Authentication workflows can often feel rigid, forcing businesses to work around limitations that block customization and flexibility. But not anymore. Maesn has developed an Adaptive Redirect Flow, a groundbreaking enhancement to our Unified API that empowers businesses to create tailored authentication experiences.
In this blog, dive deeper into how this new feature solves longstanding challenges, explore its benefits, and walk you through how it works. Whether you are managing multiple environments or looking to enhance user experience, this is the update you will need to read.
What’s the Problem with Traditional Redirect Flows?
Before we dive into the Adaptive Redirect Flow, it’s important to understand why the old approach was problematic.
1. A Single, Universal Redirect URL
Previously, authentication workflows relied on a single redirect URL that applied across the board—every user, every environment, every scenario. While this approach worked in the most basic setups, it left a lot to be desired when more complex requirements came into play.
For instance:
No Context-Specific Redirection: Whether a user was accessing your app in production, staging, or development, they were always redirected to the same place, causing potential confusion and inefficiency.
Limited Customization: Businesses couldn’t tailor the authentication journey to match the user’s specific context, role, or preferences.
2. Inefficient Multi-Environment Management
Organizations managing multiple environments, such as production, staging, or regional deployments, faced significant hurdles. Without the ability to customize redirects for each environment, developers had to implement tedious workarounds in the backend—often resulting in complex, error-prone logic.
3. Lack of Custom Parameters
Another major drawback was the inability to embed custom parameters into the redirect URL. For example, passing user-specific data like userId, sessionId, or even contextual information related to their actions was impossible within the redirect URL itself. This forced developers to rely on additional API calls to fetch this data after redirection, slowing down workflows and introducing unnecessary complications.
These limitations made authentication workflows rigid, error-prone, and more time-consuming than they needed to be.
How the Adaptive Redirect Flow Solves These Challenges
Enter the Adaptive Redirect Flow—a solution designed to bring flexibility and precision to authentication redirection. Here’s how it addresses the pain points of traditional workflows:
1. Customizable Per-Flow Redirect URLs
The Adaptive Redirect Flow lets you define unique redirect URLs for each authentication flow. This means you can now create tailored experiences for users based on their specific journey.
Imagine being able to:
Send users to different landing pages depending on their role (e.g., admin vs. regular user).
Redirect users based on geographic regions
Support multiple application environments (e.g., production, staging, or sandbox).
This level of customization allows you to align authentication redirection with your business logic and user needs seamlessly.
2. Streamlined Multi-Environment Management
Managing multiple environments is now a breeze. With the Adaptive Redirect Flow, you can configure distinct redirect URLs for each environment, removing the need for backend logic to “guess” which environment a user belongs to. This not only reduces errors but also simplifies the development process significantly.
Whether you’re working with development, testing, or production environments, users can now be sent to the correct location automatically—without extra effort from your team.
3. Support for Custom Parameters
One of the most exciting features of the Adaptive Redirect Flow is the ability to pass custom parameters directly in the redirect URL. This means you can embed:
User IDs for identifying and tracking individual users.
Session Identifiers to maintain context across authentication workflows.
Other Custom Data specific to your business logic, such as a campaign ID or product information.
By embedding these parameters directly into the redirect URL, you can eliminate the need for additional API calls or database lookups after authentication. This leads to faster workflows, better performance, and cleaner backend code.
Gone are the days of rigid, one-size-fits-all redirects. Whether you’re managing multi-environment setups, embedding custom parameters, or enhancing user experiences, this feature empowers you to deliver seamless and precise authentication journeys.
Key Benefits of Adaptive Redirect Flow
Why should you care about the Adaptive Redirect Flow? Let’s break down the core benefits:
1. Unparalleled Flexibility
No two user journeys are the same, and now, your authentication workflows don’t have to be either. The Adaptive Redirect Flow gives you the power to craft personalized redirection experiences for every use case. Whether it’s routing users based on role, environment, or region, the possibilities are endless.
2. Enhanced User Experience
A smooth, seamless authentication process is essential for keeping users engaged. By ensuring users are always redirected to the correct location, you can eliminate confusion, reduce friction, and create a more intuitive experience.
3. Simplified Backend Operations
Customizable redirects and embedded parameters mean your backend no longer has to shoulder the burden of handling complex redirection logic. This simplifies your codebase, reduces the risk of errors, and frees up developer time for more valuable tasks.
4. Time and Cost Savings
By automating and streamlining key parts of your authentication workflow, you can save valuable time and reduce operational costs. Developers can spend less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on building features that matter.
How to Get Started with Adaptive Redirect Flow
Learn how to authenticate your requests to the Maesn API. Implementing the Adaptive Redirect Flow is straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide to getting started:
Overview
When making requests to the maesn API you need to have the right request headers set, in order to authenticate your requests.
There are two primary authentication parts of the headers that we need to set:
X-API-KEY header
X-ACCOUNT-KEY header
These two are needed to authenticate your requests to the maesn API.
X-API-KEY header
For any request you make into the maesn API this is the header that authenticates yourself as a user of the maesn API. This is the API key that you get when you sign up for an account with maesn.
Please contact us at the following link to get started. We will get in touch with you to create an account and provide you with an API key.
X-ACCOUNT-KEY header
When trying to access your end user’s information in the target system, you will only be allowed to do so, if the end user went through the registration flow and authenticated to the target system, and you stored the X-ACCOUNT-KEY to use with these requests.
Every account key is unique to the end user and the target system, so an end user may have multiple of these depending on how many target systems they have authenticated to.
End user authentication is done through the /auth/:TARGET_SYSTEM endpoint.
curl --request GET \
--url 'https://api.maesn.dev/auth/:TARGET_SYSTEM' \
-H 'x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY' \
-H 'callbackUrl: YOUR_CALLBACK_URL'
Replace :TARGET_SYSTEM with the target system you want to authenticate to. For example, to authenticate to Xero, replace :TARGET_SYSTEM with xero.
You can send the callback URL as a query parameter to the /auth/:TARGET_SYSTEM endpoint. This will redirect the user back to your system after the authentication flow is complete.
You can also send a cancelCallbackUrl as a query parameter in cases where the user has to enter their API Key into our submission flow where they can cancel the flow. If these values are not provided, the user will be redirected with the default callback values that you provided when we contacted you for account creation.
This endpoint will give back a URL that you need to show to the user to authenticate to the target system.
At the end of the flow we redirect the user back into your system based on a redirect URL you provide when we contact you for account creation.
At this point you will receive an account token that you can use to make API calls on behalf of the user.
FAQs About Adaptive Redirect Flow
1. Do I need to rewrite my existing authentication workflows to use this feature? No. The Adaptive Redirect Flow integrates seamlessly with your existing authentication workflows. You only need to configure the new redirect URLs and parameters.
2. Can I use the same redirect URL across multiple flows? Absolutely! You can reuse a redirect URL for multiple flows if that fits your needs. The feature offers flexibility, whether you want unique or shared URLs.
3. Is the Adaptive Redirect Flow secure? Yes. The feature adheres to industry-standard security protocols. Parameters passed in the URL should, however, avoid including sensitive information like passwords. Use tokens or encrypted identifiers instead.
4. What happens if no redirect URL is defined for a flow?I f you don’t define a redirect URL for a particular flow, the default redirect URL in your API configuration will be used.
Why Adaptive Redirect Flow is the Future
Authentication workflows are the backbone of any digital experience. The Adaptive Redirect Flow takes this critical process and elevates it with unmatched flexibility, customization, and efficiency. Ready to take your authentication workflows to the next level? The Adaptive Redirect Flow is waiting for you to unlock its full potential.