Question 1

How to implement JWT authentication with Knock in Rails?

Accepted Answer

Add the gem to your Gemfile, include Knock::Authenticable in ApplicationController, and use before_action :authenticate_user in controllers. Tokens are obtained via POST requests to /user_token with auth credentials.

Question 2

Knock vs devise-jwt for Rails authentication?

Accepted Answer

Knock is lighter and simpler for API-only apps with minimal configuration, while devise-jwt builds on Devise for more feature-rich authentication. However, Knock is unmaintained, so devise-jwt or the jwt gem might be safer choices.

Question 3

How to handle token expiration in Knock?

Accepted Answer

Configure token_lifetime in the initializer, setting it globally or per entity class. Clients must handle 401 responses when tokens expire, as Knock doesn't provide automatic refresh mechanisms.

Question 4

Can I use Knock with Auth0 or OAuth providers?

Accepted Answer

Knock supports custom token validation via configuration like token_audience for Auth0, but it doesn't handle OAuth flows natively; you'd need to integrate external providers separately and use Knock for token validation only.

Question 5

Is Knock compatible with Rails 7 or newer versions?

Accepted Answer

Since the project is unmaintained, compatibility with newer Rails versions isn't guaranteed. You might need to fork and update it yourself or switch to alternatives like the jwt gem with custom middleware.

Question 6

How to test authenticated API endpoints with Knock?

Accepted Answer

Use the included test helpers to generate tokens via Knock::AuthToken and pass them in request headers, as demonstrated in the README with methods like authenticated_header in integration tests.

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