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29<div class="docItemContainer_c0TR"><article><nav class="theme-doc-breadcrumbs breadcrumbsContainer_Z_bl" aria-label="Breadcrumbs"><ul class="breadcrumbs" itemscope="" itemtype="https://schema.org/BreadcrumbList"><li class="breadcrumbs__item"><a aria-label="Home page" class="breadcrumbs__link" href="/knowledge-base/"><svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" class="breadcrumbHomeIcon_YNFT"><path d="M10 19v-5h4v5c0 .55.45 1 1 1h3c.55 0 1-.45 1-1v-7h1.7c.46 0 .68-.57.33-.87L12.67 3.6c-.38-.34-.96-.34-1.34 0l-8.36 7.53c-.34.3-.13.87.33.87H5v7c0 .55.45 1 1 1h3c.55 0 1-.45 1-1z" fill="currentColor"></path></svg></a></li><li itemscope="" itemprop="itemListElement" itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem" class="breadcrumbs__item"><a class="breadcrumbs__link" itemprop="item" href="/knowledge-base/docs/category/introduction"><span itemprop="name">Introduction</span></a><meta itemprop="position" content="1"></li><li itemscope="" itemprop="itemListElement" itemtype="https://schema.org/ListItem" class="breadcrumbs__item breadcrumbs__item--active"><span class="breadcrumbs__link" itemprop="name">Getting started with Authress</span><meta itemprop="position" content="2"></li></ul></nav><div class="tocCollapsible_ETCw theme-doc-toc-mobile tocMobile_ITEo"><button type="button" class="clean-btn tocCollapsibleButton_TO0P">On this page</button></div><div style="max-width:1000px"><div class="theme-doc-markdown markdown"><header><h1>Getting started with Authress</h1></header><p>Authress provides <a href="/knowledge-base/docs/category/authentication">Authentication</a> and <a href="/knowledge-base/docs/category/authorization">Authorization</a>. Or in other words user identity management as well as the complex access controls for those users. These users can be your external users/customers/businesses (CIAM + OpenID + SAML) or internal employees and engineers (IdP + IAM).</p><h2 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="next-steps">Next steps:<a href="#next-steps" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to Next steps:" title="Direct link to Next steps:">â</a></h2><h3 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="1-signing-up">1. Signing up<a href="#1-signing-up" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to 1. Signing up" title="Direct link to 1. Signing up">â</a></h3><p>Before you can use Authress API, you need to create an account with us. <a href="https://authress.io/app/#/signup" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Create an Authress account</a></p><p>During the signup process, weâll ask you to login with one of our federated login providers. After you sign up you'll be able to configure your companyâs SSO (Single Sign On) solution. For sign up, we require one our default providers.</p><h3 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="2-select-a-quick-start-guide">2. Select a Quick Start Guide<a href="#2-select-a-quick-start-guide" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to 2. Select a Quick Start Guide" title="Direct link to 2. Select a Quick Start Guide">â</a></h3><p>Authress offers a number of different <a href="https://authress.io/app/#/settings?focus=quick" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">quick start guides</a> to help walk you through setting up your account and get connected. If you are just looking to demo Authress or if you are setting up your PoC, this is a great place to start. There are guides for:</p><ul><li>Authentication setup</li><li>Authorization configuration</li><li>API Key and Machine-to-Machine security</li><li>CI/CD integration and Access Records as Code</li><li>Local Development testing</li></ul><h3 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="3-integrating-your-software-with-authress">3. Integrating your software with Authress<a href="#3-integrating-your-software-with-authress" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to 3. Integrating your software with Authress" title="Direct link to 3. Integrating your software with Authress">â</a></h3><p>Integrating with Authress is easy. You can either call our APIs directly or download an <a href="https://authress.io/app/#/api" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SDK</a>.</p><p>Authress has SDKs for the most common languages. If we donât have the one you are looking for, let us know and weâll work on releasing it.</p><div class="image-md"><p><a href="/knowledge-base/docs/SDKs"><img loading="lazy" alt="Download Authress SDK" src="/knowledge-base/assets/images/sdk-c61928512277e3042ea04b7f798d3783.png" width="330" height="411" class="img_ev3q"></a></p></div><h2 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="choosing-a-path">
29Choosing a path<a href="#choosing-a-path" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to Choosing a path" title="Direct link to Choosing a path">â</a></h2><h3 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="authentication-or-authorization">Authentication or Authorization<a href="#authentication-or-authorization" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to Authentication or Authorization" title="Direct link to Authentication or Authorization">â</a></h3><p>Auth is complex space, and Authress provides many features to support Auth. Part of the challenge is separating <strong>Authentication</strong> From <strong>Authorization</strong>.</p><ul><li>Authentication is your user sign up and sign in flows. It is your user identity management. It's integration with external identity providers such as Google and Azure, and provides SAML, OpenID, or OAuth integration.</li><li>Authorization is your access control. This creates and restricts access to your services, grants users permissions, and audits their access. This is roles, permissions, service-to-service, machine clients, and access records.</li></ul><p>If you already have an existing system, we recommend starting with Authorization. You can drop Authress into your platform and already start getting the benefit. Extend your platform with the security you need. If you are building something new, such as a new software application or building something more complex like a plug-able platform, we recommend starting with Authentication.</p><section class="DocCardList"><article class="DocCardWrapper"><a class="card padding--lg cardContainer_S8oU" href="/knowledge-base/docs/category/authentication"><h2 class="text--truncate cardTitle_HoSo" title="Authentication">ðï¸<!-- --> <!-- -->Authentication</h2><p class="text--truncate cardDescription_c27F" title="User IdP Management & Login">User IdP Management & Login</p></a></article><article class="DocCardWrapper"><a class="card padding--lg cardContainer_S8oU" href="/knowledge-base/docs/category/authorization"><h2 class="text--truncate cardTitle_HoSo" title="Authorization">ðï¸<!-- --> <!-- -->Authorization</h2><p class="text--truncate cardDescription_c27F" title="Access control and permissions setup">Access control and permissions setup</p></a></article></section><h3 class="anchor anchorWithStickyNavbar_LWe7" id="custom-domains">Custom Domains<a href="#custom-domains" class="hash-link" aria-label="Direct link to Custom Domains" title="Direct link to Custom Domains">â</a></h3><p>Throughout the docs you'll see additional opportunities for configuration. One of these is the configuration of a custom domain. Authress provides a unique DNS host for your account that looks like <code>acc_001.api.authress.io</code>. Adding a custom domain on top of this provides additional security and reliability. To set up the custom domain, follow the <a href="https://authress.io/app/#/settings?focus=domain" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Custom Domain setup guide</a>. Setting up the domain not required however it is highly recommended.</p><p>In the knowledge base we'll assume that you've configured your Authress custom domain (often specified as <code>authressCustomDomain</code>) to be <code>auth.yourdomain.com</code>. That means you own the <code>yourdomain.com</code> DNS domain, and gave Authress access to utilize the subdomain <code>auth.yourdomain.com</code>. As such you will see <code>auth.yourdomain.com</code> used in SDK and code examples.</p></div></div><footer class="theme-doc-footer docusaurus-mt-lg"><div class="theme-doc-footer-edit-meta-row row"><div class="col"><a href="https://gitlab.com/rhosys/authress-public-kb/knowledge-base/-/blob/main/docs/01-introduction/getting-started-with-authress.mdx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" class="theme-edit-this-page"><svg fill="currentColor" height="20" width="20" viewBox="0 0 40 40" class="iconEdit_Z9Sw" aria-hidden="true"><g><path d="m34.5 11.7l-3 3.1-6.3-6.3 3.1-3q0.5-0.5 1.2-0.5t1.1 0.5l3.9 3.9q0.5 0.4 0.5 1.1t-0.5 1.2z m-29.5 17.1l18.4-18.5 6.3 6.3-18.4 18.4h-6.3v-6.2z"></path></g></svg>Edit this page</a></div><div class="col lastUpdated_vwxv"><span class="theme-last-updated">Last updated<!-- --> on <b><time datetime="2026-03-01T15:10:59.000Z">Mar 1, 2026</time></b></span></div></div></footer></article><nav class="pagination-nav docusaurus-mt-lg" aria-label="Docs pages navigation"><a class="pagination-nav__link pagination-nav__link--prev" href="/knowledge-base/docs/introduction/what-is-authress"><div class="pagination-nav__sublabel">Previous</div><div class="pagination-nav__label">What is Authress?</div></a><a class="pagination-nav__link pagination-nav__link--next" href="/knowledge-base/docs/introduction/quick-start-guides"><div class="pagination-nav__sublabel">Next</div><div class="pagination-nav__label">Quick Setup Guides</div></a></nav></div></div><div class="col col--3"><div class="tableOfContents_bqdL thin-scrollbar theme-doc-toc-desktop"><ul class="table-of-contents table-of-contents__left-border"><li><a href="#next-steps" class="table-of-contents__link toc-highlight">Next steps:</a><ul><li><a href="#1-signing-up" class="table-of-contents__link toc-highlight">1. 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