# SocialConnect Auth, one PHP sign-on layer over OAuth 1, OAuth 2 and OpenID Connect > SocialConnect Auth is a PHP library that gives an application one interface for social sign-in across 30 or more providers, covering OAuth1, OAuth2, OpenID v1 and v2 and OpenID Connect, and it follows the PSR-7, PSR-17 and PSR-18 standards. It suits teams moving from a hand-rolled provider integration to a modular abstraction, and its version support is narrowing, with the 2.x line in maintenance and 1.x end of life. **SocialConnect/auth** — :atom: Social (OAuth1\OAuth2\OpenID\OpenIDConnect) sign with PHP :shipit: - Repository: https://github.com/SocialConnect/auth - Website: https://socialconnect.lowl.io/ - Stars: 564 · Forks: 107 - Language: PHP - License: MIT - Published: 2026-10-22 · Updated: 2026-10-22 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/socialconnect-auth ## One interface over four sign-on standards SocialConnect Auth describes itself as open source social sign on for PHP, for connecting your applications with social networks, and the repository description is a list of the standards it covers: OAuth1, OAuth2, OpenID and OpenID Connect. The features list spells out the coverage, and the supported provider types are listed with their specifications. OAuth1 against RFC 5849. OAuth2 against RFC 6749. OpenID v1, in its 1.1 form, which is marked as work in progress. OpenID v2. And OpenID Connect 1.0, with JWT under RFC 7519 and JWK under RFC 7517 listed as sub-items of it. That spread is the whole point of the library. A provider that implements OAuth2 and a provider that implements OpenID Connect have different authorization flows, different token formats and different identity claims, and a provider that only speaks OAuth1 is a different shape again. Wrapping them behind one interface is the work the library does, and the referenced projects show the same idea applied to other frameworks, with an authentication layer for ZendFramework 3, a CakePHP plugin, and a module inside a Phalcon project skeleton. The provider list itself is long. Facebook, Google, Twitter, GitHub and Vk are named in the features list, and the topic tags extend that to Mail.ru, Steam and Yandex, with a providers page linked for the full set of more than 30. ## The modular design, and the PSR standards it leans on The features list gives four qualities, and the modular one is the most consequential for how you would adopt it. The library states that you can use only what you need, and links an architecture overview for the details. In a package that supports 30 or more providers across four standards, that means you can pull in the client, the provider adapter and the service you actually use, rather than the whole surface. For an application that needs Google sign-in and nothing else, the argument for a modular design is a smaller dependency tree and a smaller attack surface. The standards line is the other one: the library follows the PSR-7, PSR-17 and PSR-18 standards. Those cover message interfaces, HTTP client and server request factories, and the HTTP client interface, which means the HTTP transport is not baked in. You can plug in any PSR-18 compliant client, and the library's own HTTP objects will work with any PSR-7 implementation you already have. The quality claims are the remaining two. The README states code coverage with 80% or more and that static analysers are used, and the badge set supports that claim with a Scrutinizer code quality badge, a code coverage badge, a FOSSA status badge and a GitHub Actions build status badge. The repository layout backs it up, with a phpcs.xml for coding standards, phpmd.xml.dist for the mess detector, phpstan.neon.dist with a phpstan-baseline.neon, and phpunit.xml.dist for the test configuration. ## The version table says the 3.x line is the one to build on The versions table is the part of the documentation to read first, because it makes the support situation unambiguous. The 3.x line is the current line, with no end of life date, and it requires PHP 7.4 or newer. The 2.x line is in maintenance with end of life on 2020-06-01, and requires PHP 7.0 or newer. The 1.x line is end of life as of 2020-01-24 and required PHP 5.5. So the choice is simple if you are starting now, use 3.x, and the interesting question is what to do if you are still on 2.x or 1.x. The table says 2.x is in maintenance, and given that the 1.x end of life was recorded in January 2020, the older lines are historical branches that exist for people who cannot move rather than supported choices. The release record shows the current line is still moving. Version 3.6.0 on 2025-06-19, 3.6.1 on 2025-08-12 and 3.6.2 on 2025-08-28, with the last push to the master branch on 2026-06-23. The licence is MIT, with the terms in the LICENSE file at the root. ## A demo, a docs site and three other frameworks The README's header line links three things, and each tells you something about how the project expects to be used. The first is a Getting Started page, the second is the documentation site at socialconnect.lowl.io, and the third is a demo at sc.lowl.io. A live demo for an authentication library is a real convenience, because the failure mode of a social sign-on integration is usually a redirect or a token exchange that silently goes wrong, and seeing the flow run end to end is faster than reading about it. The referenced projects section points at three other frameworks' implementations of the same idea. There is an authentication layer for a ZendFramework 3 app, a CakePHP plugin, and a module inside a Phalcon project skeleton. The Phalcon entry is described differently from the other two, since there is a module for Phalcon inside the project rather than a standalone package. That list is also a rough map of the PHP authentication ecosystem, and it makes the case for a library like this one. Social sign-on has been reimplemented per framework for years, and the standards underneath have been stable long enough for a single cross-framework implementation to be worth sharing. The contributors note follows the referenced projects, and it says the project exists thanks to everyone who contributes, with contributions welcome. There is a CHANGELOG.md at the root, a docs/ directory, an .editorconfig, a .gitlab-ci.yml alongside the .github directory, and a .scrutinizer.yml, so the code is linted, tested and analysed by more than one tool. ## Installation goes through the documentation, not a one-line require Unlike most PHP packages, the README does not give a composer require line. The Installation and Getting Started section links out to a documentation page, and the Getting Started line at the top of the README links to an installation page, a documentation site and a demo instance. That is a reasonable choice for a library whose setup involves registering providers and their credentials, but it means the practical work is in the documentation rather than in the readme. The examples live in the example/ directory in the repository, and the files there show the shape of a real integration, with an example/config.php.dist holding the configuration template, an example/index.php and an example/page.php, plus an example/composer.json for the example's own dependencies. The example config being a .dist file is a small but useful detail, since it means the shipped configuration is a template you copy rather than a file you overwrite, so your provider credentials and client identifiers never end up in version control by accident. The demo at sc.lowl.io is the quickest way to see the library working with real providers before you wire anything into your own application, and the provider list at socialconnect.lowl.io/providers.html is the reference for what is available. ## Conclusion Adopt SocialConnect Auth if your PHP application needs to sign users in through several social providers and you want one interface that hides the differences between OAuth1, OAuth2 and OpenID Connect, since the library covers 30 or more providers and follows the PSR HTTP standards. Do not adopt it as a complete authentication system, because it is a social sign-on layer rather than session and user management, and check the version table before you start, because the 2.x line is in maintenance and 1.x has passed its end of life. Before you commit, read the installation documentation, review the modular architecture overview so you install only the providers you need, and note the maintenance picture, with 3.6.2 published on 2025-08-28 and the last push on 2026-06-23. ## FAQ ### What does SocialConnect Auth do in PHP? It is a library for social sign on that connects applications with social networks, supporting 30 or more providers such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, GitHub and Vk, and covering the OAuth1, OAuth2, OpenID v1 and v2 and OpenID Connect standards. It is published on Packagist as socialconnect/auth under the MIT licence. ### Which OAuth and OpenID standards does SocialConnect Auth implement? OAuth1 per RFC 5849, OAuth2 per RFC 6749, OpenID v1 in its 1.1 form which is marked as work in progress, OpenID v2, and OpenID Connect 1.0, with JWT under RFC 7519 and JWK under RFC 7517 listed alongside it. ### Which PHP versions does SocialConnect Auth support? The current 3.x line requires PHP 7.4 or newer and has no end of life date, the 2.x line is in maintenance with end of life on 2020-06-01 and requires PHP 7.0 or newer, and the 1.x line reached end of life on 2020-01-24 and required PHP 5.5. ### Does SocialConnect Auth work with any HTTP client? The library states that it follows the PSR-7, PSR-17 and PSR-18 standards, which covers the message interfaces, the request and response factories and the HTTP client interface, so the transport is not tied to one particular HTTP client library. ### How do I install SocialConnect Auth? The README does not carry a composer require line and instead links to the installation and getting started documentation, with a demo instance and code examples in the example/ directory of the repository. The example configuration ships as a config.php.dist template so provider credentials do not end up in version control. ## Sources - [License: MIT](https://github.com/SocialConnect/auth/blob/master/LICENSE) - [Project website](https://socialconnect.lowl.io/) - [README](https://github.com/SocialConnect/auth/blob/master/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/SocialConnect/auth/releases) - [SocialConnect/auth on GitHub](https://github.com/SocialConnect/auth) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/socialconnect-auth