Accounts

Accounts-base

The Meteor Accounts system builds on top of the userId support in publish and methods. The core packages add the concept of user documents stored in the database, and additional packages add secure password authentication, integration with third party login services, and a pre-built userinterface.

The basic Accounts system is in the accounts-base package, but applications typically include this automatically by adding one of the login provider packages: accounts-password, accounts-facebook, accounts-github, accounts-google, accounts-meetup, accounts-twitter, or accounts-weibo.

Read more about customizing user accounts in the Accounts article in the Meteor Guide.

Accounts with Session Storage

By default, Meteor uses Local Storage to store, among other things, login tokens in your browser session. But, for some applications, it makes sense to use Session Storage instead. You can achieve this by adding this to your settings:

{
  // ... all other settings,
  "public": {
    // ... all your public settings
    "packages": {
      "accounts": {
        "clientStorage": "session"
      }
    }
  }
}

Meteor.user

Summary:

Get the current user record, or null if no user is logged in. A reactive data source.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	No

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
fields	MongoFieldSpecifier	Dictionary of fields to return or exclude.	No

Retrieves the user record for the current user from the Meteor.users collection.

On the client, the available fields will be those that are published from the server (other fields won't be available on the client). By default the server publishes username, emails, and profile (writable by user). See Meteor.users for more on the fields used in user documents.

On the server, this will fetch the record from the database. To improve the latency of a method that uses the user document multiple times, save the returned record to a variable instead of re-calling Meteor.user().

Fetching the full user document can cause unnecessary database usage on the server and over-reactivity on the client, particularly if you store lots of custom data on it. Therefore it is recommended to use the options parameter to only fetch the fields you need:

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";
const userName = Meteor.user({ fields: { "profile.name": 1 } }).profile.name;

Meteor.userAsync

Summary:

Get the current user record, or null if no user is logged in. A reactive data source.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	No

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
fields	MongoFieldSpecifier	Dictionary of fields to return or exclude.	No

Same as Meteor.user, but returns a promise and is available on the server.

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";
const user = await Meteor.userAsync();

Meteor.userId

Summary:

Get the current user id, or null if no user is logged in. A reactive data source.

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.userId();

);

Meteor.users

Summary:

A Mongo.Collection containing user documents.

This collection contains one document per registered user. Here's an example user document:

{
  _id: 'QwkSmTCZiw5KDx3L6',  // Meteor.userId()
  username: 'cool_kid_13', // Unique name
  emails: [
    // Each email address can only belong to one user.
    { address: 'cool@example.com', verified: true },
    { address: 'another@different.com', verified: false }
  ],
  createdAt: new Date('Wed Aug 21 2013 15:16:52 GMT-0700 (PDT)'),
  profile: {
    // The profile is writable by the user by default.
    name: 'Joe Schmoe'
  },
  services: {
    facebook: {
      id: '709050', // Facebook ID
      accessToken: 'AAACCgdX7G2...AbV9AZDZD'
    },
    resume: {
      loginTokens: [
        { token: '97e8c205-c7e4-47c9-9bea-8e2ccc0694cd',
          when: 1349761684048 }
      ]
    }
  }
}

A user document can contain any data you want to store about a user. Meteor treats the following fields specially:

• username: a unique String identifying the user.
• emails: an Array of Objects with keys address and verified; an email address may belong to at most one user. verified is a Boolean which is true if the user has verified the address with a token sent over email.
• createdAt: the Date at which the user document was created.
• profile: an Object which the user can create and update with any data. Do not store anything on profile that you wouldn't want the user to edit unless you have a deny rule on the Meteor.users collection.
• services: an Object containing data used by particular login services. For example, its reset field contains tokens used by forgot password links, and its resume field contains tokens used to keep you logged in between sessions.

Like all Mongo.Collections, you can access all documents on the server, but only those specifically published by the server are available on the client. You can also use all Collection methods, for instance Meteor.users.remove on the server to delete a user.

By default, the current user's username, emails and profile are published to the client. You can publish additional fields for the current user with:

server.js

Meteor.publish("userData", function () {
  if (this.userId) {
    return Meteor.users.find(
      { _id: this.userId },
      {
        fields: { other: 1, things: 1 },
      }
    );
  } else {
    this.ready();
  }
});

client.js

Meteor.subscribe("userData");

If the autopublish package is installed, information about all users on the system is published to all clients. This includes username, profile, and any fields in services that are meant to be public (eg services.facebook.id, services.twitter.screenName). Additionally, when using autopublish more information is published for the currently logged in user, including access tokens. This allows making API calls directly from the client for services that allow this.

Users are by default allowed to specify their own profile field with Accounts.createUser and modify it with Meteor.users.update. To allow users to edit additional fields, use Meteor.users.allow. To forbid users from making any modifications to their user document:

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";
Meteor.users.deny({ update: () => true });

Meteor.loggingIn

Client only

Summary:

True if a login method (such as Meteor.loginWithPassword, Meteor.loginWithFacebook, or Accounts.createUser) is currently in progress. A reactive data source.

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.loggingIn();

);

For example, the accounts-ui package uses this to display an animation while the login request is being processed.

Meteor.loggingOut

Client only

Summary:

True if a logout method (such as Meteor.logout) is currently in progress. A reactive data source.

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.loggingOut();

);

Meteor.logout

Client only

Summary:

Log the user out.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.logout();
  () => {}
);

Meteor.logoutOtherClients

Client only

Summary:

Log out other clients logged in as the current user, but does not log out the client that calls this function.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.logoutOtherClients();
  () => {}
);

For example, when called in a user's browser, connections in that browser remain logged in, but any other browsers or DDP clients logged in as that user will be logged out.

Meteor.loginWithPassword

Client only

Summary:

Log the user in with a password.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
selector	Object or String	Either a string interpreted as a username or an email; or an object with a single key: email, username or id. Username or email match in a case insensitive manner.	Yes
password	String	The user's password.	Yes
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.loginWithPassword();
  selector,
  "password",
  () => {},  // this param is optional 
);

If there are multiple users with a username or email only differing in case, a case sensitive match is required. Although createUser won't let you create users with ambiguous usernames or emails, this could happen with existing databases or if you modify the users collection directly.

This method can fail throwing one of the following errors:

• "Unrecognized options for login request [400]" if user or password is undefined.
• "Match failed [400]" if user isn't an Object or String, or password isn't a String.
• "User not found [403]" if the email or username provided in user doesn't belong to a registered user.
• "Incorrect password [403]" if the password provided is incorrect.
• "User has no password set [403]" if user doesn't have a password.

This function is provided by the accounts-password package. See the Passwords section below.

Meteor.loginWith<ExternalService>

Client only

Summary:

Log the user in using an external service.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	No
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure. The callback cannot be called if you are using the "redirect" loginStyle, because the app will have reloaded in the meantime; try using client-side login hooks instead.	No

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
requestPermissions	Array.<String>	A list of permissions to request from the user.	No
requestOfflineToken	Boolean	If true, asks the user for permission to act on their behalf when offline. This stores an additional offline token in the services field of the user document. Currently only supported with Google.	No
loginUrlParameters	Object	Provide additional parameters to the authentication URI. Currently only supported with Google. See Google Identity Platform documentation.	No
loginHint	String	An email address that the external service will use to pre-fill the login prompt. Currently only supported with Meteor developer accounts and Google accounts. If used with Google, the Google User ID can also be passed.	No
loginStyle	String	Login style ("popup" or "redirect", defaults to the login service configuration). The "popup" style opens the login page in a separate popup window, which is generally preferred because the Meteor application doesn't need to be reloaded. The "redirect" style redirects the Meteor application's window to the login page, and the login service provider redirects back to the Meteor application which is then reloaded. The "redirect" style can be used in situations where a popup window can't be opened, such as in a mobile UIWebView. The "redirect" style however relies on session storage which isn't available in Safari private mode, so the "popup" style will be forced if session storage can't be used.	No
redirectUrl	String	If using "redirect" login style, the user will be returned to this URL after authorisation has been completed.	No
forceApprovalPrompt	Boolean	If true, forces the user to approve the app's permissions, even if previously approved. Currently only supported with Google.	No

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";


const result = Meteor.loginWith<ExternalService>();
  options,  // this param is optional 
  () => {},  // this param is optional 
);

Available functions are:

• Meteor.loginWithMeteorDeveloperAccount
• Meteor.loginWithFacebook
  • options may also include Facebook's auth_type parameter
• Meteor.loginWithGithub
• Meteor.loginWithGoogle
  • options may also include Google's additional URI parameters
• Meteor.loginWithMeetup
• Meteor.loginWithTwitter
  • options may also include Twitter's force_login parameter
• Meteor.loginWithWeibo

These functions initiate the login process with an external service (eg: Facebook, Google, etc), using OAuth. When called they open a new pop-up window that loads the provider's login page. Once the user has logged in with the provider, the pop-up window is closed and the Meteor client logs in to the Meteor server with the information provided by the external service.

Requesting Permissions

In addition to identifying the user to your application, some services have APIs that allow you to take action on behalf of the user. To request specific permissions from the user, pass the requestPermissions option the login function. This will cause the user to be presented with an additional page in the pop-up dialog to permit access to their data. The user's accessToken — with permissions to access the service's API — is stored in the services field of the user document. The supported values for requestPermissions differ for each login service and are documented on their respective developer sites:

• Facebook: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/authentication/permissions/
• GitHub: http://developer.github.com/v3/oauth/#scopes
• Google: https://developers.google.com/identity/protocols/googlescopes
• Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/meetup_api/auth/#oauth2-scopes
• Twitter, Weibo, Meteor developer accounts: requestPermissions currently not supported

External login services typically require registering and configuring your application before use. The easiest way to do this is with the accounts-ui package which presents a step-by-step guide to configuring each service. However, the data can be also be entered manually in the ServiceConfiguration.configurations collection, which is exported by the service-configuration package.

Configuring Services

First, add the service configuration package:

meteor add service-configuration

Then, inside the server of your app (this example is for the Weebo service), import ServiceConfiguration:

import { ServiceConfiguration } from "meteor/service-configuration";
ServiceConfiguration.configurations.upsert(
  { service: "weibo" },
  {
    $set: {
      loginStyle: "popup",
      clientId: "1292962797", // See table below for correct property name!
      secret: "75a730b58f5691de5522789070c319bc",
    },
  }
);

Since Meteor 2.7 you no longer need to manually set the configuration and instead can use Meteor settings by setting your services under Meteor.settings.packages.service-configuration.<service>. All the properties can be set under the service and will be added to the database as is, so make sure that they are correct. For the example above, the settings would look like:

{
  "packages": {
    "service-configuration": {
      "weibo": {
        "loginStyle": "popup",
        "clientId": "1292962797",
        "secret": "75a730b58f5691de5522789070c319bc"
      }
    }
  }
}

The correct property name to use for the API identifier (i.e. clientId in the above example) depends on the login service being used, so be sure to use the correct one:

Property Name	Services
appId	Facebook
clientId	Github, Google, Meetup, Meteor Developer Accounts, Weibo
consumerKey	Twitter

Additionally, each external service has its own login provider package and login function. For example, to support GitHub login, run the following in your terminal:

meteor add accounts-github

and use the Meteor.loginWithGithub function:

import { Meteor } from "meteor/meteor";
Meteor.loginWithGithub(
  {
    requestPermissions: ["user", "public_repo"],
  },
  (error) => {
    if (error) {
      Session.set("errorMessage", error.reason || "Unknown error");
    }
  }
);

Login service configuration is sent from the server to the client over DDP when your app starts up; you may not call the login function until the configuration is loaded. The function Accounts.loginServicesConfigured() is a reactive data source that will return true once the login service is configured; you should not make login buttons visible or active until it is true.

Ensure that your $ROOT_URL matches the authorized domain and callback URL that you configure with the external service (for instance, if you are running Meteor behind a proxy server, $ROOT_URL should be the externally-accessible URL, not the URL inside your proxy).

Manual service configuration

You can use Accounts.loginServiceConfiguration to view and edit the settings collection:

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";
Accounts.loginServiceConfiguration.find();

Popup versus redirect flow

When configuring OAuth login with a provider (such as Facebook or Google), Meteor lets you choose a popup- or redirect-based flow. In a popup-based flow, when a user logs in, they will be prompted to login at the provider in a popup window. In a redirect-based flow, the user's whole browser window will be redirected to the login provider, and the window will redirect back to your app when the login is completed.

You can also pick which type of login to do by passing an option to Meteor.loginWith<ExternalService>

Usually, the popup-based flow is preferable because the user will not have to reload your whole app at the end of the login flow. However, the popup-based flow requires browser features such as window.close and window.opener that are not available in all mobile environments. In particular, we recommend using Meteor.loginWith<ExternalService>({ loginStyle: 'redirect' }) in the following environments:

• Inside UIWebViews (when your app is loaded inside a mobile app)
• In Safari on iOS8 (window.close is not supported due to a bug)

{{ currentUser }}

Summary:

Calls Meteor.user(). Use {{#if currentUser}} to check whether the user is logged in.

{{ loggingIn }}

Summary:

Calls Meteor.loggingIn().

Accounts.ui.config

Client only

Summary:

Configure the behavior of {{> loginButtons}}.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	Yes

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
requestPermissions	Object	Which permissions to request from the user for each external service.	No
requestOfflineToken	Object	To ask the user for permission to act on their behalf when offline, map the relevant external service to true. Currently only supported with Google. See Meteor.loginWithExternalService for more details.	No
forceApprovalPrompt	Object	If true, forces the user to approve the app's permissions, even if previously approved. Currently only supported with Google.	No
passwordSignupFields	String	Which fields to display in the user creation form. One of 'USERNAME_AND_EMAIL', 'USERNAME_AND_OPTIONAL_EMAIL', 'USERNAME_ONLY', or 'EMAIL_ONLY' (default).	No
passwordlessSignupFields	String	Which fields to display in the user creation form. One of 'USERNAME_AND_EMAIL', 'EMAIL_ONLY' (default).	No

Example:

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";

Accounts.ui.config({
  requestPermissions: {
    facebook: ["user_likes"],
    github: ["user", "repo"],
  },
  requestOfflineToken: {
    google: true,
  },
  passwordSignupFields: "USERNAME_AND_OPTIONAL_EMAIL",
});

Since Meteor 2.7 you can configure these in your Meteor settings under Meteor.settings.public.packages.accounts-ui-unstyled.

Multi-server

The accounts-base package exports two constructors, called AccountsClient and AccountsServer, which are used to create the Accounts object that is available on the client and the server, respectively.

This predefined Accounts object (along with similar convenience methods of Meteor, such as Meteor.logout) is sufficient to implement most accounts-related logic in Meteor apps. Nevertheless, these two constructors can be instantiated more than once, to create multiple independent connections between different accounts servers and their clients, in more complicated authentication situations.

AccountsCommon

Summary:

Super-constructor for AccountsClient and AccountsServer.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	an object with fields: connection {Object} Optional DDP connection to reuse. ddpUrl {String} Optional URL for creating a new DDP connection. collection {String|Mongo.Collection} The name of the Mongo.Collection or the Mongo.Collection object to hold the users.	Yes

import { AccountsCommon } from "meteor/accounts-base"";

const accountsCommon = new AccountsCommon();
  options
);

The AccountsClient and AccountsServer classes share a common superclass, AccountsCommon. Methods defined on AccountsCommon.prototype will be available on both the client and the server, via the predefined Accounts object (most common) or any custom accountsClientOrServer object created using the AccountsClient or AccountsServer constructors (less common).

Here are a few of those methods:

accountsCommon.userId

Summary:

Get the current user id, or null if no user is logged in. A reactive data source.

// accountsCommon is an instance of AccountsCommon

const result = accountsCommon.userId();

);

accountsCommon.user

Summary:

Get the current user record, or null if no user is logged in. A reactive data source. In the server this fuction returns a promise.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	No

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
fields	MongoFieldSpecifier	Dictionary of fields to return or exclude.	No

// accountsCommon is an instance of AccountsCommon

const result = accountsCommon.user();
  options
);

accountsCommon.config

Summary:

Set global accounts options. You can also set these in Meteor.settings.packages.accounts without the need to call this function.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	Yes

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
sendVerificationEmail	Boolean	New users with an email address will receive an address verification email.	No
forbidClientAccountCreation	Boolean	Calls to createUser from the client will be rejected. In addition, if you are using accounts-ui, the "Create account" link will not be available.	No
restrictCreationByEmailDomain	String	If set to a string, only allows new users if the domain part of their email address matches the string. If set to a function, only allows new users if the function returns true. The function is passed the full email address of the proposed new user. Works with password-based sign-in and external services that expose email addresses (Google, Facebook, GitHub). All existing users still can log in after enabling this option. Example: Accounts.config({ restrictCreationByEmailDomain: 'school.edu' }).	No
loginExpiration	Number	The number of milliseconds from when a user logs in until their token expires and they are logged out, for a more granular control. If loginExpirationInDays is set, it takes precedent.	No
loginExpirationInDays	Number	The number of days from when a user logs in until their token expires and they are logged out. Defaults to 90. Set to null to disable login expiration.	No
oauthSecretKey	String	When using the oauth-encryption package, the 16 byte key using to encrypt sensitive account credentials in the database, encoded in base64. This option may only be specified on the server. See packages/oauth-encryption/README.md for details.	No
passwordResetTokenExpirationInDays	Number	The number of days from when a link to reset password is sent until token expires and user can't reset password with the link anymore. Defaults to 3.	No
passwordResetTokenExpiration	Number	The number of milliseconds from when a link to reset password is sent until token expires and user can't reset password with the link anymore. If passwordResetTokenExpirationInDays is set, it takes precedent.	No
passwordEnrollTokenExpirationInDays	Number	The number of days from when a link to set initial password is sent until token expires and user can't set password with the link anymore. Defaults to 30.	No
passwordEnrollTokenExpiration	Number	The number of milliseconds from when a link to set initial password is sent until token expires and user can't set password with the link anymore. If passwordEnrollTokenExpirationInDays is set, it takes precedent.	No
ambiguousErrorMessages	Boolean	Return ambiguous error messages from login failures to prevent user enumeration. Defaults to false, but in production environments it is recommended it defaults to true.	No
bcryptRounds	Number	Allows override of number of bcrypt rounds (aka work factor) used to store passwords. The default is 10.	No
defaultFieldSelector	MongoFieldSpecifier	To exclude by default large custom fields from Meteor.user() and Meteor.findUserBy...() functions when called without a field selector, and all onLogin, onLoginFailure and onLogout callbacks. Example: Accounts.config({ defaultFieldSelector: { myBigArray: 0 }}). Beware when using this. If, for instance, you do not include email when excluding the fields, you can have problems with functions like forgotPassword that will break because they won't have the required data available. It's recommend that you always keep the fields _id, username, and email.	No
collection	String	A collection name or a Mongo.Collection object to hold the users.	No
loginTokenExpirationHours	Number	When using the package accounts-2fa, use this to set the amount of time a token sent is valid. As it's just a number, you can use, for example, 0.5 to make the token valid for just half hour. The default is 1 hour.	No
tokenSequenceLength	Number	When using the package accounts-2fa, use this to the size of the token sequence generated. The default is 6.	No
clientStorage	'session'	By default login credentials are stored in local storage, setting this to true will switch to using session storage.	No

// accountsCommon is an instance of AccountsCommon

const result = accountsCommon.config();
  options
);

From Meteor 2.5 you can set these in your Meteor settings under Meteor.settings.packages.accounts-base. Note that due to the nature of settings file you won't be able to set parameters that require functions.

accountsCommon.onLogin

Summary:

Register a callback to be called after a login attempt succeeds.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	The callback to be called when login is successful. The callback receives a single object that holds login details. This object contains the login result type (password, resume, etc.) on both the client and server. onLogin callbacks registered on the server also receive extra data, such as user details, connection information, etc.	Yes

// accountsCommon is an instance of AccountsCommon

const result = accountsCommon.onLogin();
  () => {}
);

See description of AccountsCommon#onLoginFailure for details.

accountsCommon.onLoginFailure

Summary:

Register a callback to be called after a login attempt fails.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	The callback to be called after the login has failed.	Yes

// accountsCommon is an instance of AccountsCommon

const result = accountsCommon.onLoginFailure();
  () => {}
);

Either the onLogin or the onLoginFailure callbacks will be called for each login attempt. The onLogin callbacks are called after the user has been successfully logged in. The onLoginFailure callbacks are called after a login attempt is denied.

These functions return an object with a single method, stop. Calling stop() unregisters the callback.

On the server, the callbacks get a single argument, the same attempt info object as validateLoginAttempt. On the client, the callback argument is an object containing a single error property set to the Error-object which was received from the failed login attempt.

accountsCommon.onLogout

Summary:

Register a callback to be called after a logout attempt succeeds.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	The callback to be called when logout is successful.	Yes

On the server, the func callback receives a single argument with the object below. On the client, no arguments are passed.

import { AccountsCommon } from "meteor/accounts-base";
const options = {
  //...
};
const accountsCommon = new AccountsCommon(options);

accountsCommon.onLogout(({ user, connection, collection }) => {
  console.log(user);
  //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The Meteor user object of the user which just logged out
  console.log(connection);
  //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The connection object the request came in on. See
  //               `Meteor.onConnection` for details.

  console.log(collection);
  //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The `collection` The name of the Mongo.Collection or the
  //               Mongo.Collection object to hold the users.
});

AccountsClient

Client only

Summary:

Constructor for the Accounts object on the client.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	an object with fields:	Yes

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
connection	Object	Optional DDP connection to reuse.	No
ddpUrl	String	Optional URL for creating a new DDP connection.	No
clientStorage	'session'	Optional Define what kind of storage you want for credentials on the client. Default is 'local' to use localStorage. Set to 'session' to use session storage.	No

import { AccountsClient } from "meteor/accounts-base"";

const accountsClient = new AccountsClient();
  options
);

At most one of options.connection and options.ddpUrl should be provided in any instantiation of AccountsClient. If neither is provided, Meteor.connection will be used as the .connection property of the AccountsClient instance.

Note that AccountsClient is currently available only on the client, due to its use of browser APIs such as window.localStorage. In principle, though, it might make sense to establish a client connection from one server to another remote accounts server. Please let us know if you find yourself needing this server-to-server functionality.

These methods are defined on AccountsClient.prototype, and are thus available only on the client:

accountsClient.loggingIn

Client only

Summary:

True if a login method (such as Meteor.loginWithPassword, Meteor.loginWithFacebook, or Accounts.createUser) is currently in progress. A reactive data source.

// accountsClient is an instance of AccountsClient

const result = accountsClient.loggingIn();

);

accountsClient.logout

Client only

Summary:

Log the user out.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

// accountsClient is an instance of AccountsClient

const result = accountsClient.logout();
  () => {}
);

accountsClient.logoutOtherClients

Client only

Summary:

Log out other clients logged in as the current user, but does not log out the client that calls this function.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

// accountsClient is an instance of AccountsClient

const result = accountsClient.logoutOtherClients();
  () => {}
);

AccountsServer

Server only

Summary:

Constructor for the Accounts namespace on the server.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
server	Object	A server object such as Meteor.server.	Yes

import { AccountsServer } from "meteor/accounts-base"";

const accountsServer = new AccountsServer();
  server
);

These methods are defined on AccountsServer.prototype, and are thus available only on the server:

accountsServer.validateNewUser

Server only

Summary:

Set restrictions on new user creation.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	Called whenever a new user is created. Takes the new user object, and returns true to allow the creation or false to abort.	Yes

// accountsServer is an instance of AccountsServer

const result = accountsServer.validateNewUser();
  () => {}
);

This can be called multiple times. If any of the functions return false or throw an error, the new user creation is aborted. To set a specific error message (which will be displayed by accounts-ui), throw a new Meteor.Error.

Example:

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";

// Validate username, sending a specific error message on failure.
Accounts.validateNewUser((user) => {
  if (user.username && user.username.length >= 3) {
    return true;
  } else {
    throw new Meteor.Error(403, "Username must have at least 3 characters");
  }
});

// Validate username, without a specific error message.
Accounts.validateNewUser((user) => {
  return user.username !== "root";
});

If the user is being created as part of a login attempt from a client (eg, calling Accounts.createUser from the client, or logging in for the first time with an external service), these callbacks are called before the Accounts.validateLoginAttempt callbacks. If these callbacks succeed but those fail, the user will still be created but the connection will not be logged in as that user.

accountsServer.onCreateUser

Server only

Summary:

Customize new user creation.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	Called whenever a new user is created. Return the new user object, or throw an Error to abort the creation.	Yes

Use this when you need to do more than simply accept or reject new user creation. With this function you can programatically control the contents of new user documents.

The function you pass will be called with two arguments: options and user. The options argument comes from Accounts.createUser for password-based users or from an external service login flow. options may come from an untrusted client so make sure to validate any values you read from it. The user argument is created on the server and contains a proposed user object with all the automatically generated fields required for the user to log in, including the _id.

The function should return the user document (either the one passed in or a newly-created object) with whatever modifications are desired. The returned document is inserted directly into the Meteor.users collection.

The default create user function simply copies options.profile into the new user document. Calling onCreateUser overrides the default hook. This can only be called once.

Example:

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";
// Support for playing D&D: Roll 3d6 for dexterity.
Accounts.onCreateUser((options, user) => {
  const customizedUser = Object.assign(
    {
      dexterity: _.random(1, 6) + _.random(1, 6) + _.random(1, 6),
    },
    user
  );

  // We still want the default hook's 'profile' behavior.
  if (options.profile) {
    customizedUser.profile = options.profile;
  }

  return customizedUser;
});

accountsServer.validateLoginAttempt

Server only

Summary:

Validate login attempts.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	Called whenever a login is attempted (either successful or unsuccessful). A login can be aborted by returning a falsy value or throwing an exception.	Yes

Call validateLoginAttempt with a callback to be called on login attempts. It returns an object with a single method, stop. Calling stop() unregisters the callback.

When a login attempt is made, the registered validate login callbacks are called with a single argument, you can check the example:

import { AccountsServer } from "meteor/accounts-base";
const options = {
  //...
};
const accountsServer = new AccountsServer(options);

accountsServer.validateLoginAttempt(
  ({
    type, // String
    allowed, // Boolean
    error, // Error
    user, // Object
    connection, // Object
    collection, // Object
    methodName, // String
    methodArguments, // Array<String>
  }) => {
    console.log(type);
    //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ   The service name, such as "password" or "twitter".

    console.log(allowed);
    //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ   Whether this login is allowed and will be successful (if not aborted
    //                 by any of the validateLoginAttempt callbacks). False if the login
    //                 will not succeed (for example, an invalid password or the login was
    //                 aborted by a previous validateLoginAttempt callback).

    console.log(error);
    //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ   When `allowed` is false, the exception describing why the login
    //                 failed. It will be a `Meteor.Error` for failures reported to the
    //                 user (such as invalid password), and can be a another kind of
    //                 exception for internal errors.

    console.log(user);
    //        ˆˆˆˆˆˆ   When it is known which user was attempting to login,
    //                 the Meteor user object. This will always be present for successful logins.

    console.log(connection);
    //            ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The `connection` object the request came in on. See
    //                   [`Meteor.onConnection`](#meteor_onconnection) for details.

    console.log(collection);
    //            ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The `collection` The name of the Mongo.Collection or the
    //                   Mongo.Collection object to hold the users.

    console.log(methodName);
    //            ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The name of the Meteor method being used to login.
    //                   For example, "login", "loginWithPassword", or "loginWith<ExternalService>".

    console.log(methodArguments);
    //            ˆˆˆˆˆˆ An array of the arguments passed to the login method.
    //                   For example, `["username", "password"]`
  }
);

A validate login callback must return a truthy value for the login to proceed. If the callback returns a falsy value or throws an exception, the login is aborted. Throwing a Meteor.Error will report the error reason to the user.

All registered validate login callbacks are called, even if one of the callbacks aborts the login. The later callbacks will see the allowed field set to false since the login will now not be successful. This allows later callbacks to override an error from a previous callback; for example, you could override the "Incorrect password" error with a different message.

Validate login callbacks that aren't explicitly trying to override a previous error generally have no need to run if the attempt has already been determined to fail, and should start with

if (!attempt.allowed) {
  return false;
}

accountsServer.beforeExternalLogin

Server only

Summary:

Validate login from external service

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	Called whenever login/user creation from external service is attempted. Login or user creation based on this login can be aborted by passing a falsy value or throwing an exception.	Yes

Use this hook if you need to validate that user from an external service should be allowed to login or create account.

import { AccountsServer } from "meteor/accounts-base";
const options = {
  //...
};
const accountsServer = new AccountsServer(options);

accountsServer.beforeExternalLogin(({ type, data, user }) => {
  console.log(type);
  //       ˆˆˆˆˆˆ The service name, such as "google" or "twitter". Is a String

  console.log(data);
  //       ˆˆˆˆˆˆ Data retrieved from the service (eg: email, name, etc)
  //              Is an Object.

  console.log(user);
  //       ˆˆˆˆˆˆ If user was found in the database that matches the criteria from the service,
  //              their data will be provided here. Is an Object.
});

You should return a Boolean value, true if the login/registration should proceed or false if it should terminate. In case of termination the login attempt will throw an error 403, with the message: Login forbidden.

accountsServer.setAdditionalFindUserOnExternalLogin

Server only

Summary:

Customize user selection on external logins

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
func	function	Called whenever a user is logged in via oauth and a user is not found with the service id. Return the user or undefined.	Yes

When allowing your users to authenticate with an external service, the process will eventually call Accounts.updateOrCreateUserFromExternalService. By default, this will search for a user with the service.<servicename>.id, and if not found will create a new user. As that is not always desirable, you can use this hook as an escape hatch to look up a user with a different selector, probably by emails.address or username. Note the function will only be called if no user was found with the service.<servicename>.id selector.

The function will be called with a single argument, the info object:

import { AccountsServer } from "meteor/accounts-base";
const options = {
  //...
};
const accountsServer = new AccountsServer(options);

accountsServer.setAdditionalFindUserOnExternalLogin(
  ({ serviceName, serviceData, options }) => {
    // serviceName: String
    //   The external service name, such as "google" or "twitter".
    // serviceData: Object
    //   The data returned by the service oauth request.
    // options: Object
    //   An optional arugment passed down from the oauth service that may contain
    //   additional user profile information. As the data in `options` comes from an
    //   external source, make sure you validate any values you read from it.
  }
);

The function should return either a user document or undefined. Returning a user will result in the populating the service.<servicename> in your user document, while returning undefined will result in a new user account being created. If you would prefer that a new account not be created, you could throw an error instead of returning.

Example:

// If a user has already been created, and used their Google email, this will
// allow them to sign in with the Meteor.loginWithGoogle method later, without
// creating a new user.
Accounts.setAdditionalFindUserOnExternalLogin(
  ({ serviceName, serviceData }) => {
    if (serviceName === "google") {
      // Note: Consider security implications. If someone other than the owner
      // gains access to the account on the third-party service they could use
      // the e-mail set there to access the account on your app.
      // Most often this is not an issue, but as a developer you should be aware
      // of how bad actors could play.
      return Accounts.findUserByEmail(serviceData.email);
    }
  }
);

accountsServer.registerLoginHandler

Server only

Summary:

Registers a new login handler.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
name	String	The type of login method like oauth, password, etc.	No
handler	function	A function that receives an options object (as passed as an argument to the login method) and returns one of undefined, meaning don't handle or a login method result object.	Yes

// accountsServer is an instance of AccountsServer

const result = accountsServer.registerLoginHandler();
  "name",  // this param is optional 
  () => {},
);

Use this to register your own custom authentication method. This is also used by all of the other inbuilt accounts packages to integrate with the accounts system.

There can be multiple login handlers that are registered. When a login request is made, it will go through all these handlers to find its own handler.

The registered handler callback is called with a single argument, the options object which comes from the login method. For example, if you want to login with a plaintext password, options could be { user: { username: <username> }, password: <password> },or { user: { email: <email> }, password: <password> }.

The login handler should return undefined if it's not going to handle the login request or else the login result object.

Rate Limiting

By default, there are rules added to the DDPRateLimiter that rate limit logins, new user registration and password reset calls to a limit of 5 requests per 10 seconds per session. These are a basic solution to dictionary attacks where a malicious user attempts to guess the passwords of legitimate users by attempting all possible passwords.

These rate limiting rules can be removed by calling Accounts.removeDefaultRateLimit(). Please see the DDPRateLimiter docs for more information.

accountsServer.addDefaultRateLimit

Server only

Summary:

Add a default rule of limiting logins, creating new users and password reset to 5 times every 10 seconds per connection.

// accountsServer is an instance of AccountsServer

const result = accountsServer.addDefaultRateLimit();

);

accountsServer.removeDefaultRateLimit

Server only

Summary:

Removes default rate limiting rule

// accountsServer is an instance of AccountsServer

const result = accountsServer.removeDefaultRateLimit();

);

Passwords

The accounts-password package contains a full system for password-based authentication. In addition to the basic username and password-based sign-in process, it also supports email-based sign-in including address verification and password recovery emails.

The Meteor server stores passwords using the bcrypt algorithm. This helps protect against embarrassing password leaks if the server's database is compromised.

To add password support to your application, run this command in your terminal:

meteor add accounts-password

In addition to configuring the email package's MAIL_URL, it is critical that you set proper values (specifically the from address) in Accounts.emailTemplates to ensure proper delivery of e-mails!

You can construct your own user interface using the functions below, or use the accounts-ui package to include a turn-key user interface for password-based sign-in.

Accounts.createUser

Summary:

Create a new user.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	Yes
callback	function	Client only, optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
username	String	A unique name for this user.	No
email	String	The user's email address.	No
password	String	The user's password. This is not sent in plain text over the wire.	No
profile	Object	The user's profile, typically including the name field.	No

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.createUser();
  options,
  () => {},  // this param is optional 
);

On the client, this function logs in as the newly created user on successful completion. On the server, it returns the newly created user id.

On the client, you must pass password and at least one of username or email — enough information for the user to be able to log in again later. If there are existing users with a username or email only differing in case, createUser will fail. The callback's error.reason will be 'Username already exists.' or 'Email already exists.' In the latter case, the user can then either login or reset their password.

On the server, you do not need to specify password, but the user will not be able to log in until it has a password (eg, set with Accounts.setPasswordAsync). To create an account without a password on the server and still let the user pick their own password, call createUser with the email option and then call Accounts.sendEnrollmentEmail. This will send the user an email with a link to set their initial password.

By default the profile option is added directly to the new user document. To override this behavior, use Accounts.onCreateUser.

This function is only used for creating users with passwords. The external service login flows do not use this function.

Instead of modifying documents in the Meteor.users collection directly, use these convenience functions which correctly check for case insensitive duplicates before updates.

Accounts.createUserAsync

Summary:

Create a new user and returns a promise of its result.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	undefined	Yes

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
username	String	A unique name for this user.	No
email	String	The user's email address.	No
password	String	The user's password. This is not sent in plain text over the wire.	No
profile	Object	The user's profile, typically including the name field.	No

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.createUserAsync();
  options
);

Accounts.createUserVerifyingEmail

Server only

Summary:

Creates an user asynchronously and sends an email if options.email is informed. Then if the sendVerificationEmail option from the Accounts package is enabled, you'll send a verification email if options.password is informed, otherwise you'll send an enrollment email.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
options	Object	The options object to be passed down when creating the user	Yes

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
username	String	A unique name for this user.	No
email	String	The user's email address.	No
password	String	The user's password. This is not sent in plain text over the wire.	No
profile	Object	The user's profile, typically including the name field.	No

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.createUserVerifyingEmail();
  options
);

Accounts.setUsername

Server only

Summary:

Change a user's username asynchronously. Use this instead of updating the database directly. The operation will fail if there is an existing user with a username only differing in case.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
userId	String	The ID of the user to update.	Yes
newUsername	String	A new username for the user.	Yes

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.setUsername();
  "userId",
  "newUsername",
);

Accounts.addEmail

Server only

Summary:

Add an email asynchronously address for a user. Use this instead of directly updating the database. The operation will fail if there is a different user with an email only differing in case. If the specified user has an existing email only differing in case however, we replace it.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
userId	String	The ID of the user to update.	Yes
newEmail	String	A new email address for the user.	Yes
verified	Boolean	Optional - whether the new email address should be marked as verified. Defaults to false.	No

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.addEmail();
  "userId",
  "newEmail",
  false,  // this param is optional 
);

By default, an email address is added with { verified: false }. Use Accounts.sendVerificationEmail to send an email with a link the user can use to verify their email address.

Accounts.removeEmail

Server only

Summary:

Remove an email address asynchronously for a user. Use this instead of updating the database directly.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
userId	String	The ID of the user to update.	Yes
email	String	The email address to remove.	Yes

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.removeEmail();
  "userId",
  "email",
);

Accounts.verifyEmail

Client only

Summary:

Marks the user's email address as verified. Logs the user in afterwards if the user doesn't have 2FA enabled.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
token	String	The token retrieved from the verification URL.	Yes
callback	function	Optional callback. Called with no arguments on success, or with a single Error argument on failure.	No

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";


const result = Accounts.verifyEmail();
  "token",
  () => {},  // this param is optional 
);

If the user trying to verify the email has 2FA enabled, this error will be thrown:

• "Email verified, but user not logged in because 2FA is enabled [2fa-enabled]": No longer signing in the user automatically if the user has 2FA enabled.

This function accepts tokens passed into the callback registered with Accounts.onEmailVerificationLink.

Accounts.findUserByUsername

Server only

Summary:

Finds the user asynchronously with the specified username. First tries to match username case sensitively; if that fails, it tries case insensitively; but if more than one user matches the case insensitive search, it returns null.

Arguments:

Source code

Name	Type	Description	Required
username	String	The username to look for	Yes
options	Object	undefined	No

Options:

Name	Type	Description	Required
fields	MongoFieldSpecifier	Dictionary of fields to return or exclude.	No

import { Accounts } from "meteor/accounts-base";

/** @returns {Promise