What Is JWT and Why Should You Use JWT
JSON Web Tokens (JWT) are talked about all the time, but what exactly are they and how do they work. In this video I will explain in depth exactly what JWT is, how it works, why it is secure, and when you should use it. We will go through multiple visual demonstrations of exactly how and why JWT works. We will also compare JWT to the more common and traditional session based user authorization. By the end of this video you will have a complete understanding of JWT, how it works, and when you should use it.
📚 Materials/References:
JWT Authentication Implementation Video: • JWT Authentication Tut...
JWT Playground: jwt.io/
🧠 Concepts Covered:
- What JWT is
- JWT vs Session
- The components of JWT
- How JWT is secure
- When you should use JWT
- The advantages of JWT
🌎 Find Me Here:
My Website: webdevsimplified.com
Patreon: / webdevsimplified
Twitter: / devsimplified
Discord: / discord
GitHub: github.com/WebDevSimplified
CodePen: codepen.io/WebDevSimplified
#JWT #WDS #JSONWebToken
I just posted an implementation to JWT authentication in Node.js based on popular demand. kzhead.info/sun/oMasndehbp5ppWw/bejne.html
I thought you said in the video that JWT is not for authentication? :S
I really enjoy all your videos. You explain everything much better than most of the tutorials I buy on udemy. You should do your own tutorials on udemy because you're a much better teacher than most of the other people on that website.
Now m confused..you just said JWT is not for authentication and the new video title is jwt authentication..??please help..
@@grantfleming5250 same it's for Authorization I guess
Mr Kyle I'll like to ask you a question, in one of your video you titled 'JWT Authentication Tutorial - Node.js' but here you said JWT is for Authorization and not Authentication, I'm a bit confused here...
An articulate clear explanation of a very important security concept. Keep the videos coming Kyle.
Thank you! I felt this was one of my better videos on explaining a concept and I am really glad that you enjoyed it also.
@@WebDevSimplified I really low technology being explained in such simple way.
JWT in this tutorial is all about authentication, not authorization contrary to what was described, because its use here is identifying whether the user is the same user as the one that logged in (just like with sessions). Perhaps the confusion is that JWTs are commonly used for authorization by being created to grant access to APIs so that the API server knows the client is authorized to use the API. Neverthless, JWTs can be used for authentication (as in this tutorial) such as "ID tokens" and also for authorization such as "access tokens". A clear tutorial apart from this!
Ur comment is one of those comments where I learn something And feel I wish I come across more these kind of comments
incredible comment!
Nice, thanks man
It has been 2 years but thanks for clearing my confusion.
It was about Authorization only. Server creates a jwt after login only. Or I can say after authentication only. Server sends jwt back first time to client/browser after authenticated. Then the corresponding user reqs, Has a jwt in its header. Now server authorizes is it a valid jwt?. (But not does not validates user mail, user password). So the video description is correct. If i am missing something, correct me .😮
Man you're really a godsend, how is it humanly possible to pack so much info AND explain it all so lucidly in 15 mins?! I read so many articles but they all made the verify signature sound like magic and here you simplify it like it's no big deal. Now I finally understand why jwt is important. Thank you so so much Kyle! 😃
I work in the software industry and needed to understand JWT. Your tutorial is by far one of the best I've seen. Clear, concise and super easy to understand. Uber thank you!
You are very welcome! I have a video coming out on Saturday that goes over implementing JWT in Node.js so that may be something you find useful.
I don't think there is any better video on the Internet explaining JWT concepts in such detailed crystal clear manner !!! Its lovely from you, Kyle
Was struggling to understand the concept of JWT since over 2 weeks, I'm glad I watched this tutorial. Complete concept of JWT has been cleared in my mind now. Thanks a lot for making it so clean and simple to understand.
I'm really in awe of how easy to understand and clear you made this topic. What an incredible explanation! This is one of your best videos :)
Your videos are some of the cleanest, most well put together, informative, and easy to follow videos on KZhead. Thank you.
Nice one Kyle, you speak so clearly and sound highly knowledgeable about JWT. Really appreciate the effort you put into your videos. Awesome. Keep up the good work.
this is one of the underrated explanations of jwt. as full stack engineer , I remember taking your react course 2 years ago where we were building a food application applying all the http verbs. now , I have been working for 7 months as full stack engineer here in seattle waghinston. if someone had told me , I will be a developer one day, I wouldn't have believed. thanks again
Congrats on becoming a developer!
you mean CRUD?
Any thing I get confused on, I check your page first. Your videos are really short and straight to the point with clear understanding. Thank you for putting out great content as always.
Excellent explanation of JWT, I was literally able to understand JWT in 15 minutes !
Thank you! I am really glad that you enjoyed it!
why did you take 8 extra seconds after the video ended?
Kudos to you ..for the simple and clear explanation
Another use case for JWT is the following: - The client signs the JWT with their own private key - The client shares its public key with you, and you keep a copy on the server - Everytime you decode the JWT, you verify its validity with the copy of the public key that you have on the server
I'm gonna say what everyone else said. this might be the clearest explanations ever!
A really helpful video explaining JWT! I love that u also included advantages of using JWT compared to sessions and also included a real world usecase as example. Hope to see more videos from you! :D
This Channel provides by far the best and most clear explanations. Thank you so much for your work!
Thank you for the tutorials! You are making a huge difference!
You are very welcome!
This is seriously the best explanation of JWT I have viewed. Thank you!
Definitely
Your speaking is really easy to listen to for a non native speaker like me. Thank you so much.
So much better than my professor's explanations. The visuals help a lot too. Thank you Kyle.
Omg your content is pure goldd!!!!! I really appreciate your good work! Thank you☺️
I've been working with JWTs for a while and this is the first time I've figured out how these really work. Great video.
Wow. This was an amazing video explaining JWT. The example you provided at the end to me was the cherry on top! Thank you so much for this!
I am so glad that I found your channel, Kyle. You literally make my life easier. Thank you very much!
best explanation of JWT i've come across thank you
A superb video for me to review this thing even I've been using it for a while. :P Btw I really love that you include graphic to illustrate the point, it is easier than just words. And I also like the servers of the bank example. :)
I am really glad you enjoyed the video and the visuals. It takes quite a bit of time to set up and create the visuals so I am really glad they are helpful.
@@WebDevSimplified Much appreciated!
You saved my life at work with this very clear explanation. So much easier to understand than the other material I run over the web. Thanls !!!!
Man, you have such a gift for easily explaining everything.
You're really talented at this. I love this kind of tutorials, simple clear and brief without losing important details. Hope you continue providing such content.
Thank you! I promise I will never stop making videos like this. They are some of my favorite to make.
Thankyou so much for this. I cant believe the difference between you explaining things vs my teachers. I finally get it now! It wasnt that difficult after all. I also love how you explain why you should use it & show us a few examples.
Where do you go to school where they teach you about JWTs?
@@knucklesamidge I’m studying to become a software engineer
@@howtobecomeapanda1547 where
@@knucklesamidge at university in The Netherlands
Excellent job! You not only make a very good and clean explanation, but also add a real case where JWT is better tan sessions.
This is awesome. Great job man, you had a great approach for explaining JWT. Hope your other videos will be as useful as this one.
JWT with node.js, yes please. Great videos!
Thanks for the great explanation on JWT. For the session cookie based solution, I think the session doesn't have to be stored in memory. Storage like Redis with TTL is a great option. So when a user tries to swtich from Bank to Retirement service, the services can both retrieve the user session from the same Redis cluster
Man, I'm so glad I found your channel. One of the best and detailed explanations. Thank you for making it so easy to understand!
play 0AD
Thanks for explaining a really complex concept in a very simple manner. Excellent explanation of how client side auth works in contrast to server side!
Youre the best i love all your videos, super nice and clear content. learning quick. =))
Good stuff. This is not often talked about compared to other web topics.
Thanks
this channel is really a gem. Been able to see your videos as top results of my searches also.
Your tutorial is by far one of the best I've seen. Best precise explanation man.
The youtuber with perfect hair. Thank you for this video Kyle.
A little bonus information: before the times of JWT devs obviously had a "workaround" for the selfishness of the servers that saved the authorization state to their own session memory. That was to make a call to a databank to check there if any other of its server buddies has already seen and authorized the user. Obviously this method had the huge disadvantage that every server unneccessary bothered the DB and was a potential security risk if that said server got hacked and gets access to the DB.
Simplified concepts, crisp and easy to understand, Thanks Kyle! This video is really helpful.
You're welcome! I'm glad I could help.
super helpful overview, especially appreciated the side by side comparison with session based ID's. thank you!
I would really appreciate your node and JWT Tutorial.
I just released a video on the implementation. kzhead.info/sun/oMasndehbp5ppWw/bejne.html
I'm having to finally tackle major security concerns after many, many years of it being my weakest subject by far. (Not totally sure why management thought putting me on this project was a good idea, but hey.) Breakdowns like this are very helpful to me, thank you.
Awesome explanation. Thanks!
Best explanation and illustration of JWT in youtube! I forgot how this works after being away from web dev for many years, thank you. Keep doing what you're doing, you're really good at it! Just waiting for your free React tutorials :)
You're a life saver my G ❤. Happy Ramdan brother
Yes please on the node.js. Thanks!
Very well explained. This channel has been so helpful for me with learning web developement. You deserve more subscribers
PURE GOLDEN Explanation, Thank you soooooooo much Kyle🙏🏼
Really good explanation! Although, regarding the last example, both servers can share the same session database but still we go back to the issue that we have to store the sessions in the database and having a lookup that takes time and it's a performance concern. Really good video. Thanks!
i agree
A common technique for handling traditional sessions is to save the session information into a database that is accessible to any number of servers. This counter-acts the main con presented in this video. However! JWT is more efficient because it doesn't need to do a database lookup (and potentially another network call to connect to a shared db instance).
I wouldn't even use a DB for sessions. Things like Redis is way more optimized for that.
It might not need a full database query, but you still need to look up the private key and perform the cryptographic check on each JWT. So you're still sharing a key between servers, and need to ensure they key is up-to-date on all of them. With session cookies, if you stored user session IDs on Redis, the performance difference compared to verifying a JWT with a private key would probably be negligible. Even if you're using a SQL DB to store the session IDs, you aren't going to notice a difference until you are reaching massive numbers of users. Plus, JWTs hold user information on the browser that is much easier to compromise than a properly secured server.
This is the best explanation of JWT I've seen on the internet. Thanks so much for the video!
It was an amazing video that clarified all the stuff I was confused with for a few weeks. Now it makes sense. Thank you so much for this wonderful, well detailed and easy to follow introduction.
Might be useful -- for complete newbies watching this -- to explain that base64 encoding the header and payload DOES NOT secure that data, i.e. the encoding is not an encryption, and the string can easily be decoded to reveal the original data. So don't put anything "secret" (like the user's password, or other sensitive data) in the payload. Also worth deeper explanation is what a hash is, and how it makes it possible to know that the signature sent from the user is legit. I know you demonstrated how tampering with the header or payload invalidated the signature, but I think a deeper dive into how hashing works to detect this would be beneficial.
Can you please explain what's the point of encoding with base64 if it is not encryption.
Where do you put the password than?
@@user-ew2sz3ez4n JWT doesn't need to store password. On registration of user, password is still stored on server
Yeah, When will they finally launch the James Webb Telescope? Mmm?
Thanks a lot for this video. I have been struggling to understand what JWT is for months, but this video made my day.
Thank you so much for making this video! The banking example you used really drives the concept home.
While I think JWT is good for particular things, I wish you had touched on its cons as well as its pros. It isn't _always_ the best solution for authorization. In fact, session authorization is considered safer, and JWT was created with the intention of having short-lived tokens that can let you authorize to a different server. It's intended as a bridge between services, but a lot of people use it for local authorization as well. And if the token's payload includes the User ID which then has to be used to query the database, you lose the benefits of JWT. It's also important to keep in mind that JWTs aren't encrypted by default, and even without the secret, a client can still _read_ the contents in plain text, they just can't modify it. All in all, there are some considerations and requirements to look at before decision which method to use for this. JWT is simple and popular, but not always best. Stay safe!
You're crushing it Kyle! Thanks! \ (•◡•) /
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Crystal clear, and I also appreciate the industry example at the end. A very well thought out video, thank you
this tutorial is just awesome, thank you ☺️
Most servers that use sessions also offer the ability to store an auth token to a client side cookie. This is what happens when you check “Remember me” on most sites. Then when switching servers the auth token is used to reauthorize the user and generate a new session. In other words, non-JWT already solves all the problems you say JWT solves in this video. Not saying JWT isn’t a good solution, but your video doesn’t really do a good job of explaining why it is.
I was struggling to understand the concept of JWT before. But now I feel more confident, thank you!
this man is a whole library !
Excellent video. The way you explain concepts is superb. Keep going!
This video cleared most of my questions. Great presentation :) keep posting such videos.
I've just started using JWT in my lastest Udemy course project and this video is just perfect for me to understand how it works.
Loved your explanation! Thank you so much!
Can't thank you enough for a crisp walk through!
Bro this is fantastic content simplified I am so impressed
Thank you very much for those graphs! Finally the concept clicked for me.
Great Job, well spoken and in depth. I couldn't have asked for a better explanation. Thank you!!
Great explanation on this subject! Thank you for making this video.
Very clear explanation. Easy to understand. Good job!!!
Real simplified explanation. Congratulations, and thank you for so short good clarification about JWT!
Your videos are very clear and informative. Keep them coming 🙂
Thank you Kyle! Those were really clear explanations.
Mate seriously that was really good! You explained this so clear and easy! As we say in the ends round here in London "Respect!"
Very well explained and I liked the comparison between session ids vs jwt, exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!
Excellent and *clear* explanation. Great clarification about the signature and the validation process. Thanks and congrats!
Great explanation. Thank you for taking the time and to break it down the way you did.
Thank you I was needing this insight,which no one was able to provide me
That was really well thought out and demonstrated video. Thanks Kyle , JWT is a lot clearer to me now.
Dude, you're a natural teacher. Thx.
Dude loved your video. Very detailed and easy to understand. Kudos!
really very well explained - keep up the great work
I am watching it 2 years after it's been published, it is still very relevant ! Thanks for video! Two thumbs up !!
Thank you for this video. Concise and clear and much appreciated
I love the way you started the video by explaining, JWT is meant for authorisation not authentication. It shows how hard you work for your content. Thank you and kudos to you..
Aaaaand he was so 100% wrong.
Thank you Kyle for your effort & time to explain JWT! It helps me to understand better!
Thank you, Kyle. The explanation is very clear!
Such an amazing explaination, totally cleared the confusion for me.
Great Explanation. Keep going. Thank you very much.
Great explanation as always! Thanks and keep up the good work
OMG, thank you. This was incredibly helpful. I've spent literally dozens of hours trying to figure out JWT and how to get it to work in my use case, but until watching your video, I was groping around in the dark lol. I still have work to do, but now it will be smooth sailing!
This was the best explanation of jwt.. It really helped me clear my concepts.. thanks
Really appreciate you taking the time to explain how JWT decides the token has been tampered with. Makes a lot of sense now compared to when I heard it just happened.