Register a WordPress user with PHP and get the jwt

Introduction

This example walks through a complete PHP integration with Simple-JWT-Login: registering a new WordPress user, obtaining a JWT for that user, and using the token to create a WordPress post via the REST API.

It covers the three most common steps in a headless WordPress workflow:

1. Register — create a new user account
2. Authenticate — exchange credentials for a JWT
3. Use the JWT — call a protected endpoint

For this example, we can create a helper function, that will do the actual call:

<?php

/**
 * @param $method string Can be one of the following: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
 * @param $endpoint string Endpoint where we will do the call
 * @param $data array Parameters that needs to be sent to the endpoint
 * @param $headers array Request headers
 * @return string
 * @throws \Exception
 *
 */
function call($method, $endpoint, $data = array(), $headers = array())
{
    // Initialize cURL session
    $ch = curl_init();

    // Set the cURL options
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endpoint);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, strtoupper($method));
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

    // Execute cURL session and get the result
    $result = curl_exec($ch);

    // Check for cURL errors
    if (curl_errno($ch)) {
        throw new \Exception(curl_error($ch));
    }

    // Close cURL session
    curl_close($ch);

    return $result;
}

Step 1: Register a WordPress user

note

Please note that, in order to be able to register a new user, you need have "Allow Register: yes" in the plugin settings.

<?php
$domain = "http://localhost:88";
$headers = array(
    "Content-Type: application/json"
);
$data = array(
    "email" => "test". random_int(0, 10000). "@localhost.com",
    "password" => "my secret password",
    "first_name" => "my firstname",
    "last_name" => "my last name",
);

try{
   // Step 1: Register User
    $result = call("POST", $domain . "?rest_route=/simple-jwt-login/v1/users", $data, $headers);
    $responseJSON = json_decode($result, true);
    if ($responseJSON === false) {
        throw new \Exception("Response is not a JSON:", $result);
    }

    // In case of error, success will be false
    if (!$responseJSON['success']) {
        throw new \Exception($responseJSON['data']['message']);
    }

    $userID = $responseJSON['id'];
    echo "Your new user ID is: " . $userID . PHP_EOL;
} catch (\Exception $exception) {
   // Unable to do the call
   echo "Error while registering the user: ". $exception->getMessage() . PHP_EOL;
}

Step 2: Obtain a JWT

note

Please note that, in order to use the Authentication endpoint, you need have "Allow Authentication: yes" in the plugin settings.

<?php
$domain = "http://localhost:88";
$headers = array(
    "Content-Type: application/json"
);
$data = array (
  "email" => "test@localhost.com",
  "password" => "my secret password",
);

try{
    $result = call("POST", $domain . "?rest_route=/simple-jwt-login/v1/auth", $data, $headers);
    $responseJSON = json_decode($result, true);
    if ($responseJSON === false) {
        throw new \Exception("Auth response is not a JSON:", $result);
    }
    // In case of error, success will be false
    if (!isset($responseJSON['success']) || !$responseJSON['success']) {
        $error = isset($responseJSON['data']['message'])
            ? $responseJSON['data']['message']
            : "Error while getting the JWT";
        throw new \Exception($error);
    }

    if (!isset($responseJSON['data']['jwt'])) {
        throw new \Exception("The JWT is missing from API Response.");
    }
    // Your new JWT that you can use in other endpoints
    $jwt = $responseJSON['data']['jwt'];
    echo "Your new token is: ". $jwt;
}catch (\Exception $exception) {
    echo "Error while trying to get the token: ". $exception->getMessage(). PHP_EOL;
}

Step 3: Use the JWT to create a WordPress post

note

In order to use the JWT on all endpoint, you need to enable "All WordPress endpoints checks for JWT authentication" from the plugin General Settings.

In this example, we will create a new WordPress post:

<?php
$domain = "http://localhost:88";   
$jwt = "..."; // Replace with the JWT you obtained in the previous step
$headers = array(
    "Content-type: application/json",
    "Authorization: " . $jwt
);
// New Post parameters
$data = array(
    "title" => "Post Title",
    "excerpt" => "test",
);
try {
    $result = call("POST", $domain . "?rest_route=/wp/v2/posts", $data, $headers);
    $responseJSON = json_decode($result, true);

    // Final Step: Post create response
    echo "Post create Response: " . print_r($responseJSON, true) . PHP_EOL;
} catch (\Exception $exception){
  echo "Unable to create post:"  . $exception->getMessage();
}

Full example

The script below combines all three steps: register, authenticate, and create a post.

<?php

/**
 * @param $method string Can be one of the following: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
 * @param $endpoint string Endpoint where we will do the call
 * @param $data array Parameters that needs to be sent to the endpoint
 * @param $headers array Request headers
 * @return string
 * @throws \Exception
 *
 */
function call($method, $endpoint, $data = array(), $headers = array())
{
    // Initialize cURL session
    $ch = curl_init();

    // Set the cURL options
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $endpoint);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST, strtoupper($method));
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
    curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, $headers);

    // Execute cURL session and get the result
    $result = curl_exec($ch);

    // Check for cURL errors
    if (curl_errno($ch)) {
        throw new \Exception(curl_error($ch));
    }

    // Close cURL session
    curl_close($ch);

    return $result;
}

$domain = "http://localhost:88";
$headers = array(
    "Content-Type: application/json"
);
$data = array(
    "email" => "test". random_int(0, 10000). "@localhost.com",
    "password" => "my secret password",
    "first_name" => "my firstname",
    "last_name" => "my last name",
);

try {
    // Step 1: Register User
    $result = call("POST", $domain . "?rest_route=/simple-jwt-login/v1/users", $data, $headers);
    $responseJSON = json_decode($result, true);
    if ($responseJSON === false) {
        throw new \Exception("Response is not a JSON:", $result);
    }

    // In case of error, success will be false
    if (!$responseJSON['success']) {
        throw new \Exception($responseJSON['data']['message']);
    }

    $userID = $responseJSON['id'];

    // Step 2: Get a JWT
    $result = call("POST", $domain . "?rest_route=/simple-jwt-login/v1/auth", $data, $headers);
    $responseJSON = json_decode($result, true);
    if ($responseJSON === false) {
        throw new \Exception("Auth response is not a JSON:", $result);
    }
    // In case of error, success will be false
    if (!isset($responseJSON['success']) || !$responseJSON['success']) {
        $error = isset($responseJSON['data']['message'])
            ? $responseJSON['data']['message']
            : "Error while getting the JWT";
        throw new \Exception($error);
    }

    if (!isset($responseJSON['data']['jwt'])) {
        throw new \Exception("The JWT is missing from API Response.");
    }
    // Your new JWT that you can use in other endpoints
    $jwt = $responseJSON['data']['jwt'];

    // Step 3: Create a new WordPress post
    $headers = array(
        "Content-type: application/json",
        "Authorization: " . $jwt
    );
    $data = array(
        "title" => "Post Title",
        "excerpt" => "test",
    );

    $result = call("POST", $domain . "?rest_route=/wp/v2/posts", $data, $headers);
    $responseJSON = json_decode($result, true);

    // Final Step: Post have been created
    echo "Post have been created: " . print_r($responseJSON, true) . PHP_EOL;

} catch (\Exception $exception) {
    echo "There was an error: " . $exception->getMessage() . PHP_EOL;
}