Ory Social Login

Set up Social Login with Ory + Ory Elements

You are configuring social login (OAuth2/OIDC) providers for an Ory-powered application. This adds "Sign in with Google", "Sign in with GitHub", and similar buttons to the login and registration flows.

Strong recommendation: render the auth UI with Ory Elements. With Ory Elements, social buttons appear automatically the moment a provider is configured on the project — there is no frontend change required for any of the providers below. If the app is using custom flow rendering, point the user to /project:ory-login-flow and recommend switching to Ory Elements before adding more providers.

Prerequisites

1. Ory CLI — run ory version. If not installed:

   • macOS: brew install ory/tap/cli
   • npm: npm install -g @ory/cli

2. Ory project — run ory list projects to find the project ID. If no project exists, suggest /project:ory-auth-setup first.

3. Auth pages built with Ory Elements — confirm the project uses @ory/elements-react (look for <Login> / <Registration> from @ory/elements-react/theme). If pages are not built yet, suggest /project:ory-login-flow first. If a custom UI was hand-rolled, recommend migrating to Ory Elements so social buttons render for free.

Social login depends on the same wiring as the rest of Ory. Before debugging providers, confirm the base app is correct per the Correctness contract in /project:ory-auth-setup: a first-party SDK URL (the tunnel or local gateway in dev, never *.oryapis.com in the browser), routes that match the project config, and your app origin listed in allowed_return_urls. The provider redirects the browser back through Ory to your app, so a missing return URL or a cross-site SDK URL produces a post-login error or 404 that looks like a provider bug but isn't.

Step 1: Choose providers

Ask the user which social login providers they want. Common options:

Step 2: Create OAuth2 credentials with each provider

Guide the user through creating credentials for each selected provider. They will need to set these up in the provider's developer console.

Google

1. Go to Google Cloud Console > APIs & Services > Credentials
2. Create an OAuth 2.0 Client ID (Web application type)
3. Add authorized redirect URI: https://<project-slug>.projects.oryapis.com/self-service/methods/oidc/callback/google
4. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret

GitHub

1. Go to GitHub > Settings > Developer Settings > OAuth Apps > New OAuth App
2. Set the Authorization callback URL: https://<project-slug>.projects.oryapis.com/self-service/methods/oidc/callback/github
3. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret

Apple

1. Go to Apple Developer > Certificates, Identifiers & Profiles
2. Create a Service ID, enable "Sign in with Apple"
3. Configure the return URL: https://<project-slug>.projects.oryapis.com/self-service/methods/oidc/callback/apple
4. Create a Key for Sign in with Apple, download the .p8 file
5. You'll need: Service ID (client_id), Team ID, Key ID, and the private key

Microsoft

1. Go to Azure Portal > Azure Active Directory > App Registrations > New Registration
2. Set redirect URI: https://<project-slug>.projects.oryapis.com/self-service/methods/oidc/callback/microsoft
3. Create a client secret under Certificates & Secrets
4. Copy the Application (client) ID and Client Secret

Discord

1. Go to Discord Developer Portal > Applications > New Application
2. Under OAuth2, add redirect: https://<project-slug>.projects.oryapis.com/self-service/methods/oidc/callback/discord
3. Copy the Client ID and Client Secret

Step 3: Configure providers in Ory

Use the Ory CLI to add each provider. The configuration uses JSON patches.

Google OIDC

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/oidc/config/providers/-={
    "id": "google",
    "provider": "google",
    "client_id": "<GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID>",
    "client_secret": "<GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET>",
    "mapper_url": "base64://MAPPER_CONTENT",
    "scope": ["openid", "email", "profile"]
  }' \
  --replace '/selfservice/methods/oidc/enabled=true'

GitHub OIDC

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/oidc/config/providers/-={
    "id": "github",
    "provider": "github",
    "client_id": "<GITHUB_CLIENT_ID>",
    "client_secret": "<GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET>",
    "mapper_url": "base64://MAPPER_CONTENT",
    "scope": ["user:email"]
  }' \
  --replace '/selfservice/methods/oidc/enabled=true'

Apple OIDC

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/oidc/config/providers/-={
    "id": "apple",
    "provider": "apple",
    "client_id": "<APPLE_SERVICE_ID>",
    "apple_team_id": "<TEAM_ID>",
    "apple_private_key_id": "<KEY_ID>",
    "apple_private_key": "<PRIVATE_KEY_CONTENTS>",
    "mapper_url": "base64://MAPPER_CONTENT",
    "scope": ["openid", "email", "name"]
  }' \
  --replace '/selfservice/methods/oidc/enabled=true'

Microsoft OIDC

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/oidc/config/providers/-={
    "id": "microsoft",
    "provider": "microsoft",
    "client_id": "<MICROSOFT_CLIENT_ID>",
    "client_secret": "<MICROSOFT_CLIENT_SECRET>",
    "microsoft_tenant": "common",
    "mapper_url": "base64://MAPPER_CONTENT",
    "scope": ["openid", "email", "profile"]
  }' \
  --replace '/selfservice/methods/oidc/enabled=true'

Discord OIDC

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/oidc/config/providers/-={
    "id": "discord",
    "provider": "discord",
    "client_id": "<DISCORD_CLIENT_ID>",
    "client_secret": "<DISCORD_CLIENT_SECRET>",
    "mapper_url": "base64://MAPPER_CONTENT",
    "scope": ["identify", "email"]
  }' \
  --replace '/selfservice/methods/oidc/enabled=true'

Step 4: Create Jsonnet data mappers

Each provider needs a Jsonnet mapper that maps the provider's claims to Ory identity traits. Create a mapper file for each provider.

Standard email-based mapper

This works for Google, GitHub, Microsoft, Discord, and most providers:

local claims = {
  email_verified: false,
} + std.extVar('claims');

{
  identity: {
    traits: {
      [if 'email' in claims && claims.email_verified then 'email' else null]: claims.email,
    },
  },
}

Apple mapper

Apple sends name data only on first login:

local claims = {
  email_verified: false,
} + std.extVar('claims');

{
  identity: {
    traits: {
      [if 'email' in claims && claims.email_verified then 'email' else null]: claims.email,
    },
  },
}

To use these mappers, either:

1. Base64-encode the Jsonnet and use mapper_url: "base64://..." in the provider config
2. Host the mapper at a URL and use mapper_url: "https://..." in the provider config

To base64-encode a mapper file:

base64 -i mapper.jsonnet

Then set mapper_url to "base64://<encoded-content>" in the provider configuration.

Step 5: Verify social login in the UI (Ory Elements)

If the app uses Ory Elements (the recommended setup), no frontend changes are needed. The <Login> and <Registration> components read the available methods from the flow object and render the appropriate social buttons automatically — including provider icons and labels.

Reload the login page and confirm the new buttons appear. If they do not:

• Confirm OIDC is enabled and the provider was added (Step 7 troubleshooting commands).
• Confirm the page is rendering <Login flow={flow} /> from @ory/elements-react/theme, not a custom UI.
• Confirm the flow was re-initialized after the provider was added (a stale flow id from before the change will not include the new buttons).

Fallback: custom UI rendering of OIDC nodes

Use this only if the user has explicitly chosen not to use Ory Elements. In that case, render the OIDC nodes from the flow:

flow.ui.nodes
  .filter(node => node.group === "oidc")
  .map(node => {
    // Each node represents a social login button.
    // node.attributes contains the provider id and label.
    // Render a button that submits the form with the provider value.
  });

Before going down this path, recommend switching to Ory Elements via /project:ory-login-flow so future provider additions don't require frontend work.

Step 6: Test each provider

For each configured provider:

1. Go to the login page
2. Click the social login button for the provider — Ory Elements should already be rendering it
3. Complete the OAuth flow with the provider
4. Verify you're redirected back and a session is created
5. Check the identity was created: ory list identities --project <project-id>
6. Test the registration flow — a new user signing in via social should auto-register
7. Test account linking — an existing user should be able to link a social provider

Step 7: Handle account linking

When a user logs in with a social provider whose email matches an existing account, Ory can either:

• Link automatically — merge the social identity with the existing account
• Require manual linking — prompt the user to log in with their existing method first

Configure the linking strategy:

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --replace '/selfservice/methods/oidc/config/enabled=true'

When manual linking is required, Ory Elements renders the linking prompt automatically — no UI work needed.

Troubleshooting

• Redirect URI mismatch: Ensure the redirect URI in the provider's console exactly matches what Ory expects: https://<slug>.projects.oryapis.com/self-service/methods/oidc/callback/<provider-id>
• No social buttons showing with Ory Elements: Verify OIDC is enabled and at least one provider is configured: ory get identity-config <project-id> --format json | jq '.selfservice.methods.oidc' Then reload the page so a fresh flow is initialized.
• No social buttons showing with a custom UI: The custom UI must iterate flow.ui.nodes filtered by group === "oidc". The simplest fix is to migrate to Ory Elements.
• Mapper errors: Test the Jsonnet mapper locally with sample claims data
• Local development: Use ory tunnel to proxy requests — social login requires proper cookie handling that localhost alone can't provide