Chris CoutinhoandClaude Opus 4.7
d153e96520
Fix issues raised by reviewer on PR #743: - troubleshooting.md: renumber "Getting Help" steps (4→3, 5→4) after earlier consolidation left a gap - installation.md: drop stale "OIDC app" prerequisite; admin access is now optional under Login Flow v2 (works on stock Nextcloud 16+) - semantic-search-architecture.md: rename VECTOR_SYNC_ENABLED to ENABLE_SEMANTIC_SEARCH in the Status callout (renamed in v0.58.0) - configuration.md: remove Quick Start references to deprecated oauth-multi-user / oauth-advanced templates and point to login-flow-v2.md; update "OAuth, Multi-User BasicAuth" label to "Login Flow v2, Multi-User BasicAuth" - auth-flows.md: fix background-sync diagram so Encrypt+persist step no longer crosses into the Nextcloud column Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
254 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
254 lines
12 KiB
Markdown
# Authentication Flows by Deployment Mode
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This document provides a unified reference for the auth flows in each supported deployment mode. For configuration details, see [Authentication](authentication.md). For Login Flow v2 architecture and setup, see [Login Flow v2](login-flow-v2.md).
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## Quick Reference Matrix
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| Mode | Client → MCP → NC | Background Sync | Astrolabe → MCP |
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|------|-------------------|-----------------|-----------------|
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| [Single-User BasicAuth](#1-single-user-basicauth) | Embedded credentials | Same credentials | N/A |
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| [Multi-User BasicAuth](#2-multi-user-basicauth) | Header pass-through | Stored app password (optional) | OAuth Bearer token |
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| [Login Flow v2](#3-login-flow-v2) | OAuth → MCP, app pwd → NC | Stored app password | OAuth Bearer token |
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## Communication Patterns
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This document covers three distinct communication patterns:
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1. **MCP Client → MCP Server → Nextcloud**: Interactive tool calls initiated by users through MCP clients (Claude Desktop, claude.ai, custom clients).
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2. **MCP Server → Nextcloud**: Background operations like vector sync that run without user interaction.
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3. **Astrolabe → MCP Server**: Astrolabe app backend communication for settings UI and unified search.
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---
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## Deployment Modes
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### 1. Single-User BasicAuth
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**Use Case:** Personal Nextcloud instance, local development, single-user deployments.
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#### MCP Client → MCP Server → Nextcloud
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```
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MCP Client MCP Server Nextcloud
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│ │ │
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│── MCP Request ─────────────▶│ │
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│ (no auth required) │ │
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│ │── HTTP + BasicAuth ───────▶│
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│ │ Authorization: Basic │
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│ │ (embedded credentials) │
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│ │◀── API Response ───────────│
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│◀── Tool Result ─────────────│ │
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```
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**Key characteristics:**
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- Credentials embedded in server configuration (`NEXTCLOUD_USERNAME`, `NEXTCLOUD_PASSWORD`)
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- Single shared `NextcloudClient` created at startup
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- No MCP-level authentication required (server trusts local clients)
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- All requests use the same Nextcloud user
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**Implementation:** `context.py` — returns the shared client from lifespan context
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#### Background Sync
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Uses the same embedded credentials as interactive requests. The background job accesses Nextcloud with the configured username/password.
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#### Astrolabe Integration
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Not applicable — Astrolabe is only used in multi-user deployments where users need personal settings and per-user state.
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---
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### 2. Multi-User BasicAuth
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**Use Case:** Internal deployment where users provide their own Nextcloud credentials via HTTP headers.
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#### MCP Client → MCP Server → Nextcloud
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```
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MCP Client MCP Server Nextcloud
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│ │ │
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│── MCP Request ─────────────▶│ │
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│ Authorization: Basic │ │
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│ (user credentials) │ │
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│ │── BasicAuthMiddleware ────▶│
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│ │ Extracts credentials │
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│ │ │
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│ │── HTTP + BasicAuth ───────▶│
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│ │ (pass-through) │
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│ │◀── API Response ───────────│
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│◀── Tool Result ─────────────│ │
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```
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**Key characteristics:**
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- `BasicAuthMiddleware` extracts credentials from the `Authorization: Basic` header
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- Credentials passed through to Nextcloud (not stored)
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- Client created per-request from extracted credentials
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- Stateless — no credential storage between requests
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#### Background Sync (Optional)
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If users provision an app password (via Astrolabe or `nc_auth_provision_access`), the server can run background jobs on their behalf:
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```
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Astrolabe MCP Server Nextcloud
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│ │ │
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│── Store app password ──────▶│ │
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│ (via management API) │ │
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│ │ [Encrypt + persist locally]│
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│ │ (SQLite, Fernet) │
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│◀── Confirmation ────────────│ │
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│ │ │
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│ [Background job] │ │
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│ │── Retrieve app password ──▶│
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│ │── HTTP + BasicAuth ───────▶│
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│ │◀── API Response ───────────│
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```
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**Requirements:** `TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY`, `TOKEN_STORAGE_DB`.
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#### Astrolabe → MCP Server
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```
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Astrolabe MCP Server Nextcloud OIDC
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│ │ │
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│── OAuth Flow ──────────────▶│◀── Token from IdP ────────▶│
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│ (user initiates) │ │
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│ │ │
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│── Bearer Token ────────────▶│ │
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│ (management API calls) │ │
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│ │── Validate via JWKS ──────▶│
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│ │ (or introspection) │
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│◀── API Response ────────────│ │
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```
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**Key characteristics:**
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- Astrolabe has its own OAuth client registered in Nextcloud
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- Tokens are validated by the MCP server using Nextcloud OIDC JWKS
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- Authorization check: `token.sub == requested_resource_owner`
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---
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### 3. Login Flow v2
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**Use Case:** Hosted multi-user deployments, OAuth-based MCP clients (claude.ai, Astrolabe Cloud), production. Recommended for any setup where MCP clients shouldn't handle Nextcloud credentials directly.
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This mode replaces the previously-supported "OAuth Single-Audience" and "OAuth Token Exchange" modes, both of which required upstream Nextcloud patches that were never merged. See [ADR-022](ADR-022-deployment-mode-consolidation.md) for the rationale.
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#### MCP Client → MCP Server → Nextcloud (steady state)
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```
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MCP Client MCP Server Nextcloud
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│ │ │
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│── Bearer Token ────────────▶│ │
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│ (issued by MCP server, │ │
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│ mcp:* scopes) │ │
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│ │── Validate scopes ─────────│
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│ │ (@require_scopes) │
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│ │ │
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│ │── Lookup user's │
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│ │ stored app password │
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│ │ │
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│ │── HTTP + BasicAuth ───────▶│
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│ │ Authorization: Basic │
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│ │ (per-user app password) │
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│ │◀── API Response ───────────│
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│◀── Tool Result ─────────────│ │
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```
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**Key characteristics:**
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- MCP client authenticates to MCP server via OAuth 2.1 + PKCE
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- MCP server is the OAuth authorization server (DCR via RFC 7591)
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- `mcp:*` scopes (e.g. `mcp:notes.read`, `mcp:notes.write`) gate tool access
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- Per-user app password obtained via Login Flow v2 and stored encrypted in SQLite
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- App passwords appear in Nextcloud's **Settings → Security → Devices & Sessions** and are user-revocable
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#### First-Use Provisioning (one-time per user)
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```
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MCP Client MCP Server Nextcloud
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│ │ │
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│── Bearer Token + request ──▶│ │
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│ │ No stored app password │
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│ │ │
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│◀── Elicit URL or 401 ───────│ │
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│ "Visit <login-url>" │ │
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│ │── POST /index.php/login/v2▶│
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│ │◀── login_url, poll_token ──│
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│ │ │
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│ User opens login_url in browser, authenticates, "Grant"│
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│ ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────▶│
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│ │ │
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│ │── Poll endpoint (bg) ─────▶│
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│ │◀── loginName, appPassword ─│
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│ │ │
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│ │── Encrypt + store │
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│ │ in tokens.db │
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│ │ │
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│── Retry request ───────────▶│── Basic Auth as above ────▶│
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```
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#### Background Sync
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Uses the same per-user app password retrieved from encrypted storage. No token refresh needed — Nextcloud app passwords don't expire (until the user revokes them).
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```
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MCP Server Nextcloud
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│ │
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[Background job starts] │ │
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│── Retrieve app password ──▶│
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│ (per user, from SQLite) │
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│ │
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│── HTTP + BasicAuth ───────▶│
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│◀── API Response ───────────│
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```
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#### Astrolabe → MCP Server
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Same as Multi-User BasicAuth — see [Astrolabe → MCP Server](#astrolabe--mcp-server) above.
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---
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## Configuration Quick Reference
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### Single-User BasicAuth
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```bash
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NEXTCLOUD_HOST=https://nextcloud.example.com
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NEXTCLOUD_USERNAME=admin
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NEXTCLOUD_PASSWORD=<app-password>
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```
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### Multi-User BasicAuth
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```bash
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NEXTCLOUD_HOST=https://nextcloud.example.com
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ENABLE_MULTI_USER_BASIC_AUTH=true
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# Optional: app-password storage for background sync
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TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<fernet-key>
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TOKEN_STORAGE_DB=/app/data/tokens.db
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```
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### Login Flow v2
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```bash
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NEXTCLOUD_HOST=https://nextcloud.example.com
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ENABLE_LOGIN_FLOW=true
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# Required for app-password storage
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TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_KEY=<fernet-key>
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TOKEN_STORAGE_DB=/app/data/tokens.db
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# Public URLs (for browser redirects)
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NEXTCLOUD_MCP_SERVER_URL=https://mcp.example.com
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NEXTCLOUD_PUBLIC_ISSUER_URL=https://nextcloud.example.com
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```
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See [Login Flow v2](login-flow-v2.md) for full setup, scope reference, and troubleshooting.
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---
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## Related Documentation
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- [Authentication](authentication.md) — mode comparison and selection
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- [Login Flow v2](login-flow-v2.md) — multi-user setup details
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- [Configuration](configuration.md) — environment variable reference
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- [ADR-022](ADR-022-deployment-mode-consolidation.md) — design rationale for mode consolidation
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