forms-identity-api

Defra Forms identity API — a private OIDC identity provider for citizen sign-in to Defra forms.

This service issues and manages identities for form submitters. It is a backend API (Hapi + MongoDB) that sits on a private network; browsers never reach it directly — only other Defra Forms services do.

Requirements

Node.js

Please install Node.js >= v22 and npm >= v10. You will find it easier to use the Node Version Manager nvm:

cd forms-identity-api
nvm use

Local development

Setup

Install application dependencies:

npm install

MongoDB

The API requires a MongoDB replica set. Start one locally (plus mongo-express on http://localhost:8081) with:

docker compose up -d mongo

Development

To run the application in development mode run:

npm run dev

The API listens on http://localhost:3010 by default. Check it is running:

curl http://localhost:3010/health

Testing

To test the application run:

npm test

Production

To mimic the application running in production mode locally run:

npm start

Npm scripts

All available Npm scripts can be seen in package.json. To view them in your command line run:

npm run

Linting and formatting

npm run lint
npm run format

Licence

THIS INFORMATION IS LICENSED UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF THE OPEN GOVERNMENT LICENCE found at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3

The following attribution statement MUST be cited in your products and applications when using this information.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government licence v3

About the licence

The Open Government Licence (OGL) was developed by the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) to enable information providers in the public sector to license the use and re-use of their information under a common open licence.

It is designed to encourage use and re-use of information freely and flexibly, with only a few conditions.