# Which Problems Are Solved
ZITADEL cannot currently be used as an OAuth 2.0 Authorization Server by
clients that need to register themselves at runtime:
- There is no [OAuth 2.0 Dynamic Client Registration (RFC
7591)](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7591) endpoint, and no
`registration_endpoint` is advertised in the discovery document.
- This blocks [Model Context Protocol
(MCP)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) clients (Claude Desktop,
claude.ai, Cursor, the MCP SDKs), whose OAuth 2.1 authorization profile
expects an Authorization Server that supports dynamic client
registration. They self-register before any user context exists and only
then start the authorization code + PKCE flow.
# How the Problems Are Solved
## Control plane: instance security settings
No feature flag and no runtime config. A
`DynamicClientRegistrationSettings` message is nested under the instance
`SecuritySettings` in `settings/v2`, next to `embedded_iframe` and
`enable_impersonation`:
| `enabled` | `allow_unauthenticated` | Behaviour |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `false` (default) | — | `POST /oauth/v2/register` returns `404`,
`registration_endpoint` absent from discovery |
| `true` | `false` (default) | Token-gated registration, client homed in
the token's organization |
| `true` | `true` | Open registration for MCP hosts, client homed in the
instance default organization |
Both values are carried on `authz.Instance` and loaded with the
instance, exactly like `EnableImpersonation`, so the discovery document
and the endpoint read them per request without an extra query.
`allow_unauthenticated` implies `enabled` in both implementations, so a
single setting closes the endpoint.
Adding the two columns bumps the projection table to
`projections.security_policies3`, following what the impersonation
setting did for `security_policies2`.
## Authorization: a dedicated permission, not `project.app.write`
- New org-scoped permission **`project.app.register_dynamic`**, granted
by default to `ORG_OWNER`, `IAM_OWNER` and `IAM_ORG_MANAGER` — in both
`InternalAuthZ` and `SystemAuthZ`, mirroring where `project.app.write`
already lives.
- New built-in role **`ORG_DYNAMIC_CLIENT_REGISTRAR`** carrying only
that permission, so a service user can self-register clients without
gaining write access to the organization's existing applications.
- Open mode (`allow_unauthenticated = true`) requires no token and no
permission: that is the MCP self-register path.
- A valid token whose user lacks the permission is answered with **`403
insufficient_scope`** (RFC 6750 §3.1) rather than `401 invalid_token`,
so a caller can tell "your token is bad" from "your token may not do
this". `verifyAccessToken` also reports invalid tokens as permission
denied, so the authorization failure is marked explicitly to keep the
two apart.
The check runs once, at the endpoint, right after the token is verified
and before any state is created, so it also gates the auto-provisioning
of the organization's DCR project. The permission itself lives in the
command layer next to the others
(`Commands.CheckPermissionRegisterDynamicClient`). As the OIDC endpoints
are not behind the authorization interceptor, the caller identity is
derived from the verified token, the way token exchange does for the
impersonating actor.
## Registration itself
- **Registered clients are ordinary OIDC applications.** The endpoint
reuses the existing application-creation events
(`NewApplicationAddedEvent` and `NewOIDCConfigAddedEvent`), so the whole
token, authorization and introspection flow keeps working unchanged.
They are stored in a dedicated, auto-provisioned project named `ZITADEL
DCR` per organization (name lookup), so they do not pollute the
`IAMProject` or other projects.
- Input is validated with the existing `GetOIDCV1Compliance` rules;
`private_key_jwt` and `jwks`/`jwks_uri` are rejected with
`invalid_client_metadata`.
- **Endpoint wiring without forking the library.** `NewServer` calls
`op.RegisterServer` instead of `op.RegisterLegacyServer`, so the new
route can be added through the same `op.WithSetRouter` hook as the
authorize callback. `op.RegisterLegacyServer` appends a middleware after
the caller options, which chi forbids once a route has been registered;
`op.NewIssuerInterceptor` reproduces the issuer middleware it would
otherwise add. The `/oauth/v2` routing prefix is unchanged.
# Additional Changes
- **`application_type` inference for custom-scheme redirects** (last
commit, isolated). `application_type` is an OpenID Connect member; RFC
7591 does not define it, so clients that only implement RFC 7591 omit
it. Native MCP hosts doing so register custom-scheme redirect URIs,
which ZITADEL reserves for native applications, and the OIDC default of
`web` rejected them with `invalid_redirect_uri`. Inference is limited to
custom schemes and to an absent `application_type`, so every request
accepted today keeps its current application type and auth method — an
`http` loopback redirect still yields a web application. Happy to drop
this commit if you would rather keep it out of this PR.
- **Docs**: a Dynamic Client Registration integration guide, a
`registration_endpoint` section on the OpenID Connect endpoints page,
and the new role in the administrators table (plus its description in
the Console translations).
# Additional Context
- Part of #9810. This is **Phase 1 (DCR)**; #12315 adds RFC 7592 and
#12316 adds CIMD, both stacked on this branch and rebased once this
lands.
- Implements the control-plane and authorization model requested in the
review of this PR, itself a refinement of the direction in
https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/9810#issuecomment-4891176997.
- **Out of scope (deliberately)**: RFC 7592, CIMD, persisting free-form
metadata (`logo_uri`, `contacts`, and similar), and `private_key_jwt` /
`jwks_uri` (rejected cleanly). No new event types.
- Follow-ups explicitly left out, per the review: DCR client lifecycle
and richer audit, consent and custom scopes, JWT / `aud` (RFC 8707), and
RFC 8414 AS metadata (currently absent from both ZITADEL and
`zitadel/oidc`).
# Which Problems Are Solved
The following terms have all been renamed to management console:
- Customer Portal (when used to mean the console)
- Console
- Admin Console
# How the Problems Are Solved
- Search & Replace smartly
- Use Copilot for translation files
Changes done to: backend + frontend codebase, docs, translations and
protobufs (descriptions only)
# Additional Context
- Partially Closes#11279
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# Which Problems Are Solved
These changes introduce resource-based API endpoints for managing
instances and custom domains.
There are 4 types of changes:
- Endpoint implementation: consisting of the protobuf interface and the
implementation of the endpoint. E.g:
606439a17227b629c1d018842dc3f1c569e4627a
- (Integration) Tests: testing the implemented endpoint. E.g:
cdfe1f0372b30cb74e34f0f23c6ada776e4477e9
- Fixes: Bugs found during development that are being fixed. E.g:
acbbeedd3259b785948c1d702eb98f5810b3e60a
- Miscellaneous: code needed to put everything together or that doesn't
fit any of the above categories. E.g:
529df92abce1ffd69c0b3214bd835be404fd0de0 or
6802cb5468fbe24664ae6639fd3a40679222a2fd
# How the Problems Are Solved
_Ticked checkboxes indicate that the functionality is complete_
- [x] Instance
- [x] Create endpoint
- [x] Create endpoint tests
- [x] Update endpoint
- [x] Update endpoint tests
- [x] Get endpoint
- [x] Get endpoint tests
- [x] Delete endpoint
- [x] Delete endpoint tests
- [x] Custom Domains
- [x] Add custom domain
- [x] Add custom domain tests
- [x] Remove custom domain
- [x] Remove custom domain tests
- [x] List custom domains
- [x] List custom domains tests
- [x] Trusted Domains
- [x] Add trusted domain
- [x] Add trusted domain tests
- [x] Remove trusted domain
- [x] Remove trusted domain tests
- [x] List trusted domains
- [x] List trusted domains tests
# Additional Changes
When looking for instances (through the `ListInstances` endpoint)
matching a given query, if you ask for the results to be order by a
specific column, the query will fail due to a syntax error. This is
fixed in acbbeedd3259b785948c1d702eb98f5810b3e60a . Further explanation
can be found in the commit message
# Additional Context
- Relates to #9452
- CreateInstance has been excluded:
https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/9930
- Permission checks / instance retrieval (middleware) needs to be
changed to allow context based permission checks
(https://github.com/zitadel/zitadel/issues/9929), required for
ListInstances
---------
Co-authored-by: Livio Spring <[email protected]>
* feat(api): feature API proto definitions
* update proto based on discussion with @livio-a
* cleanup old feature flag stuff
* authz instance queries
* align defaults
* projection definitions
* define commands and event reducers
* implement system and instance setter APIs
* api getter implementation
* unit test repository package
* command unit tests
* unit test Get queries
* grpc converter unit tests
* migrate the V1 features
* migrate oidc to dynamic features
* projection unit test
* fix instance by host
* fix instance by id data type in sql
* fix linting errors
* add system projection test
* fix behavior inversion
* resolve proto file comments
* rename SystemDefaultLoginInstanceEventType to SystemLoginDefaultOrgEventType so it's consistent with the instance level event
* use write models and conditional set events
* system features integration tests
* instance features integration tests
* error on empty request
* documentation entry
* typo in feature.proto
* fix start unit tests
* solve linting error on key case switch
* remove system defaults after discussion with @eliobischof
* fix system feature projection
* resolve comments in defaults.yaml
---------
Co-authored-by: Livio Spring <[email protected]>
* fix: tests
* bastle wie en grosse
* fix(database): scan as callback
* fix tests
* fix merge failures
* remove as of system time
* refactor: remove unused test
* refacotr: remove unused lines
* fix: rename iam command side to instance
* fix: rename iam command side to instance
* fix: rename iam command side to instance
* fix: rename iam command side to instance
* fix: rename orgiampolicy to domain policy
* fix: merge conflicts
* fix: protos
* fix: md files
* implement deprecated org iam policy again
Co-authored-by: Livio Amstutz <[email protected]>
jmaretteandGitHub
Marco A.andGitHub
SilvanandGitHub
