Skip to main content

Integrate with Joplin Server

Support level: Community

What is Joplin Server?​

Joplin is an open source note-taking app. Capture your thoughts and securely access them from any device.

-- https://joplinapp.org/

Joplin Server is the self-hosted sync service for Joplin clients.

Preparation​

The following placeholders are used in this guide:

  • joplin.company is the FQDN of the Joplin installation.
  • authentik.company is the FQDN of the authentik installation.
info

This documentation lists only the settings that you need to change from their default values. Be aware that any changes other than those explicitly mentioned in this guide could cause issues accessing your application.

authentik configuration​

To support the integration of Joplin with authentik, you need to create property mappings and an application/provider pair in authentik.

Create property mappings​

Joplin requires SAML assertions to include email and displayName attributes.

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
  2. Navigate to Customization > Property Mappings and click Create. Create two SAML Provider Property Mappings with the following settings:
    • Display name mapping:
      • Name: Choose a descriptive name
      • SAML Attribute Name: displayName
      • Expression: 
        return request.user.name
    • Email mapping:
      • Name: Choose a descriptive name
      • SAML Attribute Name: email
      • Expression: 
        return request.user.email

Create an application and provider​

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
  2. Navigate to Applications > Applications and click New Application to open the application wizard.
    • Application: provide a descriptive name, an optional group for the type of application, the policy engine mode, and optional UI settings. Set the Launch URL to https://joplin.company/login/sso-saml. Note the application Slug because you will use it later as <application_slug>.
    • Choose a Provider type: select SAML Provider as the provider type.
    • Configure the Provider: provide a name (or accept the auto-provided name), the authorization flow to use for this provider, and the following required configurations.
      • ACS URL: https://joplin.company/api/saml
      • Audience: <application_slug>
      • Under Advanced protocol settings, select an available Signing Certificate, enable Sign assertions and Sign responses, and add the two property mappings created in the previous section.
    • Configure Bindings (optional): you can create a binding (policy, group, or user) to manage the listing and access to applications on a user's Application Dashboard page.
  3. Click Submit to save the new application and provider.

Download metadata file​

  1. Log in to authentik as an administrator and open the authentik Admin interface.
  2. Navigate to Applications > Providers and click the Joplin provider created in the previous section.
  3. In the Related objects section, under Metadata, click Download to save the metadata XML file. You will use this file as the Joplin IdP configuration.

Joplin configuration​

To configure Joplin with authentik, create two SAML configuration files and set the appropriate environment variables.

Create the Service Provider configuration file​

  1. Log in to your Joplin server and create a Service Provider (SP) configuration file. Set entityID to the authentik application slug.
  2. Create the following file in a location that Joplin Server can read, such as a mounted volume:
/path/to/joplin-sp.xml
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<md:EntityDescriptor xmlns:md="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata" entityID="<application_slug>">
  <md:SPSSODescriptor AuthnRequestsSigned="false" WantAssertionsSigned="false" protocolSupportEnumeration="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:protocol">
    <md:NameIDFormat>urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress</md:NameIDFormat>
    <md:AssertionConsumerService Binding="urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:bindings:HTTP-POST"
      Location="https://joplin.company/api/saml"
      index="1" />
  </md:SPSSODescriptor>
</md:EntityDescriptor>
  1. Transfer the metadata XML file downloaded from authentik to your Joplin server, for example as /path/to/joplin-idp.xml.

Configure Joplin environment variables​

  1. Set the following environment variables. Replace /path/to/ with the file paths where you saved the SAML configuration files. Joplin Server requires APP_BASE_URL and API_BASE_URL to use the same URL when SAML is enabled.
.env
SAML_ENABLED=true
SAML_IDP_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/joplin-idp.xml
SAML_SP_CONFIG_FILE=/path/to/joplin-sp.xml
APP_BASE_URL=https://joplin.company
API_BASE_URL=https://joplin.company
DELETE_EXPIRED_SESSIONS_SCHEDULE=
LOCAL_AUTH_ENABLED=false
  1. Restart Joplin to apply the changes.

Configuration verification​

To confirm that authentik is properly configured with Joplin Server, open Joplin and sign in with SSO. After a successful authentik login, you should be returned to Joplin with access to your notes.

Resources​