Files
zitadel/apps/docs
jmaretteandGitHub f34cc45eac feat(oidc): add RFC 7591 dynamic client registration (#12313)
# 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`).
2026-07-30 14:43:47 +00:00
..
2026-01-30 18:11:12 +00:00

@zitadel/docs

Documentation for Zitadel, built with Fumadocs and Next.js.

Getting Started

Ensure you have followed the root quick start to set up dependencies.

Local Development

Ensure all dependencies are installed:

pnpm install

Start the development server:

pnpm nx run @zitadel/docs:dev

The site will be available at http://localhost:3000.

Scripts

Key scripts for documentation workflows:

Script Description
dev Starts the development server.
build Builds the production application.
fetch:remote-content Fetches remote tags and referenced content.
generate Runs all generation steps (fetch:remote-content, generate:proto-docs, generate:api-reference, generate:index-pages).
check:links Validates content integrity (broken links, missing frontmatter, schema errors).
check-types Validates typescript types.
test Runs all validation steps (check-types, check:links).
lint checks for code style and syntax errors (ESLint).
clean Cleans the build output and generated files.

Validation

  • Code Quality: Run pnpm nx run @zitadel/docs:lint to check for syntax and style issues in JS/TS/MDX files.
  • Content Integrity: Run pnpm nx run @zitadel/docs:check-links to validate content structure, including:
    • Broken internal links
    • Missing required front-matter (e.g., title)
    • Image references

Troubleshooting

Issue: Nx configuration not found or "nx" command not found

If you see errors like:

 NX   Cannot find configuration for task @zitadel/zitadel:@zitadel/docs:generate

Pass --verbose to see the stacktrace.

or

pnpm nx run @zitadel/docs:dev
 ERR_PNPM_RECURSIVE_EXEC_FIRST_FAIL  Command "nx" not found

Did you mean "pnpm nx"?

Root cause: Your dependency cache or node_modules is out of sync.

Solution: Run these commands from the repository root in order:

  1. Clear node_modules: rm -rf node_modules — removes the installed dependency folder
  2. Clear pnpm cache: pnpm cache delete — clears pnpm's internal package cache
  3. Reinstall dependencies: pnpm install — reinstalls all dependencies fresh
  4. Test the setup: pnpm nx run @zitadel/docs:generate — verifies everything works

This resolves 99% of setup-related issues.

Contributing

Build Process

The docs build process automatically handles the following steps via generate:

  1. Downloads required protoc plugins.
  2. Generates gRPC documentation from proto files.
  3. Generates API documentation from OpenAPI specs.
  4. Generates index files for directory structures.

Style Guide

  • Variables: Use environment variables in code snippets where possible.
  • Embedded Content: Use _filename.mdx for content embedded in other pages (not indexed individually).
  • Code Embedding: Use the file property in code blocks to embed code from the repo.
  • Voice: Use active voice and sentence case for titles.

Refer to the Google Developer Style Guide for general guidelines.

Adding Content

All documentation content is located in the content directory. Note that the system strictly accepts only .mdx files.

To add a new page:

  1. Create a .mdx file in the appropriate subdirectory of content.
  2. Register the new page in the sidebar settings at lib/sidebar-data.ts to make it accessible in the navigation.

Pull Requests

Use docs(<scope>): <short summary> for PR titles. Pass quality checks before submitting:

pnpm nx run @zitadel/docs:build