Stellar Authentication (SEP-10) - Stellar Developer Docs

Overview

SEP-10 (Stellar Web Authentication) enables wallet applications to create authenticated sessions with Stellar anchors by proving control over a Stellar account. Once authenticated, wallets receive a JSON Web Token (JWT) that they use in subsequent requests to the anchor’s standardized services. For the complete specification, see SEP-10: Stellar Web Authentication. The Anchor Platform implements SEP-10 with support for:

Challenge/Response Flow: GET /auth to request a challenge, POST /auth to validate and receive a JWT
Client Attribution: Optional verification of client application identity for noncustodial wallets
Custodial Wallet Support: Support for custodial wallets that manage user accounts
Multiple Home Domains: Support for multiple domains and wildcard patterns

Typical Authentication Flow

The Client requests a unique challenge from the Server
The Client verifies and signs the challenge
The Client submits the signed challenge to the Server
The Server verifies the challenge and responds with a JWT session token

Enable SEP-10

To enable SEP-10, set the following environment variables in your dev.env file.

# dev.env
SEP10_ENABLED=true
SEP10_HOME_DOMAINS=localhost:8080
SECRET_SEP10_SIGNING_SEED="a Stellar private key"
SECRET_SEP10_JWT_SECRET="a secret encryption key"

Required Configuration (If Enabled)

Variable	Default	Description
`SEP10_ENABLED`	`false`	Set to `true` to enable SEP-10 authentication
`SEP10_HOME_DOMAINS`	`localhost:8080`	List of home domains (comma-separated). Supports wildcard patterns like `*.stellar.org`. The `home_domain` must match the host where your `stellar.toml` file is served.
`SECRET_SEP10_SIGNING_SEED`	Required	The private key corresponding to the `SIGNING_KEY` in your `stellar.toml` file. Used to sign authentication challenges. Wallets verify this signature before signing and returning the challenge.
`SECRET_SEP10_JWT_SECRET`	Required	The encryption key used to sign and verify JWT tokens issued to authenticated wallets.

The SIGNING_KEY in your stellar.toml file must be the public key derived from SECRET_SEP10_SIGNING_SEED. Wallets will verify that challenge transactions are signed by this key.

Optional Configuration

# dev.env
# Optional: Specify web_auth_domain (default: first home_domain if only one is specified)
SEP10_WEB_AUTH_DOMAIN=localhost:8080

# Optional: Challenge transaction timeout in seconds (default: 900)
SEP10_AUTH_TIMEOUT=900

# Optional: JWT token timeout in seconds (default: 86400 = 24 hours)
SEP10_JWT_TIMEOUT=86400

# Optional: Require Authorization header in GET /auth requests (default: false)
SEP10_REQUIRE_AUTH_HEADER=false

# Optional: Client attribution requirement (default: false)
SEP10_CLIENT_ATTRIBUTION_REQUIRED=false

# Optional: Client allow list (default: empty, all configured clients allowed)
# Comma-separated list of client names that are allowed to authenticate
SEP10_CLIENT_ALLOW_LIST=client1,client2

Variable	Default	Description
`SEP10_WEB_AUTH_DOMAIN`	First `home_domain` if only one is specified, otherwise empty	The `web_auth_domain` property used in SEP-10 responses. Required if you have multiple `home_domains` or use wildcard patterns. Must match the host of the SEP server.
`SEP10_AUTH_TIMEOUT`	`900`	Time in seconds that a challenge transaction remains valid. Clients must sign and submit the challenge within this window.
`SEP10_JWT_TIMEOUT`	`86400`	Time in seconds that an issued JWT token remains valid. After expiration, clients must re-authenticate.
`SEP10_REQUIRE_AUTH_HEADER`	`false`	If `true`, requires a valid Authorization header (Bearer JWT) in GET `/auth` challenge requests. This prevents unauthorized access to the endpoint and is useful for re-authentication flows where clients need to refresh their JWT tokens.
`SEP10_CLIENT_ATTRIBUTION_REQUIRED`	`false`	If `true`, noncustodial wallets must provide a `client_domain` in challenge requests. Requires client configuration (see below).
`SEP10_CLIENT_ALLOW_LIST`	Empty (all configured clients allowed)	Comma-separated list of client names that are allowed to authenticate. Only relevant when `SEP10_CLIENT_ATTRIBUTION_REQUIRED=true`. If empty, all configured clients are allowed.

Multiple Home Domains: If you specify multiple home_domains (e.g., ap.stellar.org,*.sdp.stellar.org), you must also set SEP10_WEB_AUTH_DOMAIN to specify which domain hosts the authentication endpoint.

Client Attribution

Client attribution allows you to restrict authentication to specific wallet applications and verify their identity. This is an optional feature that should only be enabled if it’s a business requirement.

By default, the Anchor Platform allows anyone with a Stellar account to authenticate. Client attribution is only needed if you want to:

Restrict authentication to specific wallet applications
Verify the identity of noncustodial wallet applications
Track which wallet applications your users are using

Enabling Client Attribution

# dev.env
SEP10_CLIENT_ATTRIBUTION_REQUIRED=true

When SEP10_CLIENT_ATTRIBUTION_REQUIRED=true, noncustodial wallets must:

Provide a client_domain parameter in the challenge request
Sign the challenge transaction with the SIGNING_KEY from that domain’s stellar.toml file
Have their domain listed in your client configuration

Client Configuration

Configure allowed clients in your YAML configuration file:

clients:
  # Each item in the list may contain the following fields:
  #   - name: (required) the name of the client
  #   - type: (required) `custodial` or `noncustodial`
  #
  #   If the type is `custodial`,
  #   - signing_keys: (required) the custodial SEP-10 signing key(s) of the client.
  #   - callback_urls.sep6: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-6 callback API endpoint.
  #   - callback_urls.sep24: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-24 callback API endpoint.
  #   - callback_urls.sep31: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-31 callback API endpoint.
  #   - callback_urls.sep12: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-12 callback API endpoint.
  #   - allow_any_destination: (optional) default to false. If set to true, allows any destination for deposits.
  #   - destination_accounts: (optional) list of accounts allowed to be used for the deposit.
  #                           If allow_any_destination is set to true, this configuration option is ignored.
  #
  #   If the type is `noncustodial`,
  #   - domains: (required) the domains of the client.
  #   - callback_urls.sep6: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-6 callback API endpoint.
  #   - callback_urls.sep24: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-24 callback API endpoint.
  #   - callback_urls.sep31: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-31 callback API endpoint.
  #   - callback_urls.sep12: (optional) the URL of the client's SEP-12 callback API endpoint.

  # custodial client
  - name: bluecorp
    type: custodial
    signing_keys: "the signing key 1 of bluecorp","the signing key 2 of bluecorp"
    callback_urls:
      sep6: https://callback.bluecorp.com/api/v1/anchor/callback/sep6
      sep12: https://callback.bluecorp.com/api/v1/anchor/callback/sep12
    allow_any_destination: false
    destination_accounts: GA...

  # noncustodial client
  - name: pinkcorp
    type: noncustodial
    domains: pinkcorp.com
    callback_urls:
      sep6: https://callback.pinkcorp.com/api/v2/anchor/callback/sep6
      sep12: https://callback.pinkcorp.com/api/v2/anchor/callback/sep12

 - name: redcorp
    type: custodial
    signing_keys: "the signing key of redcorp",

Or configure via environment variables:

# dev.env
# custodial client
CLIENTS[0]_NAME=bluecorp
CLIENTS[0]_TYPE=custodial
CLIENTS[0]_SIGNING_KEYS="the signing key 1 of bluecorp","the signing key 2 of bluecorp"
CLIENTS[0]_ALLOW_ANY_DESTINATION=false
CLIENTS[0]_DESTINATION_ACCOUNTS=GA...

# noncustodial client
CLIENTS[1]_NAME=pinkcorp
CLIENTS[1]_TYPE=noncustodial
CLIENTS[1]_DOMAINS=pinkcorp.com

# custodial client
CLIENTS[2]_NAME=redcorp
CLIENTS[2]_TYPE=custodial
CLIENTS[2]_SIGNING_KEYS="the signing key of redcorp"

Configure stellar.toml

Update your stellar.toml file to advertise SEP-10 support. Wallets discover your authentication endpoint through this file.

# dev.stellar.toml
SIGNING_KEY = "add your signing key here (public key from SECRET_SEP10_SIGNING_SEED)"
WEB_AUTH_ENDPOINT = "http://localhost:8080/auth"

These fields should match the configuration options set in the Enable SEP-10 section above. WEB_AUTH_ENDPOINT - The URL where the authentication service is running. This is the URL that clients will use to authenticate with the anchor. The endpoint must support:

GET <WEB_AUTH_ENDPOINT> - Request a challenge
POST <WEB_AUTH_ENDPOINT> - Exchange signed challenge for session JWT

SIGNING_KEY - The public key corresponding to the private key specified in SECRET_SEP10_SIGNING_SEED. This key is used to sign authentication challenges presented to wallet applications.

SIGNING_KEY: Must be the public key derived from SECRET_SEP10_SIGNING_SEED
WEB_AUTH_ENDPOINT: Use https:// in production. The path /auth is the standard SEP-10 endpoint.
Host Matching: The host in WEB_AUTH_ENDPOINT should match one of your SEP10_HOME_DOMAINS (or the SEP10_WEB_AUTH_DOMAIN if specified).

How to Test the Authentication Flow

The SEP-10 authentication flow consists of two steps:

GET /auth - Request a challenge transaction
- Parameters: account (required), memo (optional), home_domain (optional), client_domain (optional)
- Returns: A challenge transaction in XDR format
POST /auth - Validate the signed challenge and receive a JWT
- Body: { "transaction": "<signed_challenge_xdr>" }
- Returns: { "token": "<jwt_token>" }

The JWT token should be included in subsequent API requests as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

Testing Your Configuration: You can test SEP-10 authentication using curl and Stellar CLI. For more information about Stellar CLI, see the Stellar CLI documentation.

# Verify if `stellar` command line is installed
stellar --version

# List your Stellar keys/identities
stellar keys ls

# Get your account ID (public key) and secret seed
# Replace 'alice' with your identity name from `stellar keys ls`
IDENTITY_NAME="alice"
ACCOUNT_ID=$(stellar keys public-key "$IDENTITY_NAME")
SECRET_SEED=$(stellar keys secret "$IDENTITY_NAME")

# Step 1: Request challenge and save the transaction XDR
CHALLENGE_RESPONSE=$(curl -s "http://localhost:8080/auth?account=$ACCOUNT_ID")
CHALLENGE_XDR=$(echo "$CHALLENGE_RESPONSE" | jq -r '.transaction')

# Step 2: Sign the challenge transaction using Stellar CLI
# Note: The output includes info messages; the signed XDR is on the last line
SIGNED_CHALLENGE_XDR=$(echo "$CHALLENGE_XDR" | stellar tx sign --sign-with-key "$SECRET_SEED" 2>&1 | tail -1)

# Step 3: Submit the signed challenge and receive JWT token
curl -X POST "http://localhost:8080/auth" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{\"transaction\": \"$SIGNED_CHALLENGE_XDR\"}"

​Overview

​Typical Authentication Flow

​Enable SEP-10

​Required Configuration (If Enabled)

​Optional Configuration

​Client Attribution

​Enabling Client Attribution

​Client Configuration

​Configure stellar.toml

​How to Test the Authentication Flow

Overview

Typical Authentication Flow

Enable SEP-10

Required Configuration (If Enabled)

Optional Configuration

Client Attribution

Enabling Client Attribution

Client Configuration

Configure stellar.toml

How to Test the Authentication Flow