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103

PoC - Use Matrix instead of emails for logins (codeberg.org)

submitted 3 weeks ago by TheOfficial@programming.dev to c/programming@programming.dev

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I wrote a proof of concept that allows the user to sign up to a service using their matrix ID e.g @user:server.test. The user then receives an activation link in an encrypted room from the service. It worked quite easily and within 2 days of fumbling around with the matrix SDK in python and FastAPI, here we are.

This has been in my head for a while and I just wanted to see if it's possible (the proof is in the ~~pudding~~ code). Emails are insecure and national services are starting to implement communication services on top of matrix. It's a not inconceivable that citizens might get a government issued Matrix account and communicate safely with the government over a secure protocol. Why not allow other services to do the same?

Imagine if instead of providing your email address for signing up to services you used matrix instead. Your host wouldn't be able to read your messages and it could replace things like 2FA codes over SMS, activation links in emails, or health documents from your doctor's CMS in your email inbox.

Should there be enough time, I'd like to try and contribute this login method to forgejo (the software behind codeberg that's hosting this repository), but let's see. First it would take learning go 😅

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[–] TheOfficial@programming.dev 4 points 2 weeks ago

Thanks :)

Email is just the communication channel. The relevant code for sending the activation code is just a few lines. Though, there is of course more work to be done for full integration:

validation of the matrix ID in the frontend (probably a regex?)
storing encryption keys and room IDs for conversations in order to continue sending messages in to the same encrypted room with users
adding a mechanism to select either email or matrix for users and allowing secondary matrix IDs (should the user want that)

It should be possible to have this in more projects, but it would probably take a big player to recognise a value (encrypted communication with their users) and adopt it.