How to Add Google Login to Your Cognito User Pool

In this example, we will look at how to add Google Login to Your Cognito User Pool using SST.

Requirements

• Node.js 16 or later
• We’ll be using TypeScript
• An AWS account with the AWS CLI configured locally
• A Google API project

Create an SST app

Let’s start by creating an SST app.

$ npx create-sst@latest --template=base/example api-oauth-google
$ cd api-oauth-google
$ npm install

By default, our app will be deployed to the us-east-1 AWS region. This can be changed in the sst.config.ts in your project root.

import { SSTConfig } from "sst";

export default {
  config(_input) {
    return {
      name: "api-oauth-google",
      region: "us-east-1",
    };
  },
} satisfies SSTConfig;

Project layout

An SST app is made up of two parts.

1. stacks/ — App Infrastructure

   The code that describes the infrastructure of your serverless app is placed in the stacks/ directory of your project. SST uses AWS CDK, to create the infrastructure.

2. packages/functions/ — App Code

   The code that’s run when your API is invoked is placed in the packages/functions/ directory of your project.

Setting up the Cognito

First, let’s create a Cognito User Pool to store the user info using the Cognito construct

Replace the stacks/ExampleStack.ts with the following.

import * as cognito from "aws-cdk-lib/aws-cognito";
import { Api, Cognito, StackContext, StaticSite } from "sst/constructs";

export function ExampleStack({ stack, app }: StackContext) {
  // Create auth
  const auth = new Cognito(stack, "Auth", {
    cdk: {
      userPoolClient: {
        supportedIdentityProviders: [
          cognito.UserPoolClientIdentityProvider.GOOGLE,
        ],
        oAuth: {
          callbackUrls: [
            app.stage === "prod"
              ? "prodDomainNameUrl"
              : "http://localhost:3000",
          ],
          logoutUrls: [
            app.stage === "prod"
              ? "prodDomainNameUrl"
              : "http://localhost:3000",
          ],
        },
      },
    },
  });
}

This creates a Cognito User Pool; a user directory that manages users. We’ve configured the User Pool to allow users to login with their Google account and added the callback and logout URLs.

Note, we haven’t yet set up Google OAuth with our user pool, we’ll do it next.

Setting up Google OAuth

Now let’s add Google OAuth for our serverless app, to do so we need to create a Google User Pool identity provider and link it with the user pool we created above.

Create a .env file in the root and add your google clientId and clientSecret from your Google API project.

GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=<YOUR_GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID>
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=<YOUR_GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET>

Add this below the Cognito definition in stacks/ExampleStack.ts.

// Throw error if client ID & secret are not provided
if (!process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID || !process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET)
  throw new Error("Please set GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID and GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET");

// Create a Google OAuth provider
const provider = new cognito.UserPoolIdentityProviderGoogle(stack, "Google", {
  clientId: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID,
  clientSecret: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET,
  userPool: auth.cdk.userPool,
  scopes: ["profile", "email", "openid"],
  attributeMapping: {
    email: cognito.ProviderAttribute.GOOGLE_EMAIL,
    givenName: cognito.ProviderAttribute.GOOGLE_GIVEN_NAME,
    familyName: cognito.ProviderAttribute.GOOGLE_FAMILY_NAME,
    profilePicture: cognito.ProviderAttribute.GOOGLE_PICTURE,
  },
});

// attach the created provider to our userpool
auth.cdk.userPoolClient.node.addDependency(provider);

This creates a Google identity provider with the given scopes and links the created provider to our user pool and Google user’s attributes will be mapped to the User Pool user.

Now let’s associate a Cognito domain to the user pool, which can be used for sign-up and sign-in webpages.

Add below code in stacks/ExampleStack.ts.

// Create a cognito userpool domain
const domain = auth.cdk.userPool.addDomain("AuthDomain", {
  cognitoDomain: {
    domainPrefix: `${app.stage}-demo-auth-domain`,
  },
});

Note, the domainPrefix need to be globally unique across all AWS accounts in a region.

Setting up the API

Replace the Api definition with the following in stacks/ExampleStacks.ts.

// Create a HTTP API
const api = new Api(stack, "Api", {
  authorizers: {
    userPool: {
      type: "user_pool",
      userPool: {
        id: auth.userPoolId,
        clientIds: [auth.userPoolClientId],
      },
    },
  },
  defaults: {
    authorizer: "userPool",
  },
  routes: {
    "GET /private": "packages/functions/src/private.handler",
    "GET /public": {
      function: "packages/functions/src/public.handler",
      authorizer: "none",
    },
  },
});

// Allow authenticated users invoke API
auth.attachPermissionsForAuthUsers(stack, [api]);

We are creating an API here using the Api construct. And we are adding two routes to it.

GET /private
GET /public

By default, all routes have the authorization type JWT. This means the caller of the API needs to pass in a valid JWT token. The GET /private route is a private endpoint. The GET /public is a public endpoint and its authorization type is overridden to NONE.

Adding function code

Let’s create two functions, one handling the public route, and the other for the private route.

Add a packages/functions/src/public.ts.

export async function handler() {
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: "Hello, stranger!",
  };
}

Add a packages/functions/src/private.ts.

export async function handler() {
  return {
    statusCode: 200,
    body: "Hello, user!",
  };
}

Setting up our React app

To deploy a React app to AWS, we’ll be using the SST StaticSite construct.

Replace the stack.addOutputs call with the following.

// Create a React Static Site
const site = new StaticSite(stack, "Site", {
  path: "packages/frontend",
  buildOutput: "dist",
  buildCommand: "npm run build",
  environment: {
    VITE_APP_COGNITO_DOMAIN: domain.domainName,
    VITE_APP_API_URL: api.url,
    VITE_APP_REGION: app.region,
    VITE_APP_USER_POOL_ID: auth.userPoolId,
    VITE_APP_IDENTITY_POOL_ID: auth.cognitoIdentityPoolId,
    VITE_APP_USER_POOL_CLIENT_ID: auth.userPoolClientId,
  },
});

// Show the endpoint in the output
stack.addOutputs({
  api_url: api.url,
  auth_client_id: auth.userPoolClientId,
  auth_domain: domain.domainName,
  site_url: site.url,
});

The construct is pointing to where our React.js app is located. We haven’t created our app yet but for now, we’ll point to the packages/frontend directory.

We are also setting up build time React environment variables with the endpoint of our API. The StaticSite allows us to set environment variables automatically from our backend, without having to hard code them in our frontend.

We are going to print out the resources that we created for reference.

Creating the frontend

Run the below commands in the packages/ directory to to create a basic react project.

$ npx create-vite@latest frontend --template react
$ cd frontend
$ npm install

This sets up our React app in the packages/frontend/ directory. Recall that, earlier in the guide we were pointing the StaticSite construct to this path.

We also need to load the environment variables from our SST app. To do this, we’ll be using the sst bind command.

Replace the dev script in your frontend/package.json.

"dev": "vite"

With the following:

"dev": "sst bind vite"

Starting your dev environment

SST features a Live Lambda Development environment that allows you to work on your serverless apps live.

$ npm run dev

The first time you run this command it’ll take a couple of minutes to deploy your app and a debug stack to power the Live Lambda Development environment.

===============
 Deploying app
===============

Preparing your SST app
Transpiling source
Linting source
Deploying stacks
dev-api-oauth-google-ExampleStack: deploying...

 ✅  dev-api-oauth-google-ExampleStack


Stack dev-api-oauth-google-ExampleStack
  Status: deployed
  Outputs:
    api_url: https://v0l1zlpy5f.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
    auth_client_id: 253t1t5o6jjur88nu4t891eac2
    auth_domain: dev-demo-auth-domain
    site_url: https://d1567f41smqk8b.cloudfront.net

Copy the cognito domain from the terminal output and add it to the Authorised JavaScript origins in the GCP Console.

Note, if you are not using custom domain, your domain URL will be https://<domain>.auth.<region>.amazoncognito.com.

And under Authorised redirect URIs, append /oauth2/idpresponse to your domain URL and add it to the values and click Save.

The api_endpoint is the API we just created. While the site_url is where our React app will be hosted. For now, it’s just a placeholder website.

Let’s test our endpoint with the SST Console. The SST Console is a web based dashboard to manage your SST apps. Learn more about it in our docs.

Go to the API tab and click Send button of the GET /public to send a GET request.

Note, The API explorer lets you make HTTP requests to any of the routes in your Api construct. Set the headers, query params, request body, and view the function logs with the response.

You should see a Hello, stranger! in the response body.

Adding AWS Amplify

To use our AWS resources on the frontend we are going to use AWS Amplify.

Note, to know more about configuring Amplify with SST check this chapter.

Run the below command to install AWS Amplify in the packages/frontend/ directory.

npm install aws-amplify

Replace frontend/src/main.jsx with below code.

/* eslint-disable no-undef */
import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom";
import "./index.css";
import App from "./App";
import Amplify from "aws-amplify";

// Configure AWS Amplify with credentials from backend
Amplify.configure({
  Auth: {
    region: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_REGION,
    userPoolId: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_USER_POOL_ID,
    userPoolWebClientId: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_USER_POOL_CLIENT_ID,
    mandatorySignIn: false,
    oauth: {
      domain: `${
        import.meta.env.VITE_APP_COGNITO_DOMAIN +
        ".auth." +
        import.meta.env.VITE_APP_REGION +
        ".amazoncognito.com"
      }`,
      scope: ["email", "profile", "openid", "aws.cognito.signin.user.admin"],
      redirectSignIn:
        import.meta.env.VITE_APP_API_STAGE === "prod"
          ? "production-url"
          : "http://localhost:3000", // Make sure to use the exact URL
      redirectSignOut:
        import.meta.env.VITE_APP_API_STAGE === "prod"
          ? "production-url"
          : "http://localhost:3000", // Make sure to use the exact URL
      responseType: "token",
    },
  },
  API: {
    endpoints: [
      {
        name: "api",
        endpoint: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_API_URL,
        region: import.meta.env.VITE_APP_REGION,
      },
    ],
  },
});

ReactDOM.render(
  <React.StrictMode>
    <App />
  </React.StrictMode>,
  document.getElementById("root")
);

Adding login UI

Replace frontend/src/App.jsx with below code.

import { Auth, API } from "aws-amplify";
import React, { useState, useEffect } from "react";

const App = () => {
  const [user, setUser] = useState(null);
  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true);

  // Get the current logged in user info
  const getUser = async () => {
    const user = await Auth.currentUserInfo();
    if (user) setUser(user);
    setLoading(false);
  };

  // Trigger Google login
  const signIn = async () =>
    await Auth.federatedSignIn({
      provider: "Google",
    });

  // Logout the authenticated user
  const signOut = async () => await Auth.signOut();

  // Send an API call to the /public endpoint
  const publicRequest = async () => {
    const response = await API.get("api", "/public");
    alert(JSON.stringify(response));
  };

  // Send an API call to the /private endpoint with authentication details.
  const privateRequest = async () => {
    try {
      const response = await API.get("api", "/private", {
        headers: {
          Authorization: `Bearer ${(await Auth.currentSession())
            .getAccessToken()
            .getJwtToken()}`,
        },
      });
      alert(JSON.stringify(response));
    } catch (error) {
      alert(error);
    }
  };

  // Check if there's any user on mount
  useEffect(() => {
    getUser();
  }, []);

  if (loading) return <div className="container">Loading...</div>;

  return (
    <div className="container">
      <h2>SST + Cognito + Google OAuth + React</h2>
      {user ? (
        <div className="profile">
          <p>Welcome {user.attributes.given_name}!</p>
          <img
            src={user.attributes.picture}
            style={{ borderRadius: "50%" }}
            width={100}
            height={100}
            alt=""
          />
          <p>{user.attributes.email}</p>
          <button onClick={signOut}>logout</button>
        </div>
      ) : (
        <div>
          <p>Not signed in</p>
          <button onClick={signIn}>login</button>
        </div>
      )}
      <div className="api-section">
        <button onClick={publicRequest}>call /public</button>
        <button onClick={privateRequest}>call /private</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
};

export default App;

Replace frontend/src/index.css with the below styles.

body {
  margin: 0;
  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", "Roboto",
    "Oxygen", "Ubuntu", "Cantarell", "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans",
    "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;
  -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
  -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
}

code {
  font-family: source-code-pro, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, "Courier New",
    monospace;
}

.container {
  width: 100%;
  height: 100vh;
  display: flex;
  flex-direction: column;
  align-items: center;
  text-align: center;
}

button {
  width: 120px;
  padding: 10px;
  border: none;
  border-radius: 4px;
  background-color: #000;
  color: #fff;
  font-size: 16px;
  cursor: pointer;
}

.profile {
  border: 1px solid #ccc;
  padding: 20px;
  border-radius: 4px;
}
.api-section {
  width: 100%;
  margin-top: 20px;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
  gap: 10px;
}

.api-section > button {
  background-color: darkorange;
}

Let’s start our frontend in development environment.

In the packages/frontend/ directory run.

npm run dev

Open up your browser and go to http://localhost:3000.

There are 2 buttons that invokes the endpoints we created above.

The call /public button invokes GET /public route using the publicRequest method we created in our frontend.

Similarly, the call /private button invokes GET /private route using the privateRequest method.

When you’re not logged in and try to click the buttons, you’ll see responses like below.

Once you click on login, you’re asked to login through your Google account.

Once it’s done you can check your info.

Now that you’ve authenticated repeat the same steps as you did before, you’ll see responses like below.

As you can see the private route is only working while we are logged in.

Deploying your API

To wrap things up we’ll deploy our app to prod.

$ npx sst deploy --stage prod

This allows us to separate our environments, so when we are working in dev, it doesn’t break the app for our users.

Once deployed, you should see something like this.

 ✅  prod-api-oauth-google-ExampleStack


Stack prod-api-oauth-google-ExampleStack
  Status: deployed
  Outputs:
    api_url: https://ck198mfop1.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
    auth_client_id: 875t1t5o6jjur88jd4t891eat5
    auth_domain: prod-demo-auth-domain
    site_url: https://c1767f41smqkh7.cloudfront.net

Cleaning up

Finally, you can remove the resources created in this example using the following command.

$ npx sst remove

And to remove the prod environment.

$ npx sst remove --stage prod

Conclusion

And that’s it! You’ve got a brand new serverless API authenticated with Google. A local development environment, to test. And it’s deployed to production as well, so you can share it with your users. Check out the repo below for the code we used in this example. And leave a comment if you have any questions!