Wednesday, 25th August 2021
API Tokens: A Tedious Survey. Thomas Ptacek reviews different approaches to implementing secure API tokens, from simple random strings stored in a database through various categories of signed token to exotic formats like Macaroons and Biscuits, both new to me.
Macaroons carry a signed list of restrictions with them, but combine it with a mechanism where a client can add their own additional restrictions, sign the combination and pass the token on to someone else.
Biscuits are similar, but “embed Datalog programs to evaluate whether a token allows an operation”.
Allo shows the ultimate failure of Google's Minimum Viable Product strategy. MVP works when you have almost no competition, or if you are taking a radically different approach to what's on the market, but it completely falls on its face when you are just straight-up cloning an established competitor. There's no reason to use a half-baked WhatsApp clone when regular WhatsApp exists.