oidc keycloak

OIDC: Keycloak

This guide sets up Muximux to authenticate against a Keycloak realm, with group memberships emitted in the ID token so Muximux can promote users to admin and gate per-app visibility.

The end state: users sign in with their Keycloak account, Muximux receives their group list as groups: ["developers", "Muximux-Admins"], and admins land on the Settings page automatically.

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Prerequisites

• A running Keycloak instance (any 19.x or newer release works). You need realm-administrator access on the realm Muximux will use.
• Muximux on a stable URL (HTTPS in production, HTTP works for localhost testing).
• The base URL of your Keycloak instance, including the realm path. The full issuer URL for a realm called homelab running at https://auth.example.com is https://auth.example.com/realms/homelab. Note the format; it changed in Keycloak 17 (older versions used /auth/realms/...).

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Step 1: Create the Client

1. Sign in to the Keycloak admin console and select the realm.
2. Open Clients and click Create client.
3. General settings:
   • Client type: OpenID Connect
   • Client ID: muximux
4. Capability config:
   • Client authentication: On (gives you a client secret).
   • Authentication flow: leave Standard flow checked, uncheck the rest.
5. Login settings:
   • Root URL: https://muximux.example.com
   • Valid redirect URIs: https://muximux.example.com/api/auth/oidc/callback
   • Web origins: https://muximux.example.com
6. Save.

Switch to the Credentials tab and copy the Client secret. You'll need it in config.yaml.

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Step 2: Add a Group Membership Mapper

Out of the box Keycloak does not include groups in the ID token. Muximux needs them for admin_groups and per-app allowed_groups to work.

1. Open the muximux client and go to Client scopes.
2. Click on muximux-dedicated in the list (the client's dedicated scope).
3. Click Add mapper > By configuration > Group Membership.
4. Fill in:
   • Name: groups
   • Token Claim Name: groups
   • Full group path: Off (this is the important one; with it on, Keycloak emits /Engineering instead of Engineering and admin_groups won't match what you'd write naturally)
   • Add to ID token: On
   • Add to access token: On
   • Add to userinfo: On
5. Save.

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Step 3: Create or Identify Admin Groups

If you want some users to log in as Muximux admins, the group has to exist in Keycloak.

1. Open Groups > Create group.
2. Name: Muximux-Admins (or whatever you'd like to recognize).
3. Add members on the Members tab, or assign the group to users via Users > > Groups.

You can repeat this for any other groups you'd like to use later for per-app filtering, e.g. Engineering, On-Call.

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Step 4: Configure Muximux

Edit config.yaml:

auth:
  method: oidc
  oidc:
    enabled: true
    issuer_url: https://auth.example.com/realms/homelab
    client_id: muximux
    client_secret: ${KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET}
    redirect_url: https://muximux.example.com/api/auth/oidc/callback
    scopes:
      - openid
      - profile
      - email
    # Defaults match Keycloak conventions; spelled out here for clarity.
    username_claim: preferred_username
    email_claim: email
    groups_claim: groups
    display_name_claim: name
    admin_groups:
      - Muximux-Admins

Set KEYCLOAK_CLIENT_SECRET in the environment. Restart Muximux.

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Step 5: Validate

1. Visit https://muximux.example.com/login and click Sign in with SSO. You should be redirected to Keycloak.
2. After Keycloak sign-in you should land back on the Muximux dashboard.
3. Sign in as a member of Muximux-Admins and confirm the Settings gear appears in the navigation.
4. To inspect the actual claims Keycloak is sending: in Keycloak admin, open Clients > muximux > Client scopes > Evaluate, pick a user, and click Generated ID Token. The groups claim should be there with the names you expect (no leading slash).

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Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Invalid parameter: redirect_uri	The URI in Muximux's redirect_url doesn't match the Valid redirect URIs list on the client.	Set the client's redirect URI to exactly https://muximux.example.com/api/auth/oidc/callback. Wildcards aren't great here; use the exact value.
Sign-in works but admin promotion doesn't	The groups mapper either isn't attached or has Full group path on.	Re-check the mapper in Step 2. Names must come through as plain strings (Engineering), not paths (/Engineering).
404 Not Found from Keycloak when Muximux fetches discovery	Wrong issuer URL format. Keycloak 17+ dropped the /auth/ prefix.	Use https://<host>/realms/<realm>, not https://<host>/auth/realms/<realm>.
Invalid token issuer after upgrading Keycloak	The issuer in tokens changed because the public-facing URL of Keycloak changed.	Set KC_HOSTNAME_URL (or the older KEYCLOAK_FRONTEND_URL) on the Keycloak side to its public-facing URL, and make sure issuer_url: in Muximux matches.
Browser console shows CORS errors during sign-in	Web origin isn't whitelisted.	Add https://muximux.example.com to the client's Web origins.

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See Also

• Authentication overview for the rest of auth.oidc.
• Other identity providers: Microsoft Entra ID, Authentik, Pocket ID, Zitadel, Google, Authelia, Cloudflare Access.