> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.iotex.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.iotex.io/depin/builders/reference-docs/ioctl-client/jwt-auth-tokens.md).
# JWT Auth Tokens
## Use ioctl to issue a JWT
Every account ioctl created contains a pair of 256-bit private/public key. We can use it to sign and issue JWT:
```json
➜ ioctl jwt sign --with-arguments '{"exp":"1608193125","sub":"weather","scope":"Create"}' -s my_account -y
Enter password #my_account
```
Enter your password to sign the token:
Read More about JWT Tokens
### What is JWT
JWT (JSON Web Token) is a very popular technology widely used in web API and user authentication. It contains certain access control claims, such as what data/resource can be access, the access expire time, and access rights (read, write, or delete).
The token is base64-encoded and digitally signed using a secret (with the *HMAC* algorithm) or a private key. By verifying the signature it can be guaranteed that the claims must come from the holder of the signing key.
In a nutshell, JWT consists of three parts separated by dot . , which are
* Header
* Payload
* Signature
### Example
Here is an example of a JWT encoded token:
```
eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.
eyJleHAiOjE2MDU4NzIyNDksImlhdCI6MTYwODE2ODQ0NywiaXNzIjoiMHgwNDFkMjRiNDc0ZjM5YzVmMTBlNjlmZmNmMzhlZjA4ZmViY2U4ZTNkMGZmNWFjOWI0YzMzNjA2OWI1ZDEwYmNjMGZjN2MxNDNhNDQwMTRmMTQ5YWFkNzQ3YWMwNTJmNzhmMDZiODA3M2I0YzA0NWI0NGJlMWFiYTIzMTM3ZTcxNjFlIiwic3ViIjoid2VhdGhlciIsInNjb3BlIjoiQ3JlYXRlIn0.
i3KHZTmF1jWKIDSBOF1BWEg4G7C4H7BIdshS0uzz45687UU3K2Uzey3R5Qs7QrHrsU0J99PeR7i_Qc03wVYVjw
```
Decoding the header part:
```
eyJhbGciOiJFUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9
```
gives the following header, indicating it is signed by ES256 algorithm (256-bit Elliptic-curve Signature):
```
{
"alg": "ES256",
"typ": "JWT"
}
```
Decoding the payload part:
```
eyJleHAiOjE2MDU4NzIyNDksImlhdCI6MTYwODE2ODQ0NywiaXNzIjoiMHgwNDFkMjRiNDc0ZjM5YzVmMTBlNjlmZmNmMzhlZjA4ZmViY2U4ZTNkMGZmNWFjOWI0YzMzNjA2OWI1ZDEwYmNjMGZjN2MxNDNhNDQwMTRmMTQ5YWFkNzQ3YWMwNTJmNzhmMDZiODA3M2I0YzA0NWI0NGJlMWFiYTIzMTM3ZTcxNjFlIiwic3ViIjoid2VhdGhlciIsInNjb3BlIjoiQ3JlYXRlIn0.
```
gives the following claims:
```
{
"exp": 1608193125,
"iat": 1608168517,
"iss": "0x041d24b474f39c5f10e69ffcf38ef08febce8e3d0ff5ac9b4c336069b5d10bcc0fc7c143a44014f149aad747ac052f78f06b8073b4c045b44be1aba23137e7161e",
"sub": "weather",
"scope": "Create"
}
```
where:
* `"exp"` is the token's expiration time
* `"iat"` is the token's issue time (you can convert date/time [here](https://www.unixtimestamp.com/))
* `"iss"` is the public key of issuer
* `"sub"` is the subject, here it refers to a resource/data named **weather**
* `"scope"` is the access control rights granted for the resource, here it allows to **create**
The signature in our example is:
```
i3KHZTmF1jWKIDSBOF1BWEg4G7C4H7BIdshS0uzz45687UU3K2Uzey3R5Qs7QrHrsU0J99PeR7i_Qc03wVYVjw
```
that can be verified against the issuer public key `iss` above.
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