OAuth integration basics in Ruby on Rails - Mini Project: Build & Apply

OAuth integration basics

📖 Scenario: You are building a simple Rails app that allows users to log in using a third-party service like GitHub via OAuth.This helps users sign in without creating a new password for your app.

🎯 Goal: Create the basic setup for OAuth integration in a Rails app using the omniauth-github gem.You will set up the initial data, configure the middleware, implement the callback route, and complete the user session setup.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a hash with GitHub OAuth credentials

Add OmniAuth middleware configuration

Implement the callback action to handle OAuth response

Complete the session creation to log in the user

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

OAuth is widely used to let users sign in to apps using existing accounts from services like GitHub, Google, or Facebook. This saves users from creating new passwords and improves security.

💼 Career

Understanding OAuth integration is important for web developers building modern apps that require user authentication and social login features.

1

DATA SETUP: Create GitHub OAuth credentials hash

Create a hash called github_credentials with keys :client_id and :client_secret set to the exact strings 'GITHUB_CLIENT_ID' and 'GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET' respectively.

Ruby on Rails

# Create the github_credentials hash with client_id and client_secret
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use Ruby hash syntax with symbol keys :client_id and :client_secret.

2

CONFIGURATION: Add OmniAuth middleware for GitHub

Add the OmniAuth middleware configuration by calling Rails.application.config.middleware.use OmniAuth::Builder and inside the block configure the provider with :github, github_credentials[:client_id], and github_credentials[:client_secret].

Ruby on Rails

github_credentials = {
  client_id: 'GITHUB_CLIENT_ID',
  client_secret: 'GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET'
}

# Configure OmniAuth middleware for GitHub
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use the provider method inside the OmniAuth::Builder block.

3

CORE LOGIC: Implement the OAuth callback action

In the SessionsController, define a method github that extracts the auth hash from request.env['omniauth.auth'] and assigns it to an instance variable @auth.

Ruby on Rails

github_credentials = {
  client_id: 'GITHUB_CLIENT_ID',
  client_secret: 'GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET'
}

Rails.application.config.middleware.use OmniAuth::Builder do
  provider :github, github_credentials[:client_id], github_credentials[:client_secret]
end

class SessionsController < ApplicationController
  # Define github action to get auth hash
  # Your code here
end

Need a hint?

Use request.env['omniauth.auth'] to get the OAuth data.

4

COMPLETION: Create user session from OAuth data

Inside the github method, add code to set session[:user_id] to @auth['uid'] and then redirect to the root path using redirect_to root_path.

Ruby on Rails

github_credentials = {
  client_id: 'GITHUB_CLIENT_ID',
  client_secret: 'GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET'
}

Rails.application.config.middleware.use OmniAuth::Builder do
  provider :github, github_credentials[:client_id], github_credentials[:client_secret]
end

class SessionsController < ApplicationController
  def github
    @auth = request.env['omniauth.auth']
    # Set session user_id and redirect
    # Your code here
  end
end

Need a hint?

Use session[:user_id] = @auth['uid'] to store the user ID.

Use redirect_to root_path to go back to the homepage.