AuthKit-Lite – Spring Boot JWT Authentication Starter
A Spring Security and JWT starter project built as a reusable authentication foundation for Spring Boot APIs. Includes role-based access, refresh tokens, and a clean backend structure.
Product information
AuthKit-Lite at a glance
- Availability
- Available now
- Price
- Free
- Technologies
- Spring Boot · Spring Security · JWT · RBAC
- Postman collection
- Included
- Source access
- Public GitHub repository
Best for: APIs that need a reusable authentication foundation.
See It in Action
Login API
Returns access and refresh tokens securely.
What You Get
AuthKit-Lite is a lightweight, production-ready Spring Boot authentication starter with JWT, role-based access, and a clean structure so you can focus on building features.
- • JWT authentication with access and refresh tokens
- • Role-based access control for protected routes
- • Pre-built login, register, and user APIs
- • Secure password hashing using BCrypt
- • Clean architecture with separated layers
- • Ready to extend for SaaS and production apps
Who Is This For?
- SaaS backend authentication systems
- Admin dashboards with role-based access
- REST APIs with JWT authentication
- Microservices authentication layer
What Problems Does It Solve?
AuthKit-Lite is a focused boilerplate built as a modular foundation for developers who want to avoid repetitive backend setup.
- Repeated JWT and Spring Security setup
- Inconsistent authentication architecture between projects
- Security mistakes in token and role handling
Why Use This Instead of Building From Scratch?
Without AuthKit-Lite
- Manual JWT setup and config
- Repeated boilerplate in every project
- Higher risk of security mistakes
- Unstructured or messy architecture
- Hours lost on setup before building
With AuthKit-lite
- JWT authentication ready out of the box
- Clean and modular project structure
- Secure defaults and best practices
- Role-based access already implemented
- Start building features immediately
Features
JWT + Refresh Token Flow
Secure authentication with short-lived access tokens and refresh support.
Role-Based Authorization
Protect endpoints with fine-grained role access control.
Spring Security 6 Setup
Modern configuration using latest Spring Security practices.
Structured Codebase
Clear separation of controllers, services, and security layers.
Ready-to-Use APIs
Authentication and user endpoints available out of the box.
Easy to Extend
Designed to scale for real-world backend and SaaS applications.
Project Structure
AuthKit-Lite project structure
Spring Boot- AuthKitApplication.java
- DataInitializer.java
- SecurityConfig.java
- AuthController.java
- UserController.java
- ErrorResponse.java
- JwtResponse.java
- LoginRequest.java
- RegisterRequest.java
- UserProfileDto.java
- UserSummaryDto.java
- RefreshToken.java
- Role.java
- User.java
- AccessDeniedBusinessException.java
- EmailAlreadyExistsException.java
- GlobalExceptionHandler.java
- InvalidCredentialsException.java
- RefreshTokenException.java
- UsernameAlreadyExistsException.java
- RefreshTokenRepository.java
- RoleRepository.java
- UserRepository.java
- AuthService.java
- JwtAuthenticationFilter.java
- JwtUtils.java
- RefreshTokenService.java
- UserService.java
- META-INF
- static
- templates
- application.properties
- src/test/java
- src
- target
- Auth-Kit API Collection.postman_collection.json
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- license.md
- pom.xml
- README.md
- SECURITY.md
Modular packages
Organized into clear and reusable components.
Clean separation
Controllers, services, and repositories are well structured.
Security layer
JWT and auth logic isolated for clarity and safety.
Quick Start
1. Clone the repository
Download or clone the project from GitHub.
2. Configure environment
Set database and JWT properties in application.properties.
3. Run the application
Start the Spring Boot app and begin testing APIs.
API Endpoints
Authentication
Register a new user account.
Authenticate user and return access and refresh tokens.
Generate a new access token using refresh token.
Invalidate tokens and log out the user.
User
Get current authenticated user details.
Fetch user profile information.
Retrieve list of all users (admin access).
Access restricted user route based on roles.
Admin
Access admin-only protected endpoint.
Includes a ready-to-use Postman collection for testing all endpoints.
Related Guides
Spring Boot JWT Authentication (Clean Setup Guide)
Learn how to implement JWT authentication with clean structure.
JWT Mistakes in Spring Boot (Common Issues and Fixes)
Avoid common security mistakes when building authentication systems.
JWT vs Session Authentication in Spring Boot
Understand when to use JWT vs sessions in real applications.
Deploy a Production Backend on VPS (Step-by-Step Guide)
Learn how to deploy and run backend systems in production.
Why This Foundation
A focused foundation built to help developers and AI coding agents ship reliable applications faster.
Ready to use AuthKit-Lite?
A lightweight authentication starter for Spring Boot. Set up in minutes and start building real features.
Free and open source