JSON Web Token
JSON-based open standard (RFC 7519) for passing claims between parties in web application environment
JSON Web Token (JWT, suggested pronunciation , same as the word "jot")
is a proposed Internet standard for creating data with optional signature and/or optional encryption whose payload holds JSON that asserts some number of claims. The tokens are signed either using a private secret or a public/private key.
For example, a server could generate a token that has the claim "logged in as administrator" and provide that to a client. The client could then use that token to prove that it is logged in as admin. The tokens can be signed by one party's private key (usually the server's) so that any party can subsequently verify whether the token is legitimate. If the other party, by some suitable and trustworthy means, is in possession of the corresponding public key, they too are able to verify the token's legitimacy. The tokens are designed to be compact, URL-safe, and usable, especially in a web-browser single-sign-on (SSO) context. JWT claims can typically be used to pass identity of authenticated users between an identity provider and a service provider, or any other type of claims as required by business processes.
JWT relies on other JSON-based standards: JSON Web Signature and JSON Web Encryption.
Structure
Header
Identifies which algorithm is used to generate the signature.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “JSON Web Token” as jSON-based open standard (RFC 7519) for passing claims between parties in web application environment. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q22284678. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “JSON Web Token” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.