LinkedIn OAuth

Instant supports logging users in with their LinkedIn account. There are a few ways to do this: it depends on whether you are building for web or React Native.

Choose the option that sounds best to you, and the rest of the document will show you how to add Sign in with LinkedIn to your app.

Building for Web?

Web Redirect

Easier to integrate, but doesn't let you render your custom app name.

Building for React Native?

Expo Web Auth

Use Expo's auth session to integrate browser-based sign-in. Easier to implement, but doesn't let you render your custom app name.

#Overview

There are three main steps:

LinkedIn Developer Console: Create an OAuth client.
Instant Dashboard: Connect your OAuth client to Instant
Your app: Add some code to log in with LinkedIn!

Let's dive deeper into each step:

#1. Create an OAuth client

Head to the LinkedIn developer portal and create a new application (or open an existing one).
In the Auth tab enable Sign In with LinkedIn.
Add the following redirect URI to your application:

https://api.instantdb.com/runtime/oauth/callback

Save your Client ID and your Client Secret -- you'll need them for the next step!

#2. Connect your OAuth client to Instant

Add your OAuth Client on Instant

From the dashboard

From the Auth tab on the Instant dashboard:

Click "Set up LinkedIn"
Enter a unique name for your client (e.g., "linkedin-web")
Enter your "Client ID"
Enter your "Client Secret"
Click "Add Client"

From the terminal

npx instant-cli@latest auth client add \
  --type linkedin --name linkedin-web \
  --client-id <id> --client-secret <secret>

And voila, you are connected!

#3. Add some code!

Method: Expo Web Auth

Instant comes with support for Expo's AuthSession library. To use it, you need to:

Set up AuthSession
Register your app with Instant
Use AuthSession to log in with LinkedIn!

Let's do that.

Set up AuthSession

If you haven't already, follow the AuthSession installation instructions from the Expo docs.

Next, add the following dependencies:

npx expo install expo-auth-session expo-crypto

Update your app.json with your scheme:

{
  "expo": {
    "scheme": "mycoolredirect"
  }
}

Register your app with Instant

Now that you have your App Scheme, it's time to tell Instant about it. For development with Expo, add exp:// and your scheme (e.g. mycoolredirect://) as redirect origins.

From the dashboard

From the Auth tab on the Instant dashboard, add a redirect origin of type "App scheme".

From the terminal

npx instant-cli@latest auth origin add --type custom-scheme --scheme exp://
npx instant-cli@latest auth origin add --type custom-scheme --scheme mycoolredirect://

Use AuthSession to log in with LinkedIn!

And from here you're ready to add a login button to your Expo app! Here's a full example:

import { View, Text, Button, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import { init } from '@instantdb/react-native';
import {
  makeRedirectUri,
  useAuthRequest,
  useAutoDiscovery,
} from 'expo-auth-session';
 
const APP_ID = '__APP_ID__';
const db = init({ appId: APP_ID });
 
function App() {
  return (
    <>
      <db.SignedIn>
        <UserInfo />
      </db.SignedIn>
      <db.SignedOut>
        <Login />
      </db.SignedOut>
    </>
  );
}
 
function UserInfo() {
  const user = db.useUser();
  return <Text>Hello {user.email}!</Text>;
}
 
function Login() {
  const discovery = useAutoDiscovery(db.auth.issuerURI());
  const [request, _response, promptAsync] = useAuthRequest(
    {
      // The unique name you gave the OAuth client when you
      // registered it on the Instant dashboard
      clientId: 'YOUR_INSTANT_AUTH_CLIENT_NAME',
      redirectUri: makeRedirectUri(),
    },
    discovery,
  );
 
  return (
    <Button
      title="Log in"
      disabled={!request}
      onPress={async () => {
        try {
          const res = await promptAsync();
          if (res.type === 'error') {
            alert(res.error || 'Something went wrong');
          }
          if (res.type === 'success') {
            await db.auth
              .exchangeOAuthCode({
                code: res.params.code,
                codeVerifier: request.codeVerifier,
              })
              .catch((e) => alert(e.body?.message || 'Something went wrong'));
          } else {
          }
        } catch (e) {
          console.error(e);
        }
      }}
    ></Button>
  );
}
 
const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
  },
});
 
export default App;

instant