{"id":2508,"library":"flask-openid","title":"Flask-OpenID","description":"Flask-OpenID is a Flask extension that provides OpenID 1.x and 2.x authentication support for web applications. The current version is 1.3.1, released in 2021. It is in maintenance mode, primarily for existing applications, as the OpenID Connect standard has largely superseded OpenID 1/2 for new development.","status":"maintenance","version":"1.3.1","language":"python","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask-openid/","tags":["flask","openid","authentication","web","legacy"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install flask-openid","lang":"bash","label":"Install stable version"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Core library for OpenID 1.x/2.x protocol handling.","package":"python-openid"}],"imports":[{"symbol":"OpenID","correct":"from flask_openid import OpenID"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import os\nfrom flask import Flask, render_template, session, request, redirect, url_for\nfrom flask_openid import OpenID\n\napp = Flask(__name__)\napp.config.update(\n SECRET_KEY=os.environ.get('FLASK_SECRET_KEY', 'a_very_secret_key_for_dev'), # CHANGE THIS FOR PROD\n OPENID_FS_STORE=os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'tmp', 'openid_store')\n)\noid = OpenID(app)\n\n@app.route('/')\n@oid.loginhandler\ndef index():\n if oid.fetch_user():\n return f'Hello, {session[\"name\"]}!

'\n return render_template('login.html', next=oid.get_next_url(), error=oid.fetch_error())\n\n@app.route('/login', methods=['GET', 'POST'])\n@oid.loginhandler\ndef login():\n if oid.fetch_user():\n return redirect(oid.get_next_url())\n if request.method == 'POST':\n openid = request.form.get('openid_identifier')\n if openid:\n return oid.try_login(openid, ask_for=['email', 'nickname'],\n ask_for_optional=['fullname'])\n return render_template('login.html', next=oid.get_next_url(),\n error=oid.fetch_error())\n\n@app.route('/logout')\ndef logout():\n oid.logout()\n return redirect(oid.get_next_url())\n\n@oid.after_login\ndef create_or_login(resp):\n session['openid'] = resp.identity_url\n session['name'] = resp.fullname or resp.nickname or resp.identity_url\n return redirect(oid.get_next_url())\n\nif __name__ == '__main__':\n # Create necessary directories and a minimal login.html for the quickstart to run\n os.makedirs(app.config['OPENID_FS_STORE'], exist_ok=True)\n os.makedirs('templates', exist_ok=True)\n with open('templates/login.html', 'w') as f:\n f.write('''\n\n\nLogin\n\n

Login with OpenID

\n {% if error %}

Error: {{ error }}

{% endif %}\n \n

Logout

\n\n\n''')\n app.run(debug=True)","lang":"python","description":"This quickstart demonstrates a basic Flask application using Flask-OpenID for user authentication. It includes routes for login, logout, and handling OpenID responses, creating a temporary file-based store for OpenID data. Ensure to set the `FLASK_SECRET_KEY` environment variable in production."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Evaluate your authentication requirements. If OIDC is needed, use an alternative library.","message":"Flask-OpenID exclusively supports OpenID 1.x and 2.x standards, NOT the more modern OpenID Connect (OIDC). If you need OIDC support, consider libraries like Flask-OIDC, Authlib, or direct integration with OAuth2/OIDC providers.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"Ensure your project runs on Python 3.x. For older Python 2.x projects, you would need to stick to `flask-openid<1.3.0`.","message":"Version 1.3.0 and later of Flask-OpenID are Python 3-only. Support for Python 2.x was dropped.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=1.3.0"},{"fix":"Always use a strong, randomly generated `SECRET_KEY` (e.g., from `os.urandom(24)`) and manage it securely, typically via environment variables, in production environments.","message":"The `SECRET_KEY` configuration is critical for session security. Using a weak or default key like 'a_very_secret_key_for_dev' in production is a severe security risk.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"All versions"},{"fix":"For new applications, investigate modern authentication solutions such as Flask-Login combined with OAuth2/OIDC providers (e.g., Google, GitHub, Okta), or dedicated SSO solutions.","message":"Given the deprecation of OpenID 1.x/2.x in favor of OpenID Connect, Flask-OpenID is largely considered a legacy solution. It is not actively developed for new features or modern security enhancements related to current web authentication standards.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":"All versions"}],"env_vars":null,"search_vec":"'1':14 '1.3.1':28 '1/2':50 '2':17 '2021':31 'applic':23,40 'authent':19,56 'connect':44 'current':25 'develop':53 'exist':39 'extens':10 'flask':2,5,9,54 'flask-openid':1,4 'larg':47 'legaci':58 'mainten':35 'mode':36 'new':52 'openid':3,6,13,43,49,55 'primarili':37 'provid':12 'releas':29 'standard':45 'supersed':48 'support':20 'version':26 'web':22,57 'x':15,18","created_at":"2026-04-11T01:31:05.165921+00:00","updated_at":"2026-04-16T15:07:39.097182+00:00","problems":[{"fix":"Ensure the package is installed using pip: `pip install Flask-OpenID`. Also, verify the import statement uses `from flask_openid import OpenID` (lowercase `flask_openid`).","cause":"The `flask-openid` library or its underlying dependencies (like `python-openid`) are not installed, not installed in the active virtual environment, or there's a capitalization mismatch in the import statement.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'flask_openid'"},{"fix":"Pin the `itsdangerous` dependency to an older, compatible version. A common fix is `pip install 'itsdangerous<2.0.0'` or `pip install 'itsdangerous==1.1.0'`.","cause":"This error occurs due to an incompatibility between `flask-openid` (or its dependency `Flask-AppBuilder` in some contexts) and newer versions of the `itsdangerous` library. `TimedJSONWebSignatureSerializer` was removed or renamed in recent `itsdangerous` versions.","error":"ImportError: cannot import name 'TimedJSONWebSignatureSerializer' from 'itsdangerous'"},{"fix":"Configure your reverse proxy to correctly pass `Host`, `X-Forwarded-For`, and `X-Forwarded-Proto` headers to the Flask application. You might also need to use `Werkzeug`'s `ProxyFix` middleware in your Flask application. Example for Nginx: `proxy_set_header Host $host;` and in Flask: `app.wsgi_app = ProxyFix(app.wsgi_app)`.","cause":"When `flask-openid` is deployed behind a reverse proxy (like Nginx or Apache), it might generate OpenID `realm` and `return_to` URLs based on the internal Flask application's address (e.g., `127.0.0.1:5000`) instead of the publicly accessible proxy URL, leading to incorrect redirects and authentication failures.","error":"OpenID realm and return_to parameters point to localhost instead of proxy URL"},{"fix":"Ensure you are using a Python 3 compatible version of `python-openid`. Although `flask-openid` is in maintenance mode, upgrading `python-openid` might resolve some issues. If the issue persists, consider migrating to a more modern authentication library like `Flask-OIDC` or direct OAuth2/OpenID Connect implementations, as OpenID 1.x/2.x itself has Python 3 compatibility challenges.","cause":"This error typically arises when using `flask-openid` with Python 3, as the underlying `python-openid` library (especially older versions) had compatibility issues with Python 3's string handling.","error":"ValueError: Unicode strings with encoding declaration are not supported. Please use bytes input or XML fragments without declaration."}],"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null,"pypi_latest":"1.3.1","cli_name":"","cli_version":null,"type":"library","homepage":null,"github":"http://github.com/mitsuhiko/flask-openid","docs":null,"changelog":null,"pypi":"https://pypi.org/project/flask-openid/","npm":null,"openapi_spec":null,"status_page":null,"smithery":null,"categories":["web-framework","auth-security"],"base_url":null,"auth_type":null,"provenance":{"verified_status":"passing","verified_at":"2026-06-28","last_verified":"2026-08-28","next_check":"2026-07-28","install_tag":null}}