How can I authenticate user credentials against a Wordpress instance?

Question

I am running a second web application in addition to Wordpress/WooCommerce. When users log into the second application, I'd like to authenticate them against the WP instance. I am using the REST API for data queries, but that only allows authentication with a consumer key. The API doesn't provide endpoints for user authentication.

Given a username and password, how can I authenticate against a Wordpress/WooCommerce instance? (In other words, from outside the instance.)

Answer 1

The JWT Authentication for WP REST API plugin offers a user authentication mechanism. You will need to:

• install and configure the plugin
• make user authentication requests against the new token endpoint
  • optionally use the token to make further queries on behalf of users
  • continue using OAuth 1.0 for WP/WC REST queries

References:

• https://jwt.io/introduction/
• Using JWT to authenticate a user with an external system?
• JWT authentication with WP - Approach