OpenID Connect

Introduction

This guide connects OpenID Connect to Paycux over OIDC. Work through it once per organization — each customer gets their own connection, with its own values.

You configure two sides: the application inside the provider, and the connection inside the Paycux dashboard. Neither side is complete on its own, so keep both tabs open.

What Paycux provides

Paycux generates two values for every connection and shows them in the dashboard under the connection's settings. You paste these into the identity provider when you configure the application:

Both values are per connection. Do not reuse them across organizations — each organization gets its own connection and its own pair.

What you'll need

Before you start, make sure you have the following in place:

• A Paycux account with access to the project you are configuring.
• An API key for the environment you are working in. Staging keys start with sk_test_; production keys start with sk_live_.
• Admin access on the system you are connecting, so you can create the application and read its metadata.
• A redirect URI registered in the Paycux dashboard under Developer → Redirects.

What you will need

What you will need applies specifically to OpenID Connect. It behaves the same in both environments, and the values it depends on are visible in the dashboard for the environment you have selected.

If the behaviour you see does not match this description, check which environment your API key belongs to before anything else — a staging key against production data is the most common cause.

Create an application with the identity provider

A user record holds the identity Paycux resolved for the person: email, name, verification state, and the identities they have linked. It is the object your application should key on.

Users are unique by email within a project. When the same person arrives through a second provider, Paycux links the identity to the existing user rather than creating a duplicate.

Configure ID token claims

Access tokens are JWTs signed with a rotating key. Verify them against the JWKS endpoint for your client rather than a pinned public key, so rotation never causes an outage.

1https://api.paycux.com/sso/jwks/client_01M4KXD1PZXFWGWE9ZKPCQRAQ

Cache the key set and re-fetch on an unknown key ID. Reject any token whose issuer, audience or expiry does not match what you expect.

Role Assignment (optional)

Assign the users and groups who should have access. Anyone outside the assignment is rejected at the provider, before the request reaches Paycux.

Group names sync as-is. If you use groups to drive roles in your application, map them once in the dashboard under Authorization rather than branching on group names in code.

Obtain client credentials and discovery endpoint

The Paycux CLI wraps the same API the SDKs use. Authenticate once, then run commands against whichever environment you select.

1paycux login
2paycux env use staging
3paycux organizations list

Token endpoint authentication method

Token endpoint authentication method applies specifically to OpenID Connect. It behaves the same in both environments, and the values it depends on are visible in the dashboard for the environment you have selected.

If the behaviour you see does not match this description, check which environment your API key belongs to before anything else — a staging key against production data is the most common cause.

Private key JWT

Private key JWT applies specifically to OpenID Connect. It behaves the same in both environments, and the values it depends on are visible in the dashboard for the environment you have selected.

If the behaviour you see does not match this description, check which environment your API key belongs to before anything else — a staging key against production data is the most common cause.

ID token signing algorithm

The ID token describes who signed in. It is meant for your application to read once at sign-in — not to be passed to APIs as a credential.

Read the claims you need, persist them against your own user record, then discard the token.

Userinfo endpoint

Userinfo endpoint applies specifically to OpenID Connect. It behaves the same in both environments, and the values it depends on are visible in the dashboard for the environment you have selected.

If the behaviour you see does not match this description, check which environment your API key belongs to before anything else — a staging key against production data is the most common cause.

Verify the connection

Verify the setup end to end before you hand it to a customer. Run the flow from a private browser window so no existing session masks a broken step.

1. 1Open the connection in the dashboard and confirm its status reads Active.
2. 2Start the flow from your application, not from the provider, so the redirect URI is exercised.
3. 3Sign in as a test user and confirm the profile arrives with an email address.
4. 4Check the connection's event list — a successful sign-in appears within a few seconds.

Troubleshooting

If something does not work, check these first — they cover the large majority of failed setups:

• The values were pasted into the wrong environment. Staging and production hold separate configuration.
• A trailing slash or stray whitespace in the ACS URL or redirect URI. Both are matched exactly.
• The connection is saved but not activated. An inactive connection returns connection_inactive.
• Attribute names differ from what the mapping expects, so the user is created without an email address.

Every failed authentication is recorded with a reason on the connection's page in the dashboard. Start there before reading application logs.