> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.lenses.io/latest/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.lenses.io/latest/devx/5.5/deployment/configuration/iam/authentication/custom-http.md).

# Custom Http

With *custom authentication,* you can plug in your own authentication system by using HTTP headers.

In this approach, your own authentication proxy/code sitting in front of Lenses takes care of the authentication and injects appropriate Headers in all HTTP requests for verified users.

## Setup a custom authentication layer <a href="#setup-a-custom-authentication-layer" id="setup-a-custom-authentication-layer"></a>

Set up a custom authentication layer by introducing in `security.conf`:

```bash
# Full classpath of customer authentication plugin
lenses.security.plugin=com.mycompany.authentication.plugin.class.path
```

Lenses connects similarly to any other application to the infrastructure You can implement a plugin in a few hours in Java/Scala or other JVM technology by implementing one interface:

```bash
public interface HttpAuthenticationPlugin {
    UserAndGroups authenticate(HttpRequest request);
}
```

The returned object **UserAndGroups** will contain the username and the groups a person authentication belongs to (*or raise an exception if no such user exists*).

## **Example**

The best way to get started is to look into a sample open-source implementation of such a plugin in [GitHub](https://github.com/lensesio/lenses-security-http-sample).


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