---
id: igwn-auth-utils
version: "1.4.0"
license: BSD-3-Clause
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: aging
---

# igwn-auth-utils — Authorisation utilities for IGWN

License: permissive · Maintenance: aging · Downloads: 95.3K/mo

## What it is and what it does

igwn-auth-utils is a Python library for discovering and working with authentication credentials used by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (IGWN) and related gravitational-wave research services. It simplifies the process of locating X.509 proxy certificates and SciTokens on a system, then deserializing them for use in HTTP requests to IGWN-operated infrastructure.

The package wraps credential discovery logic behind two main functions: find_x509_credentials() returns the file path to an X.509 proxy, while find_scitoken() discovers and deserializes a SciToken for a specific service, audience, and scope. It depends on cryptography, requests, safe-netrc, and scitokens to handle the underlying authentication mechanics.

Use it for:

- Locate X.509 proxy certificates on a system for use in HTTPS requests to IGWN data repositories.
- Discover and deserialize SciTokens with specific audience and scope for authenticated access to gravitational-wave analysis services.
- Automate credential discovery in Python scripts that interact with IGWN-operated HTTP(S) endpoints.
- Simplify authentication setup in scientific workflows that need to authenticate to multiple IGWN services.
- Integrate credential management into data-processing pipelines for gravitational-wave research.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Discovers and deserializes X.509 credentials and SciTokens for authenticating HTTP requests to IGWN-operated services.

Yes, if you work with IGWN services or gravitational-wave research infrastructure. The package is stable, has low install friction, carries no known vulnerabilities, and is licensed permissively. The aging maintenance status (441 days since release) is typical for specialized scientific infrastructure libraries and does not indicate abandonment. Install it when you need to authenticate to IGWN-operated services; skip it if you don't work in that domain.

## Install

pip install igwn-auth-utils
uv add igwn-auth-utils
poetry add igwn-auth-utils

## Installing igwn-auth-utils

Before you install: Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel. Maintenance status is aging (441 days since last release), but the package is classified as Production/Stable and supports current Python versions (3.9+).

License in practice: BSD-3-Clause is permissive; you may use, modify, and distribute this package freely in commercial or private projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install igwn-auth-utils

from igwn_auth_utils import find_x509_credentials, find_scitoken

# Discover X.509 credential location
proxy_path = find_x509_credentials()

# Discover and deserialize a SciToken
token = find_scitoken("myservice", "read:/mydata")

Requires Python 3.9 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package's aging status (441 days since release) reflects active maintenance or dormancy in a specialized domain.
- Whether scitokens and safe-netrc dependencies are lightweight or introduce significant transitive dependencies.
- Whether X.509 credential discovery works across all major operating systems or has platform-specific limitations.

## Package facts

- License: BSD-3-Clause (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: aging
- Downloads: 95.3K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

X.509 credential discovery, SciToken authentication, IGWN authorization, gravitational wave service auth, certificate credential finder, scitoken deserializer, HTTP credential management, gravitational-wave, credential-discovery, scitoken

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/igwn-auth-utils) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/igwn-auth-utils/)