How JWTs Work: Stateless Authentication Explained With a Simple Analogy

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JSON Web Tokens (JWTs) were developed to address HTTP's stateless nature, which causes servers to have no memory of previous user interactions. Unlike session-based systems that store user data in a server-side logbook, JWTs are stateless and instead issue the user a cryptographically signed token containing a header, payload, and signature. The payload holds user details such as ID and role, but is only Base64-encoded — not encrypted — meaning it can be decoded if intercepted. To reduce security risks like XSS attacks, developers are advised to store JWTs in httpOnly cookies and hash passwords using tools like bcrypt. JWTs serve two primary purposes in web development: authenticating a user's identity and authorizing what actions or resources that user is permitted to access.

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