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Tools and libraries for passkeys

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This topic contains info about tools and libraries to help you implement passkeys.

Libraries

Selection criteria

If you wish to own passwordless authentication internally, or you're looking to implement a turnkey solution for passkeys, then you'll likely be looking for libraries or vendors. When selecting a library to implement passkeys, what should you as a developer at a relying party (RP) keep an eye on?

Note

A small set of these criteria are not specific to passkeys, but are useful to keep in mind when selecting an open-source solution.

WebAuthn versions and capabilities

  • Version. Check which version of the spec the library supports (Level 2, Level 3, and so on).
  • Features and capabilities. Check whether the library includes key features and capabilities for your use case.
    • Does the library help with generating registration and authentication options? Does it help with verification of the registration and authentication response? From a relying party (RP) perspective, those are the key steps of your implementation. So make sure that the library you select provides useful functions for those steps.
    • If you're considering using attestation features:
      • Does the library help leverage FIDO MDS in some way?
      • Can the library verify all attestation statement formats?

Verification steps

Check whether the library follows the necessary verification steps:

  • During registration.
  • During authentication.

User interface (UI) and user experience (UX)

If you're looking for a library that offers UI elements:

  • Visual consistency. Check that the solution uses standardized icons.
  • Clear language. Instructions using plain language are critical for broader user understanding. Prioritize solutions aligned with the FIDO UX guidelines.

Developer experience

  • Full-stack coverage. A library that offers tightly-integrated frontend and backend components (for example, SimpleWebAuthn) can streamline your integration.
  • Developer documentation. In order to ease the integration process, check that the library has a maintained documentation website .

Developer involvement and maintenance

  • Open-source maintenance. For open-source options, investigate their community activity. A few active issues, or many issues with up-to-date labels (assuming that those require manual assignment), and comments by contributors, are all signals of an active community.
  • Patience. Standards can be slow-moving. So a WebAuthn/passkey library can go a long time between updates if there aren't any real issues with it. But that doesn't mean the library is unmaintained.

Licensing

Review the solution's licensing model (for example, MIT, Apache, commercial) in the context of your project.

Updated for passkeys

Other FIDO2/WebAuthn libraries

The WebAuthn Awesome GitHub repo is also regularly updated with libraries from the community.

Test sites and tools

In addition to the resources listed in the sections below, the WebAuthn Awesome GitHub repo is also regularly updated with tools and demos from the community.

Basic FIDO2/WebAuthn tools

Advanced FIDO2/WebAuthn tools

Next steps

Next, see Reference for passkeys.

Further info