OAuth: how to test with local URLs?

I am trying to test OAuth buttons, but they all (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) come back with errors that seem to signal that I can not test or use them from a local URL.

How do people usually work in development with OAuth stuff if they all seem to require a non-dev and non-local connections environments?

Update October 2016: Easiest now: use lvh.me which always points to 127.0.0.1, but make sure to verify that this is still true every time you need to invoke it (because domains can expire or get taken over, and DNS poisoning is always a concern)

Previous Answer:

Since the callback request is issued by the browser, as a HTTP redirect response, you can set up your .hosts file or equivalent to point a domain that is not localhost to 127.0.0.1.

Say for example you register the following callback with Twitter: http://www.publicdomain.com/callback/. Make sure that www.publicdomain.com points to 127.0.0.1 in your hosts file, AND that twitter can do a successful DNS lookup on www.publicdomain.com, i.e the domain needs to exist and the specific callback should probably return a 200 status message if requested.

EDIT:

I just read the following article: http://www.tonyamoyal.com/2009/08/17/how-to-quickly-set-up-a-test-for-twitter-oauth-authentication-from-your-local-machine, which was linked to from this question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/800827/twitter-oauth-callbackurl-localhost-development.

To quote the article: > You can use bit.ly, a URL shortening service. Just shorten the [localhost URL such as http//localhost:8080/twitter_callback] and register the shortened URL as the callback in your Twitter app.

This should be easier than fiddling around in the .hosts file.

Note that now (Aug '14) bit.ly is not allowing link forwarding to localhost; however Google link shortener works.

PS edit: (Nov '18): Google link shortener stopped giving support for localhost or 127.0.0.1.

Or you can use https://tolocalhost.com/ and configure how it should redirect a callback to your local site. You can specify the hostname (if different from localhost, i.e. yourapp.local and the port number). For development purposes only.

You can also use ngrok: https://ngrok.com/. I use it all the time to have a public server running on my localhost. Hope this helps.

Another options which even provides your own custom domain for free are serveo.net and https://localtunnel.github.io/www/

For Mac users, edit the /etc/hosts file. You have to use sudo vi /etc/hosts if its read-only. After authorization, the oauth server sends the callback URL, and since that callback URL is rendered on your local browser, the local DNS setting will work:

127.0.0.1       mylocal.com

Set your local domain to mywebsite.example.com (and redirect it to localhost) -- even though the usual is to use mywebsite.dev. This will allow robust automatic testing.

Although authorizing .test and .dev is not allowed, authorizing example.com is allowed in google oauth2.

(You can redirect any domain to localhost in your hosts file (unix/linux: /etc/hosts))

Why mywebsite.example.com?
Because example.com is a reserved domain name. So

1. there would be no naming conflicts on your machine.
2. no data-risk if your test system exposes data to not-redirected-by-mistake.example.com.

You can edit the hosts file on windows or linux Windows : C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts Linux : /etc/hosts

> # localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself. > 127.0.0.1 mywebsite.com

after you finish your tests you just comment the line you add to disable it > # 127.0.0.1 mywebsite.com

Google doesn't allow test auth api on localhost using http://webporject.dev or .loc and .etc and google short link that shortened your local url(http://webporject.dev) also bit.ly :). Google accepts only url which starts http://localhost/...

if you want to test google auth api you should follow these steps ...

if you use openserver go to settings panel and click on aliases tab and click on dropdown then find localhost and choose it.

now you should choose your local web project root folder by clicking the next dropdown that is next to first dropdown.

and click on a button called add and restart opensever.

now your local project available on this link http://localhost/ also you can paste this local url to google auth api to redirect url field...

I found xip.io which automatically converts a fixed url to a embedded localhost domain.

For example lets say your localhost server is running on 127.0.0.1:8000 You can go to http://www.127.0.0.1.xip.io:5555/ to access this server. You can then add this address to Oauth configuration for Facebook or Google.

I ran into some issues with the tools mentioned in other answers such as http://tolocalhost.com not forwarding query parameters (not to mention you have to visit the page and configure it first, same case with https://thomasmcdonald.github.io/Localhost-uri-Redirector/) and http://lvh.me not being useful to me because I run a proxy on my local machine and need the public URL to point to a private URL like http://mywebsite.dev.

So I made my own tool that filled my needs and may fill yours:

https://redirectmeto.com

Examples:

https://redirectmeto.com/https://www.google.com/search?q=puppies

http://redirectmeto.com/http://localhost:4000/oauth/authorize

http://redirectmeto.com/http://client.dev/page

This answer applies only to Google OAuth

It is actually very simple and I am surprised it worked for me (I am still sceptical of what my eyes are seeing).

Apparently you can add localhost as a trusted domain on the Google Developer Console, since localhost is an exception for most rules as you can see here.

This can be done on this page under OAuth 2.0 Client IDs. Click edit and then add http://localhost:8000 or similar ports, and hit save.

It is crucial that you include http or https in the input box.

HTTP or HTTPS?

I am once again surprised that Google allows http, although do note that there is a minor security risk if your application has been released to production.

If you want to be extra cautious, you can choose to stick with https. This will require you to set up an SSL certificate on your localhost server.

This is easier than you think, since the SSL certificate needs not be valid. Many http servers should give you this option. You will have to click the "proceed anyway" button anyway in your browser to bypass the big red warning.

This is more secure than http since either a) users will see a big red warning if hackers are trying something phishy, or b) the only time they won't see this warning is if the user intentionally set up a self-hosted SSL certificate, in which case they probably know what they are doing (I suppose a virus could technically do this as well, but at that stage they've already gotten enough control of a user's system to do anything they want).

Another valuable option would be https://github.com/ThomasMcDonald/Localhost-uri-Redirector. It's a very simple html page that redirects to whatever host and port you configure in the UI.

The page is hosted on Github https://thomasmcdonald.github.io/Localhost-uri-Redirector, so you can use that as your OAuth2 redirect url and configure you target host and port in the UI and it will just redirect to your app

Taking Google OAuth as reference

• In your OAuth client Tab

  1. Add your App URI example(http://localhost:3000) to Authorized JavaScript origins URIs

• In your OAuth consent screen

  1. Add mywebsite.com to Authorized domains

• Edit the hosts file on windows or linux Windows C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts Linux : /etc/hosts to add 127.0.0.1 mywebsite.com (N.B. Comment out any if there is any other 127.0.0.1)