Follow the steps below to configure this scenario. The linked guides provide additional field descriptions and implementation details.
Real-life example: Acme Bank offers online banking and a mortgage portal. A customer who signs in to online banking can open the mortgage portal without signing in again.
Use case: two or more web apps for the same users. Users sign in to one web app and can access the other without signing in again while the shared session remains valid.
Resulting structure: one Mosaic application, one user authentication client per web app configured for OIDC or SAML, and one shared SSO client group. Each client uses journey-orchestrated login.
See Choose a setup for your use case to compare all setups.
Have the following ready for each web app:
- For OIDC: the redirect URI the web app receives the authorization code on.
- For SAML: the service provider (SP) ACS URL and Entity ID.
- The login methods and screen-hosting option to use across the group.
In the Admin Portal, go to Applications and create one Mosaic application for all the web apps. See Create Mosaic applications. Clients in the same Mosaic application share the user pool, so a user has one account across the web apps.
Configure the authentication methods your users will use in the Mosaic application’s Authentication methods tab. For the settings and prerequisites of each method, follow Customize login methods.
The Mosaic application gives users one account across the web apps. Placing all the web apps in the same SSO client group is what lets them share the login session: create one group shared by all the web apps.
Create the SSO client group. In Applications > Application > Clients > SSO client groups, select + Add SSO client group, and configure:
- SSO client group name: a name that identifies the group.
- Login screens: Hosted by Transmit Security for Mosaic-hosted pages, or Self managed (Custom UI) for a page you host.
- Login page URL: for self-managed screens, the address of the page you host. For hosted screens, Mosaic generates the URL; to show users a URL on your own domain, enter a custom login page URL. See Configure custom domains.
- Session timeout: how long the group's session stays valid. Default: 14 days, up to 1 year.
Save the group. See Configure SSO.
Create the SSO journey. In B2C or B2B Identity > Journeys, select Add blank journey and choose SSO-Journey. Build the login flow with the authentication methods configured in Step 1, then save the journey. You can also reuse an existing SSO journey. The web apps can use the same journey or different ones. The Journeys section of Configure SSO explains where SSO journeys are created and how clients select them.
Add an SSO session validity step to the journey. Route users with a valid group session past credential collection, and users without one through the authentication steps. See SSO session validity and SSO journeys.
For a step-by-step example using Mosaic-hosted screens and email OTP, follow Create an SSO journey with the Mosaic-hosted experience. Adapt the journey by adding or replacing steps to match your authentication methods and login requirements.
In Applications > Application > Clients, select + Add client, choose User authentication client, and complete the wizard for each web app in the tab that matches its protocol.
Each client uses the protocol its web app supports. Clients in the same SSO client group can use different protocols, for example OIDC for one web app and SAML for another.
- General: enter the client name and description.
- Authentication flow: leave Does your login use OIDC or SAML authentication? enabled, select OIDC and Client type Web app, and enter the web app's Redirect URIs.
- Login Experience: select Journey-orchestrated, the shared group from Step 2, and the SSO journey for this web app. For Mosaic-hosted screens, select a Style or use the default Mosaic style. See Manage styling for the Mosaic-hosted SSO experience.
- Advanced settings: choose the client authentication method and review token lifetimes and security settings. See OIDC advanced settings.
- Client roles: select the roles the client needs to call Mosaic APIs. If you don't select a role, the client implicitly receives the App Admin role. See Manage client roles.
Save the client. Mosaic generates the client ID and the credentials for the selected authentication method; they're available from the client details page. For all fields, see Configure an OIDC client.
Use the generated values to integrate the corresponding web app.
Integrate each web app with its own client, using the tab that matches its protocol.
Send an authorization request with the client ID and redirect URI, exchange the returned code for user tokens from your backend, and validate the tokens before creating the app's local session. See Launch OIDC SSO with the Mosaic-hosted experience and Validate tokens.
If the SSO client group uses Self managed (Custom UI), build the login page with the Mosaic Platform SDK, which runs the SSO journey, and host it at the group's Login page URL. See Build your SSO page.
To allow session reuse, do not force a fresh login on every authorization request. To log users out, end their SSO session with SSO session logout.
To test login, use a user who belongs to this Mosaic application. Create one from Users > + Add Users, enter an email address, and select this Mosaic application. See Manage users. A login method based on email OTP can sign this user in; for passwords or passkeys, the user must register the credential first.
- Sign in to the first web app.
- Open the second web app in the same browser. The journey detects the active session and the user isn't asked for credentials again.
- After the group's session timeout, or after logout, the user must sign in again. See SSO session logout.