Android Microsoft Authentication Library configuration file
The Android Microsoft Authentication Library (MSAL) ships with a default configuration JSON file that you customize to define the behavior of your public client app for things such as the default authority, which authorities you'll use, and so on.
This article will help you understand the various settings in the configuration file and how to specify the configuration file to use in your MSAL-based app.
Configuration settings
General settings
Property | Data Type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
client_id |
String | Yes | Your app's Client ID from the Application registration page |
redirect_uri |
String | Yes | Your app's Redirect URI from the Application registration page |
broker_redirect_uri_registered |
Boolean | No | Possible values: true , false |
authorities |
List<Authority> | No | The list of authorities your app needs |
authorization_user_agent |
AuthorizationAgent (enum) | No | Possible values: WEBVIEW , BROWSER |
http |
HttpConfiguration | No | Configure HttpUrlConnection connect_timeout and read_timeout |
logging |
LoggingConfiguration | No | Specifies the level of logging detail. Optional configurations include: pii_enabled , which takes a boolean value, and log_level , which takes ERROR , WARNING , INFO , or VERBOSE . |
client_id
The client ID or app ID that was created when you registered your application.
redirect_uri
The redirect URI you registered when you registered your application. If the redirect URI is to a broker app, refer to Redirect URI for public client apps to ensure you're using the correct redirect URI format for your broker app.
broker_redirect_uri_registered
If you want to use brokered authentication, the broker_redirect_uri_registered
property must be set to true
. In a brokered authentication scenario, if the application isn't in the correct format to talk to the broker as described in Redirect URI for public client apps, the application validates your redirect URI and throws an exception when it starts.
authorities
The list of authorities that are known and trusted by you. In addition to the authorities listed here, MSAL also queries Microsoft to get a list of clouds and authorities known to Microsoft. In this list of authorities, specify the type of the authority and any additional optional parameters such as "audience"
, which should align with the audience of your app based on your app's registration. The following is an example list of authorities:
// Example AzureAD and Personal Microsoft Account
{
"type": "AAD",
"audience": {
"type": "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount"
},
"default": true // Indicates that this is the default to use if not provided as part of the acquireToken call
},
// Example AzureAD My Organization
{
"type": "AAD",
"audience": {
"type": "AzureADMyOrg",
"tenant_id": "contoso.com" // Provide your specific tenant ID here
}
},
// Example AzureAD Multiple Organizations
{
"type": "AAD",
"audience": {
"type": "AzureADMultipleOrgs"
}
},
//Example PersonalMicrosoftAccount
{
"type": "AAD",
"audience": {
"type": "PersonalMicrosoftAccount"
}
}
Map Microsoft Entra authority & audience to Microsoft identity platform endpoints
Type | Audience | Tenant ID | Authority_Url | Resulting Endpoint | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Microsoft Entra ID | AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount | https://login.microsoftonline.com/common |
common is a tenant alias for where the account is. Such as a specific Microsoft Entra tenant or the Microsoft account system. |
||
Microsoft Entra ID | AzureADMyOrg | contoso.com | https://login.microsoftonline.com/contoso.com |
Only accounts present in contoso.com can acquire a token. Any verified domain, or the tenant GUID, may be used as the tenant ID. | |
Microsoft Entra ID | AzureADMultipleOrgs | https://login.microsoftonline.com/organizations |
Only Microsoft Entra accounts can be used with this endpoint. Microsoft accounts can be members of organizations. To acquire a token using a Microsoft account for a resource in an organization, specify the organizational tenant from which you want the token. | ||
Microsoft Entra ID | PersonalMicrosoftAccount | https://login.microsoftonline.com/consumers |
Only Microsoft accounts can use this endpoint. | ||
B2C | See Resulting Endpoint | https://login.microsoftonline.com/tfp/contoso.onmicrosoft.com/B2C_1_SISOPolicy/ |
Only accounts present in the contoso.onmicrosoft.com tenant can acquire a token. In this example, the B2C policy is part of the Authority URL path. |
Note
Authority validation cannot be enabled and disabled in MSAL.
Authorities are either known to you as the developer as specified via configuration or known to Microsoft via metadata.
If MSAL receives a request for a token to an unknown authority, an MsalClientException
of type UnknownAuthority
results.
Brokered authentication does not work for Azure AD B2C.
Authority properties
Property | Data type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
type |
String | Yes | Mirrors the audience or account type your app targets. Possible values: AAD , B2C |
audience |
Object | No | Only applies when type=AAD . Specifies the identity your app targets. Use the value from your app registration |
authority_url |
String | Yes | Required only when type=B2C . Optional for type=AAD . Specifies the authority URL or policy your app should use |
default |
boolean | Yes | A single "default":true is required when one or more authorities is specified. |
Audience Properties
Property | Data Type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
type |
String | Yes | Specifies the audience your app wants to target. Possible values: AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount , PersonalMicrosoftAccount , AzureADMultipleOrgs , AzureADMyOrg |
tenant_id |
String | Yes | Required only when "type":"AzureADMyOrg" . Optional for other type values. This can be a tenant domain such as contoso.com , or a tenant ID such as aaaabbbb-0000-cccc-1111-dddd2222eeee |
authorization_user_agent
Indicates whether to use an embedded webview, or the default browser on the device, when signing in an account or authorizing access to a resource.
Possible values:
WEBVIEW
: Use the embedded web view.BROWSER
: Uses the default browser on the device.
multiple_clouds_supported
For clients that support multiple national clouds, specify true
. The Microsoft identity platform will then automatically redirect to the correct national cloud during authorization and token redemption. You can determine the national cloud of the signed-in account by examining the authority associated with the AuthenticationResult
. Note that the AuthenticationResult
doesn't provide the national cloud-specific endpoint address of the resource for which you request a token.
broker_redirect_uri_registered
A boolean that indicates whether you're using a Microsoft Identity broker compatible in-broker redirect URI. Set to false
if you don't want to use the broker within your app.
If you're using the Microsoft Entra Authority with Audience set to "MicrosoftPersonalAccount"
, the broker won't be used.
http
Configure global settings for HTTP timeouts, such as:
Property | Data type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
connect_timeout |
int | No | Time in milliseconds |
read_timeout |
int | No | Time in milliseconds |
logging
The following global settings are for logging:
Property | Data Type | Required | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
pii_enabled |
boolean | No | Whether to emit personal data |
log_level |
string | No | Which log messages to output. Supported log levels include ERROR ,WARNING ,INFO , and VERBOSE . |
logcat_enabled |
boolean | No | Whether to output to log cat in addition to the logging interface |
account_mode
Specifies how many accounts can be used within your app at a time. The possible values are:
MULTIPLE
(Default)SINGLE
Constructing a PublicClientApplication
using an account mode that doesn't match this setting will result in an exception.
For more information about the differences between single and multiple accounts, see Single and multiple account apps.
browser_safelist
An allow-list of browsers that are compatible with MSAL. These browsers correctly handle redirects to custom intents. You can add to this list. The default is provided in the default configuration shown below. ``
The default MSAL configuration file
The default MSAL configuration that ships with MSAL is shown below. You can see the latest version on GitHub.
This configuration is supplemented by values that you provide. The values you provide override the defaults.
{
"authorities": [
{
"type": "AAD",
"audience": {
"type": "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount"
},
"default": true
}
],
"authorization_user_agent": "DEFAULT",
"multiple_clouds_supported": false,
"broker_redirect_uri_registered": false,
"http": {
"connect_timeout": 10000,
"read_timeout": 30000
},
"logging": {
"pii_enabled": false,
"log_level": "WARNING",
"logcat_enabled": false
},
"shared_device_mode_supported": false,
"account_mode": "MULTIPLE",
"browser_safelist": [
{
"browser_package_name": "com.android.chrome",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"aB1cD2eF3gH4iJ5kL6-mN7oP8qR=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : true,
"browser_version_lower_bound": "45"
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.android.chrome",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"cD2eF3gH4iJ5kL6mN7-oP8qR9sT=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "org.mozilla.firefox",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"eF3gH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8-qR9sT0uV=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "org.mozilla.firefox",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"gH4iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9-sT0uV1wX=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : true,
"browser_version_lower_bound": "57"
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.sec.android.app.sbrowser",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"iJ5kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0-uV1wX2yZ=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : true,
"browser_version_lower_bound": "4.0"
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.sec.android.app.sbrowser",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"kL6mN7oP8qR9sT0uV1-wX2yZ3aB=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.cloudmosa.puffinFree",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"mN7oP8qR9sT0uV1wX2-yZ3aB4dE="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.duckduckgo.mobile.android",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"S5Av4...jAi4Q=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.explore.web.browser",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"BzDzB...YHCag=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.ksmobile.cb",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"lFDYx...7nouw=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.microsoft.emmx",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"Ivy-R...A6fVQ=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.opera.browser",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"FIJ3I...jWJWw=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "com.opera.mini.native",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"TOTyH...mmUYQ=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "mobi.mgeek.TunnyBrowser",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"RMVoXgjjgyjjmbj4578fcbkyyQ=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
},
{
"browser_package_name": "org.mozilla.focus",
"browser_signature_hashes": [
"L72dT...q0oYA=="
],
"browser_use_customTab" : false
}
]
}
Example basic configuration
The following example illustrates a basic configuration that specifies the client ID, redirect URI, whether a broker redirect is registered, and a list of authorities.
{
"client_id" : "00001111-aaaa-2222-bbbb-3333cccc4444",
"redirect_uri" : "msauth://com.microsoft.identity.client.sample.local/1wIqXSqBj7w%2Bh11ZifsnqwgyKrY%3D",
"broker_redirect_uri_registered": true,
"authorities" : [
{
"type": "AAD",
"audience": {
"type": "AzureADandPersonalMicrosoftAccount"
}
"default": true
}
]
}
How to use a configuration file
Create a configuration file. We recommend that you create your custom configuration file in
res/raw/auth_config.json
. But you can put it anywhere that you wish.Tell MSAL where to look for your configuration when you construct the
PublicClientApplication
. For example://On Worker Thread IMultipleAccountPublicClientApplication sampleApp = null; sampleApp = new PublicClientApplication.createMultipleAccountPublicClientApplication(getApplicationContext(), R.raw.auth_config);