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Build TypeScript apps with Microsoft Graph and app-only authentication

This tutorial teaches you how to build a TypeScript console app that uses the Microsoft Graph API to access data using app-only authentication. App-only authentication is a good choice for background services or applications that need to access data for all users in an organization.

Note

To learn how to use Microsoft Graph to access data on behalf of a user, see this user (delegated) authentication tutorial.

In this tutorial, you will:

Tip

As an alternative to following this tutorial, you can download or clone the GitHub repository and follow the instructions in the README to register an application and configure the project.

Prerequisites

Before you start this tutorial, you should have Node.js installed on your development machine.

You should also have a Microsoft work or school account with the Global administrator role. If you don't have a Microsoft 365 tenant, you might qualify for one through the Microsoft 365 Developer Program; for details, see the FAQ. Alternatively, you can sign up for a one-month free trial or purchase a Microsoft 365 plan.

Note

This tutorial was written with Node.js version 16.14.2. The steps in this guide might work with other versions, but that hasn't been tested.

Register application for app-only authentication

Register an application that supports app-only authentication using client credentials flow.

  1. Open a browser and navigate to the Microsoft Entra admin center and sign in using a Global administrator account.

  2. Select Microsoft Entra ID in the left-hand navigation, expand Identity, expand Applications, then select App registrations.

    A screenshot of the App registrations

  3. Select New registration. Enter a name for your application, for example, Graph App-Only Auth Tutorial.

  4. Set Supported account types to Accounts in this organizational directory only.

  5. Leave Redirect URI empty.

  6. Select Register. On the application's Overview page, copy the value of the Application (client) ID and Directory (tenant) ID and save them. You'll need these values in the next step.

    A screenshot of the application ID of the new app registration

  7. Select API permissions under Manage.

  8. Remove the default User.Read permission under Configured permissions by selecting the ellipses (...) in its row and selecting Remove permission.

  9. Select Add a permission, then Microsoft Graph.

  10. Select Application permissions.

  11. Select User.Read.All, then select Add permissions.

  12. Select Grant admin consent for..., then select Yes to provide admin consent for the selected permission.

    A screenshot of the Configured permissions table after granting admin consent

  13. Select Certificates and secrets under Manage, then select New client secret.

  14. Enter a description, choose a duration, and select Add.

  15. Copy the secret from the Value column, you'll need it in the next steps.

    Important

    This client secret is never shown again, so make sure you copy it now.

Note

Notice that, unlike the steps when registering for user authentication, in this section you did configure Microsoft Graph permissions on the app registration. App-only auth uses the client credentials flow, which requires that permissions be configured on the app registration. See The .default scope for details.

Create a TypeScript console app

Begin by creating a new Node.js project and configuring TypeScript.

  1. Open your command-line interface (CLI) in a directory where you want to create the project. Run the following command.

    npm init

    Answer the prompts by either supplying your own values or accepting the defaults.

  2. To install TypeScript, run the following command.

    npm install -D typescript ts-node

  3. To intialize TypeScript, run the following command.

    npx tsc --init

Install dependencies

Before moving on, add dependencies that you use later.

To install the dependencies, run the following commands in your CLI.

npm install @azure/identity @microsoft/microsoft-graph-client isomorphic-fetch readline-sync
npm install -D @microsoft/microsoft-graph-types @types/node @types/readline-sync @types/isomorphic-fetch

Load application settings

Add the details of your app registration to the project.

  1. Create a file in the root of your project named appSettings.ts and add the following code.

    const settings: AppSettings = {
  clientId: 'YOUR_CLIENT_ID_HERE',
  clientSecret: 'YOUR_CLIENT_SECRET_HERE',
  tenantId: 'YOUR_TENANT_ID_HERE',
};

export interface AppSettings {
  clientId: string;
  clientSecret: string;
  tenantId: string;
}

export default settings;

  2. Update the values in settings according to the following table.

    Setting Value
    clientId The client ID of your app registration
    tenantId The tenant ID of your organization.
    clientSecret The client secret generated in the previous step

Design the app

Create a console-based menu.

  1. Create a file in the root of your project named graphHelper.ts and add the following placeholder code. You add more code this file in later steps.

    export {};

  2. Create a file in the root of your project named index.ts and add the following code.

    import * as readline from 'readline-sync';
import { User } from '@microsoft/microsoft-graph-types';

import settings, { AppSettings } from './appSettings';
import * as graphHelper from './graphHelper';

async function main() {
  console.log('TypeScript Graph Tutorial');

  let choice = 0;

  // Initialize Graph
  initializeGraph(settings);

  const choices = ['Display access token', 'List users', 'Make a Graph call'];

  while (choice != -1) {
    choice = readline.keyInSelect(choices, 'Select an option', {
      cancel: 'Exit',
    });

    switch (choice) {
      case -1:
        // Exit
        console.log('Goodbye...');
        break;
      case 0:
        // Display access token
        await displayAccessTokenAsync();
        break;
      case 1:
        // List users
        await listUsersAsync();
        break;
      case 2:
        // Run any Graph code
        await makeGraphCallAsync();
        break;
      default:
        console.log('Invalid choice! Please try again.');
    }
  }
}

main();

  3. Add the following placeholder methods at the end of the file. You implement them in later steps.

    function initializeGraph(settings: AppSettings) {
  // TODO
}

async function displayAccessTokenAsync() {
  // TODO
}

async function listUsersAsync() {
  // TODO
}

async function makeGraphCallAsync() {
  // TODO
}

This implements a basic menu and reads the user's choice from the command line.

Next step

Add app-only authentication