Summary

There are 4 ways to authenticate/authorize requests:

1. AbstractAuthenticationMiddleware middleware
2. AbstractSecurityConfig middleware
3. Usual DI logic
4. Guards

There are certain shortcomings:

1. AbstractAuthenticationMiddleware does not add security and securityScheme (but you can define it per layer)

2. AbstractSecurityConfig injects security and securityScheme globally instead of per operation (#3013). Also, you can only define it per application, not per layer (ie. routers, controllers, handlers). Even if #3013 gets fixed, it's inconvenient having to exclude routes per path (string values) and not being able to define this per layer.

3. Usual DI logic works just fine, but if you don't actually need the value it injects, linters may nag you and IDEs render the parameter as grayed out (because it's not used). Plus, it's not possible to adjust the security / securityScheme via it (at least not without hacks).

4. Guards don't support DI, and cannot alter security / securityScheme

What's needed is a mechanism that:

• Supports DI
• Allows to inject security per layer and securityScheme (when needed, to the global level)
• Can be used with either returning value or not returning value

Basic Example

scheme = SecurityScheme(type="apiKey", description="...", ...)

async def callable_auth(
    scheme: Annotated[Any, scheme],
):
    ...  # the usual auth checks

# Or maybe
class ClassAuth(Security):  # Security being some Litestar provided base class
    security_scheme = scheme

    async def __call__(self):
        ...  # the usual auth checks

@get()
async def handler1(auth1: User) -> str: ...

@get(guards=["auth2"])
async def handler2() -> str: ...

app = Litestar(
    [handler1, handler2],
    dependencies={
        "auth1": Provide(callable_auth),
        "auth2": Provide(ClassAuth),
    },
)

So, with the idea that:

• DI would work
• security and securityScheme are filled automatically and only where needed
• You can choose between needing the return value (usual DI) and not needing (guard)

Something like that?

Drawbacks and Impact

No response

Unresolved questions

No response