---
id: scitokens
version: "1.9.7"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# scitokens — SciToken reference implementation library

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 95.8K/mo

## What it is and what it does

SciTokens is a reference implementation library for the SciTokens JWT token format, designed to provide a high-level, safe interface for creating and validating authorization tokens in scientific computing workflows. It wraps PyJWT and cryptography to handle the low-level details of token signing, serialization, and verification, letting you focus on defining authorization claims and validation logic.

The library separates token verification (checking cryptographic integrity and authenticity) from validation (checking whether claims satisfy your authorization requirements). You can generate tokens with arbitrary claims, serialize them to a standard JWT format, deserialize and verify tokens from external sources, and use the Enforcer class to test whether a token grants specific permissions—such as read/write access to particular file paths. It also includes utilities for creating demo tokens and a Flask decorator for protecting endpoints.

Use it for:

- Generate and sign authorization tokens in an OAuth2 workflow for scientific computing infrastructure
- Validate incoming tokens at a storage or compute service to enforce access control policies
- Test token-based authorization logic in development using the demo token generator
- Enforce path-based access control (e.g., read/write permissions on specific directories) using the Enforcer class
- Protect Flask endpoints with token-based authentication and scope validation

## Worth the install?

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

Implements the SciTokens JSON Web Token (JWT) format for generating, validating, and enforcing authorization claims in scientific computing environments.

Yes. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, low install friction, and a permissive license. It is the reference implementation for SciTokens, making it the natural choice if you need to work with this token format in scientific computing environments. Install it if you are building or integrating with systems that use SciTokens for authorization.

## Install

pip install scitokens
uv add scitokens
poetry add scitokens

## Installing scitokens

Before you install: Low friction installation with three stable runtime dependencies (cryptography, PyJWT, requests). Actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache-2.0 (permissive), allowing use in commercial and private projects with minimal restrictions beyond attribution.

Quickstart:

import scitokens

# Generate a new token
token = scitokens.SciToken()
token['read'] = '/ligo'
serialized = token.serialize()

# Deserialize and validate
token = scitokens.SciToken.deserialize(serialized)
val = scitokens.Validator()
val.add_validator('read', lambda v: v.startswith('/'))
val.validate(token)

Verify before relying:

- Whether the demo token generator endpoint (demo.scitokens.org) is reliably available for production use
- Performance characteristics when validating large numbers of tokens concurrently
- Compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.10 (classifiers list 3.5–3.10 but current support is unclear)

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 95.8K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

JWT token library, SciTokens implementation, authorization token validation, scientific computing tokens, token-based access control, cryptographic token signing, OAuth2 token handling, jwt-tokens, scientific-computing, access-control

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/scitokens) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/scitokens/)