Securing your Xano APIs

Building APIs is crucial for your web or mobile applications, but ensuring their security is equally important. In this guide, we'll explore various methods to secure your APIs created with Xano, a no-code platform for building backend services.

User Authentication

User authentication is a common method for securing APIs, typically involving email and password or single sign-on solutions like Google or Facebook. For this example, we'll focus on standard email and password authentication.

Sign Up Endpoint

1. In your Xano project, navigate to the table you want to use for authentication (e.g., the 'users' table).
2. Go to the table settings and mark it as the authentication table.
3. Locate the 'signup' endpoint, which has three inputs: name, email, and password.
4. The function stack checks if the user already exists, creates a new user record if not, generates an authentication token, and returns it in the response.

Login Endpoint

1. Find the 'login' endpoint, which has two inputs: email and password.
2. The function stack retrieves the user record, validates the provided password against the stored password, and generates an authentication token if the credentials are valid.
3. The authentication token is returned in the response.

Authenticated Endpoint (auth me)

1. Locate the 'auth me' endpoint, which requires authentication.
2. This endpoint simply returns the user record of the authenticated user.
3. To test, run the 'login' endpoint, copy the returned authentication token, and paste it into the 'auth me' endpoint to retrieve your user record.

Customization

• Adjust the 'expiration' value to set the duration for which authentication tokens are valid (default is 24 hours, set to 0 for tokens that never expire).
• Use the 'extras' parameter to store additional user data in the authentication token, such as user roles.

API Keys

If you don't have individual user accounts but still want to limit API access, you can use API keys.

1. Generate an API key using the `create secret key` function under 'Security Functions' in Xano.
2. Store the key in an environment variable or a database table.
3. Add a precondition to your API endpoint to check if the provided 'Authorization' header matches your stored API key.
4. If the keys don't match, return an 'unauthorized' error message.

Request Header Checks

You can further secure your APIs by checking specific values in the request headers, such as the referrer, IP address, or user agent.

1. Add a precondition to your API endpoint.
2. Use the `HTTP headers` environment variable to access the incoming request headers.
3. Check if the desired header value (e.g., `referrer`) matches your expected value.
4. If the condition is met, proceed with the API execution; otherwise, return an error message.

Rate Limiting

Rate limiting prevents users from calling your APIs too frequently, mitigating potential abuse or overloading your system.

1. Add the 'rate limit' function to your API endpoint's function stack.
2. Set the 'key' (a unique identifier), 'max' (maximum number of requests allowed), and 'TTL' (time-to-live for the rate limit period).
3. Optionally, provide an error message to be returned when the rate limit is exceeded.
4. The function will return 'true' if the request is allowed, or 'false' if the rate limit is exceeded, enabling you to handle the response accordingly.

Combining Security Measures

For enhanced security, you can combine multiple methods, such as user authentication, API keys, request header checks, and rate limiting. This way, your APIs will have multiple layers of protection, making it harder for unauthorized access.

Additional Options

For more advanced security measures, consider using API gateways or proxies like Pong, Teak, Zool, Cloudflare's API Shield, or Apigee from Google. These services act as a middleman between your application and Xano APIs, providing additional security features.

Conclusion

Securing your APIs is crucial, but the level of security you need depends on the type of application you're building and the sensitivity of the data involved. While user authentication is generally a robust solution, combining multiple security methods can further enhance protection. Don't forget to monitor your APIs regularly and have a plan in place to address any potential issues.

Remember, security is an ongoing process, and it's essential to stay vigilant and adapt your strategies as new threats emerge. By following the best practices outlined in this guide, you can ensure your Xano APIs are secure and protect your application and its users.