
  "access_token": "eyJraWQiOiI3Yll",
  "expires_in": 86400,
  "token_type": "Bearer"
}

3. Pass the Token in Your API Call Headers

To pass your user token to ModernFi APIs, add it as a header to your API calls in the following format:

Authorization: "Bearer {{your user_token here}}"

If, for example, your API token were eyJraWQiOiI3Yll, your authorization header will be:

Authorization: "Bearer eyJraWQiOiI3Yll"

Here is an example API call which properly sets the authorization header:

curl --request POST \
     --url https://api.sandbox.modernfi.com/depositors \
     --header 'accept: application/json' \
     --header 'authorization: Bearer eyJraWQiOiI3Yll' \
     --header 'content-type: application/json'

Token Revocation and Expiration

Access Tokens have a TTL of 86400 seconds (24 hours). If you'd like to revoke a token prior to its expiration time, please contact the ModernFi team.