PHPackages                             legalthings/authorizer - PHPackages - PHPackages  [Skip to content](#main-content)[PHPackages](/)[Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Leaderboard](/leaderboard)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)[Collections](/collections)[Log in](/login)[Sign up](/register)

1. [Directory](/)
2. /
3. [Authentication & Authorization](/categories/authentication)
4. /
5. legalthings/authorizer

ActiveLibrary[Authentication & Authorization](/categories/authentication)

legalthings/authorizer
======================

Authorizer for HTTP requests

v0.1.11(5y ago)7191[2 issues](https://github.com/legalthings/authorizer/issues)MITPHP

Since Nov 11Pushed 5y ago9 watchersCompare

[ Source](https://github.com/legalthings/authorizer)[ Packagist](https://packagist.org/packages/legalthings/authorizer)[ RSS](/packages/legalthings-authorizer/feed)WikiDiscussions master Synced 3w ago

READMEChangelog (10)Dependencies (2)Versions (16)Used By (0)

Legal Things - Authorizer
=========================

[](#legal-things---authorizer)

With the authorizer library, a webservice can generate an access token for a resource. The library uses [public key cryptography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography) to encrypt the access token. This means it can only be used by a system that has the private decryption key to get access to the resource.

Requirements
------------

[](#requirements)

- [PHP](http://www.php.net) >= 5.5.0

*Required PHP extensions are marked by composer*

Installation
------------

[](#installation)

The library can be installed using composer.

```
composer require legalthings/authorizer

```

How it works
------------

[](#how-it-works)

System A has a resource which requires authorization. It will only allow system B access to the resource. Clients are allowed to use the resource, but don't have direct access to it. A client using both system A and system B, wants system A to share a specific resource with system B.

Upon request by the client, system A will generate an access token for the resource. It download the public encryption key of system B and uses it to encrypt the access token. This encrypted token returned to the client.

The client passes the link to the resource and the encrypted token to system B. Sytem B will decrypt the encrypted token and use it to download the resource.

### Example

[](#example)

**System A (has resources)**

```
use LegalThings/Authorizer;

Authorizer::$globalSecret = 'some-secret-which-stays-the-same';

$pdf = basename($_GET['pdf']);

if (isset($_GET['authzgen'])) {
  if (parse_url($_GET['authzgen'], PHP_URL_HOST) !== 'system-b.example.com') {
    http_response_code(403);
    echo "Will only grant access for system-b.example.com";
    exit();
  }

  $encryptedToken = Authorizer::sign($pdf, $_GET['authzgen']); // authzgen is a string with the format: {{public_key_url}};{{time_from}};{{time_to}}

  header('Content-Type: text/plain');
  echo $encryptedToken;
  exit();
}

$mayAccess = isset($_GET['authz']) && Authorizer::verify($pdf, $_GET['authz']); // authz is the decrypted secret

if (!$mayAccess) {
  http_response_code(403);
  echo "Access denied";
  exit();
}

// Get and output resource
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
readfile('path/to/resources/' . $pdf);
```

**System B (can download and use resources)**

```
use LegalThings/Authorizer;

$link = $_POST['link'];

if (isset($_POST['token'])) {
  $encryptedToken = $_POST['token'];
  $token = Authorizer::decrypt($encryptedSecret, 'path/to/private_key.pem');
  $link .= (strstr($link, '?') ? '&' : '?') . 'authz=' . $token;
}

$pdf = file_get_contents($link);

// Let's do something with the PDF
$username = $_SESSION['username'];
file_put_contents("../userdata/$username/" . md5(microtime()) . ".pdf", $pdf);
```

**Client**

```
LINK="http://system-a.example.com/get-pdf.php?pdf=abc.pdf"
ENCRYPTED_TOKEN=$(curl --get "$LINK" --data-urlencode "authzgen=http://system-b.example.com/authorizer.pem")
curl --post "http://system-b.example.com/use-pdf.php" --data-urlencode "link=$LINK" --data-urlencode "authz=$ENCRYPTED_TOKEN"
```

Why is this useful?
-------------------

[](#why-is-this-useful)

This is a way to allow two systems to share resources between them, with minimal coupling.

System B can use any PDF on the internet. By implementing `Authorizer` it gives services that want to share a resource only with system B the means to do so.

###  Health Score

28

—

LowBetter than 52% of packages

Maintenance14

Infrequent updates — may be unmaintained

Popularity12

Limited adoption so far

Community15

Small or concentrated contributor base

Maturity61

Established project with proven stability

 Bus Factor1

Top contributor holds 50% of commits — single point of failure

How is this calculated?**Maintenance (25%)** — Last commit recency, latest release date, and issue-to-star ratio. Uses a 2-year decay window.

**Popularity (30%)** — Total and monthly downloads, GitHub stars, and forks. Logarithmic scaling prevents top-heavy scores.

**Community (15%)** — Contributors, dependents, forks, watchers, and maintainers. Measures real ecosystem engagement.

**Maturity (30%)** — Project age, version count, PHP version support, and release stability.

###  Release Activity

Cadence

Every ~159 days

Recently: every ~426 days

Total

12

Last Release

2122d ago

### Community

Maintainers

![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/3379a93d51305df325df9045e1a8b205d195e4e8c01312dff53a000ee79002eb?d=identicon)[jasny](/maintainers/jasny)

![](https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/fb23c3d3e3cfed7ef09c08be522314ed8f4aee9d25c0674ca3b0be7895182f8f?d=identicon)[svenstam](/maintainers/svenstam)

---

Top Contributors

[![moesjarraf](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/5793511?v=4)](https://github.com/moesjarraf "moesjarraf (11 commits)")[![jasny](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/100821?v=4)](https://github.com/jasny "jasny (6 commits)")[![svenstm](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1632578?v=4)](https://github.com/svenstm "svenstm (5 commits)")

###  Code Quality

TestsCodeception

### Embed Badge

![Health badge](/badges/legalthings-authorizer/health.svg)

```
[![Health](https://phpackages.com/badges/legalthings-authorizer/health.svg)](https://phpackages.com/packages/legalthings-authorizer)
```

###  Alternatives

[aws/aws-sdk-php

AWS SDK for PHP - Use Amazon Web Services in your PHP project

6.2k532.1M2.5k](/packages/aws-aws-sdk-php)[overtrue/socialite

A collection of OAuth 2 packages.

1.4k5.6M90](/packages/overtrue-socialite)[neuron-core/neuron-ai

The PHP Agentic Framework.

2.0k496.1k33](/packages/neuron-core-neuron-ai)[tencentcloud/tencentcloud-sdk-php

TencentCloudApi php sdk

3661.2M46](/packages/tencentcloud-tencentcloud-sdk-php)[tempest/framework

The PHP framework that gets out of your way.

2.2k31.1k12](/packages/tempest-framework)[ellaisys/aws-cognito

AWS Cognito package that allows Auth and other related features using the AWS SDK for PHP

121242.9k1](/packages/ellaisys-aws-cognito)

PHPackages © 2026

[Directory](/)[Categories](/categories)[Trending](/trending)[Changelog](/changelog)[Analyze](/analyze)