# ianstormtaylor/permit

An unopinionated authentication library for building Node.js APIs.

Repository: https://github.com/ianstormtaylor/permit
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/permit
Language: JavaScript
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: nodejs, authentication, express, koa, hapi, fastify
Last push: 2022-12-06T19:46:38+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3059, "days_push": 1366, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1681, forks 54 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:21.667113+00:00)

## What it is
Permit is an unopinionated authentication library for Node.js APIs, supporting bearer token and username/password schemes. It works with any server framework such as Express, Koa, Hapi, or Fastify, and any API style including REST and GraphQL.

## Use cases
- add bearer token authentication to a Node.js API
- authenticate requests in a Koa or Fastify server without Passport
- check access_token query parameters or auth headers in REST endpoints
- implement basic username/password auth for a GraphQL API
- replace Passport.js with a lighter framework-agnostic auth layer

## When to choose
- you need simple API authentication decoupled from any specific framework
- you use Koa, Hapi, or Fastify where Passport is awkward to integrate
- you want full control over your own authentication logic and user storage

## When to avoid
- you need social login flows like Facebook, Twitter, or GitHub OAuth out of the box
- you want a batteries-included session-based web app auth solution
- you need a library with frequent releases and active maintenance

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: auth, middleware, http-server
- domain: backend, apis, security, web-development
- platform: -
- tags: authentication, bearer-token, basic-auth, unopinionated, express, koa, hapi, fastify, rest, graphql, nodejs

## Member repositories
- ianstormtaylor/permit (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:21.667113+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T03:41:25.665362+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ianstormtaylor/permit (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:21.667113+00:00, sha eaa69b343458)
  - registry_npm: https://registry.npmjs.org/permit (fetched 2026-08-29T11:14:47.063809+00:00, sha 423853dd842f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.