Manage Resource Servers

A resource server in ThunderID represents an API, service, or application that defines the permissions your users and clients can request. Before you assign permissions to users through roles, you define those permissions by creating resource servers with resources and actions.

Prerequisites

A running ThunderID instance.
An organization unit to associate the resource server with. See Organization Units to create one.
An access token with administrative permissions.

Understanding the Permission Model

ThunderID derives permission strings from a three-level hierarchy:

Resource Server (identifier: "https://api.example.com/booking", delimiter: ":")
├── Action: "list"           → Permission: "list"
└── Resource: "reservations"
    ├── Action: "create"     → Permission: "reservations:create"
    ├── Action: "view"       → Permission: "reservations:view"
    └── Resource: "online"
        └── Action: "create" → Permission: "reservations:online:create"

Permission strings use one of two forms. Flat permissions, for server-level actions, are just the {action-handle} (for example, list). Hierarchical permissions follow {resource-handle}{delimiter}{action-handle} (for example, reservations:create). Permission strings are not prefixed by the resource server; the resource server is identified by its identifier, which becomes the access token audience.

Resource Server: container for all resources and actions. Requires a unique identifier. When the identifier is set to an absolute URI, the resource server is used in resource indicator flows (RFC 8707).
Resource: a named entity within a resource server. Resources can nest to form hierarchies.
Action: an operation that can be performed. Actions can exist at the resource server level (global) or within a specific resource.

Create a Resource Server

Send a POST request to /resource-servers:

curl -kL -X POST https://localhost:8090/resource-servers \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>' \
  -d '{
    "name": "Booking API",
    "description": "Handles reservation operations",
    "identifier": "https://api.example.com/booking",
    "ouId": "<organization-unit-id>",
    "delimiter": ":"
  }'

Response:

{
  "id": "3fa85f64-5717-4562-b3fc-2c963f66afa6",
  "name": "Booking API",
  "description": "Handles reservation operations",
  "identifier": "https://api.example.com/booking",
  "ouId": "a839f4bd-39dc-4eaa-b5cc-210d8ecaee87",
  "delimiter": ":"
}

Field Reference

Field	Required	Description
`name`	Yes	Display name for the resource server. Must be unique.
`identifier`	Yes	Unique identifier for the resource server. When set to an absolute URI (for example, `https://api.example.com/booking`), the resource server is used in RFC 8707 resource indicator flows and the identifier becomes the access token audience claim value.
`ouId`	Yes	Organization unit ID.
`delimiter`	No	Character that separates hierarchy levels in permission strings. Defaults to `:`. Immutable after creation. Allowed characters: `a-z A-Z 0-9 . _ : - /`.
`description`	No	Description of the resource server.

note

The delimiter field cannot be changed after creation. Plan this value before creating the resource server.

Define Permissions

You define permissions by creating actions. Actions can exist at two levels: directly on the resource server (flat permissions) or on a resource within the server (hierarchical permissions).

Flat Permissions

Create actions directly on the resource server for simple, non-hierarchical permissions.

curl -kL -X POST https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id>/actions \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>' \
  -d '{
    "name": "List Bookings",
    "description": "Permission to list all bookings",
    "handle": "list"
  }'

Response:

{
  "id": "9c6d3g0g-7e8b-4d82-b454-4d2ccg87gh5e",
  "name": "List Bookings",
  "description": "Permission to list all bookings",
  "handle": "list",
  "permission": "list"
}

The resulting permission is list. A server-level action is just the action handle.

Hierarchical Permissions

For fine-grained access control, create resources first, then add actions to those resources.

1. Create a resource:

curl -kL -X POST https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id>/resources \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>' \
  -d '{
    "name": "Reservations",
    "handle": "reservations"
  }'

2. Add an action to the resource:

curl -kL -X POST https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id>/resources/<resource-id>/actions \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>' \
  -d '{
    "name": "Create Reservation",
    "handle": "create"
  }'

The resulting permission is reservations:create.

3. Create nested resources (optional):

Resources can nest to form deeper hierarchies. Set the parent field to the parent resource ID:

curl -kL -X POST https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id>/resources \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>' \
  -d '{
    "name": "Online Reservations",
    "handle": "online",
    "parent": "<reservations-resource-id>"
  }'

Actions on this nested resource produce permissions like reservations:online:create.

note

The handle and parent fields on a resource are immutable after creation.

List Resource Servers

curl -kL https://localhost:8090/resource-servers?limit=10&offset=0 \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>'

Get Resource Server Details

curl -kL https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id> \
  -H 'Accept: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>'

Update a Resource Server

Update the name, description, identifier, or organization unit. The delimiter cannot be changed.

curl -kL -X PUT https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id> \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>' \
  -d '{
    "name": "Booking API v2",
    "description": "Updated booking operations",
    "identifier": "https://api.example.com/booking/v2",
    "ouId": "<organization-unit-id>"
  }'

Delete a Resource Server

curl -kL -X DELETE https://localhost:8090/resource-servers/<resource-server-id> \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer <access-token>'

note

You must delete all child resources and actions before you can delete a resource server.