Ananya S

Posted on Jun 15

FastAPI for AI Engineers - Part 6: JWT Authentication in FastAPI

#ai #backend #fastapi #python

In the previous article, we explored the concepts of Authentication and Authorization.

We learned that:

Authentication answers "Who are you?"
Authorization answers "What are you allowed to do?"

Understanding the concepts is important, but real-world applications require actual implementation.

If you've ever used Gmail, LinkedIn, GitHub, or ChatGPT, you've already used authentication systems countless times.

You enter your username and password, the application verifies your identity, and you gain access to protected resources.

But how does this actually work behind the scenes?

In this article, we'll build a complete JWT Authentication system using FastAPI.

If you haven't read the previous article, check it out first:

Ananya S

Jun 12

FastAPI for AI Engineers - Part 5: Authentication vs Authorization (And Why Most Beginners Confuse Them)

#ai #python #fastapi #backend

3 min read

Why Do We Need Authentication?

Imagine building an AI-powered learning platform.

Without authentication:

Anyone could access any user's profile
Anyone could view another student's progress
Anyone could modify data belonging to other users

Clearly, this is a security problem.

Applications need a way to:

Verify user identity
Protect sensitive resources
Allow users to stay logged in

This is where JWT Authentication comes in.

What is JWT?

JWT stands for JSON Web Token.

A JWT is a secure token that contains information about a user.

Instead of sending a username and password with every request, the user sends a token.

Typical flow:

Register User
      ↓
   Login
      ↓
Verify Credentials
      ↓
Generate JWT Token
      ↓
Access Protected Routes

Installing Required Packages

pip install python-jose passlib[bcrypt]

We'll use:

passlib for password hashing
python-jose for JWT token generation and verification

Step 1: Hashing Passwords

Storing passwords in plain text is extremely dangerous.

Never do this:

users = {
    "rahul": "password123"
}

If the database is compromised, every user's password becomes visible.

Instead, we store a hashed version.

Creating a Password Hasher

from passlib.context import CryptContext

pwd_context = CryptContext(
    schemes=["bcrypt"],
    deprecated="auto"
)

What is CryptContext?

CryptContext manages password hashing algorithms.

In this example:

schemes=["bcrypt"]

we tell FastAPI to use the bcrypt hashing algorithm.

Hashing a Password

hashed_password = pwd_context.hash("password123")

print(hashed_password)

Output:

$2b$12$.....

Notice that the original password is no longer visible.

Verifying Passwords

When the user logs in:

pwd_context.verify(
    "password123",
    hashed_password
)

returns:

True

This allows us to verify passwords without storing them in plain text.

Step 2: User Registration

Let's create a simple registration endpoint.

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()

users = {}

@app.post("/register")
def register(username: str, password: str):

    hashed_password = pwd_context.hash(password)

    users[username] = hashed_password

    return {"message": "User registered successfully"}

What happens here?

User submits username and password
Password is hashed
Hash is stored instead of the original password

Step 3: User Login

Now let's verify credentials.

@app.post("/login")
def login(username: str, password: str):

    stored_password = users.get(username)

    if not stored_password:
        return {"message": "User not found"}

    if not pwd_context.verify(password, stored_password):
        return {"message": "Invalid credentials"}

    return {"message": "Login successful"}

At this point, users can log in successfully.

However, they still need to send their username and password with every request.

JWT solves this problem.

Step 4: Creating a JWT Token

from jose import jwt
from datetime import datetime, timedelta

SECRET_KEY = "mysecretkey"

ALGORITHM = "HS256"

Why do we need a secret key?

The secret key is used to sign tokens.

If someone modifies the token, the signature becomes invalid.

Generate Token Function

def create_access_token(data: dict):

    to_encode = data.copy()

    expire = datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(minutes=30)

    to_encode.update({"exp": expire})

    encoded_jwt = jwt.encode(
        to_encode,
        SECRET_KEY,
        algorithm=ALGORITHM
    )

    return encoded_jwt

What does this function do?

Copies user data
Adds an expiry time
Creates a signed JWT token
Returns the token

Step 5: Generate Token During Login

@app.post("/login")
def login(username: str, password: str):

    stored_password = users.get(username)

    if not stored_password:
        return {"message": "User not found"}

    if not pwd_context.verify(password, stored_password):
        return {"message": "Invalid credentials"}

    token = create_access_token(
        {"sub": username}
    )

    return {
        "access_token": token,
        "token_type": "bearer"
    }

Successful login now returns:

{
  "access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...",
  "token_type": "bearer"
}

Step 6: Protected Route

Now we can protect routes.

@app.get("/profile")
def get_profile():

    return {
        "message": "Protected profile data"
    }

Currently anyone can access it.

In production applications, FastAPI verifies the JWT token before allowing access.

We'll implement complete route protection in the next article.

For now, focus on understanding:

Registration
Password Hashing
Password Verification
JWT Generation

These form the foundation of every authentication system.

Authentication Flow Recap

Register User
      ↓
Hash Password
      ↓
Store Hash
      ↓
   Login
      ↓
Verify Password
      ↓
Generate JWT
      ↓
Access Protected Routes

Final Thoughts

Today we built the core components of JWT Authentication:

User Registration
Password Hashing
Password Verification
JWT Token Generation

A user can now register, log in, and receive a signed JWT token.

However, generating a token is only half the story.

The next step is learning how to validate tokens and protect routes using FastAPI dependencies.

In the next article, we'll implement JWT-based route protection and begin exploring Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).

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