API Bearer Auth vs WP REST Cache

The API Bearer Auth plugin enables authentication for the REST API by using JWT access an refresh tokens. After the user logs in, the access and refresh tokens are returned and can be used for the next requests. Issued tokens can be revoked from within the users admin screen. See below for the endpoints. Note that after activating this plugin, all REST API endpoints will need to be authenticated, unless the endpoint is whitelisted in the api_bearer_auth_unauthenticated_urls filter (see FAQ for how to use this filter). JWT Access tokens can be formatted as JWT tokens. For this to work, you first have to create a secret and add it to the wp-config.php file. If you don’t do this, access tokens will work also, but are just random strings. To create a random secret key, you can do for example: base64_encode(openssl_random_pseudo_bytes(64)); And then add the result to wp-config: define('API_BEARER_JWT_SECRET', 'mysecretkey'); If you have problems, you can verify your JWT tokens at: https://jwt.io/ Revoke tokens This plugin adds a column to the users table in de admin where you can see when a token expires. You can also revoke tokens by selection the “Revoke API tokens” from the bulk actions select box. API endpoints Note that all endpoints expect JSON in the POST body. Login Endpoint: POST /api-bearer-auth/v1/login Request body: Note: client_name is optional. But if you use it, make sure to use it as well for the refresh call! {"username": "my_username", "password": "my_password", "client_name": "my_app"} Response: { "wp_user": { "data": { "ID": 1, "user_login": "your_user_login", // other default WordPress user fields } }, "access_token": "your_access_token", "expires_in": 86400, // number of seconds "refresh_token": "your_refresh_token" } Make sure to save the access and refresh token! Refresh access token Endpoint: POST /api-bearer-auth/v1/tokens/refresh Request body: Note: client_name is optional. But if you did use it for the login call, make sure to use it here as well! {"token": "your_refresh_token", "client_name": "my_app"} Response success: { "access_token": "your_new_access_token", "expires_in": 86400 } Response when sending a wrong refresh token is a 401: { "code": "api_api_bearer_auth_error_invalid_token", "message": "Invalid token.", "data": { "status": 401 } } Do a request After you have the access token, you can make requests to authenticated endpoints with an Authorization header like this: Authorization: Bearer Note that Apache sometimes strips out the Authorization header. If this is the case, make sure to add this to the .htaccess file: RewriteCond %{HTTP:Authorization} ^(.*) # Don't know why, but some need the line below instead of the RewriteRule line # SetEnvIf Authorization .+ HTTP_AUTHORIZATION=$0 RewriteRule ^(.*) - [E=HTTP_AUTHORIZATION:%1] If you are not logged in or you send an invalid access token, you get a 401 response: { "code": "api_bearer_auth_not_logged_in", "message": "You are not logged in.", "data": { "status": 401 } } Important update Update immediately if you’re using a version below 20200807. Before this version all access tokens were updated when calling the refresh callback. If you are affected by this the fastest solution is to execute this query: update wp_user_tokens set access_token_valid = NOW(); This will invalidate all access tokens. This means that all users need to refresh their access token and will get a new access token and a unique one this time. A big thank to @harchvertelol for reporting this and suggesting the fix as well!

Are you facing speed issues, using the WordPress REST API? This plugin will allow WordPress to cache the responses of the REST API, making it much faster. This plugin offers: Caching of all default WordPress REST API GET-endpoints. Caching of (custom) post type endpoints. Caching of (custom) taxonomy endpoints. Automated flushing of caches if (some of) its contents are edited. Manual flushing of all caches. Manual flushing of specific caches. A counter how many times a cache has been retrieved. Specifying after what time the cache should be timed out. Registering custom endpoints for caching. Automatic cache regeneration. WP REST Cache Pro For more advanced features, check out our WP REST Cache Pro plugin: Configure custom endpoints for caching through the wp-admin interface. Configure relationships within endpoints. No coding required. Installation from within WordPress Visit ‘Plugins > Add New’ (or ‘My Sites > Network Admin > Plugins > Add New’ if you are on a multisite installation). Search for ‘WP REST Cache’. Activate the WP REST Cache plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress. Go to “after activation” below. Installation manually Upload the wp-rest-cache folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory. Activate the WP REST Cache plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress. Go to “after activation” below. After activation Visit ‘Plugins > Must-Use’ (or ‘My Sites > Network Admin > Plugins > Must-Use’ if you are on a multisite installation). Check if the ‘WP REST Cache – Must-Use Plugin’ is there, if not copy the file wp-rest-cache.php from the /sources folder of the WP REST Cache Plugin to the folder /wp-content/mu-plugins/. Optionally: The default timeout for caches generated by the WP REST Cache plugin is set to 1 year. If you want to change this: Visit ‘Settings > WP REST Cache’. Change the Cache timeout.