PlexTrac uses JWT tokens to manage authentication for all API endpoints. This token is sent as an authorization header to all endpoints and validates the user has permission to access the requested action.
Upon successful authentication, these tokens are granted to users in a PlexTrac instance and contain the user's permissions. This means the user will have the same permissions regardless of whether they are interacting with the PlexTrac platform or manually making an API request.
After 15 minutes, JWT tokens expire, requiring users to refresh or re-authenticate for a new valid token.
Ten authentication requests are allowed per minute, regardless of the user or whether the attempt was successful. Any additional attempts will result in an error. This limit is enforced to prevent brute-force attacks against the platform. It may be reached naturally if multiple users attempt to sign in simultaneously or if an API script attempts to be used concurrently.
POST Authentication is the basic auth endpoint and returns the following after successfully verifying the given username and password for a user without MFA:
The value of the token field is the JWT token to be sent to all other endpoints in the Authorization header.
This method generates a JWT token ONLY when the user's Authentication Provider is set to PlexTrac and the user DOES have MFA enabled.
Users with MFA enabled must use two endpoints to generate a JWT token. First, call the POST Authentication endpoint. The response will contain the code field if the user has MFA enabled. The value relates to the Authenticator set up by the user and the six-digit rotating code associated with their login.
Next, call the POST Multi-Factor Authentication endpoint with the code returned from the last request and the current six-digit code from your Authenticator in the payload.
This will return the following after successfully verifying the given MFA data for a user:
The value of the token field is the JWT token to be sent in the Authorization header to all other endpoints.
Once generated, the JWT token is sent as an Authorization Header with all other endpoints. Using the requests module in Python, an example call would be the following:
To make a request using cURL from the command line, consider the following syntax:
Tokens can be refreshed with the PUT Refresh Token endpoint before the session expires, allowing a new session to be created that lasts another 15 minutes. The alternative approach is using the same authentication methods that generated the session in the first place. The advantage of refreshing a token vs. generating a new session is tied to how a user is authenticated into the new session.
Refreshing a token uses an existing token but must be done before the session expires while the original token is still valid.
Generating a new session token requires your username/password and possibly an MFA code if MFA is set up for the user.
The advantage of refreshing is that the user does not need the username/password and MFA code to extend the session. However, refreshing is necessary for users who have MFA set up; otherwise, a new MFA code will need to be entered to generate a new session.
Some endpoints require a JSON payload. When sending a request in Postman, it automatically detects when the raw JSON body option is selected and adds the header Content-Type: application/json to the request. This adds the payload to the HTTP request json field.
Confirm that the payload is being sent in the request's json field when sending requests via other means. Without the Content-Type: application/json header, the payload might be stored in the data or form field and cause the request to fail since the json field where the expected data is null.
Add the Content-Type: application/json header to tell the request the --data-raw data is a JSON and should be stored in the request's json field.
With the Python requests module, add the JSON payload to the json parameter when making a request, and the requests module will automatically send the Content-Type: application/json header with the request.
This method generates a JWT token ONLY when the user's authentication provider is set to PlexTrac, and MFA is NOT enabled. For MFA, see the Generate Access Token (MFA) section.
