Summary
Viewer authentication controls who can see the announcements you publish on your LaunchNotes page. When you make your page private, viewers must authenticate before accessing your content. Choose the authentication method (SSO, SAML, JWT) that matches how your customers or users already manage their identity.
(ex: control who has access to view your updates page)
Understanding your options
LaunchNotes offers three authentication methods, each designed for different use cases:
SSO (All plans) - Quick team access using Google/Microsoft Workspace credentials. LaunchNotes handles both authentication and authorization by verifying identities through Google and Mircrosoft and checking email domains against your allowed list. Setup takes just a few minutes.
JWT (All plans) - Custom authentication for embedded integrations. You control authorization by deciding who receives tokens, while LaunchNotes handles authentication by verifying those tokens. Ideal when embedding LaunchNotes content in your application.
SAML (Premium Plans) - Enterprise-grade security where your identity provider (like Okta, Azure AD, or OneLogin) controls both authentication and authorization. Your IT team manages who can access LaunchNotes through centralized policies, compliance controls, and audit trails.
Setting up SSO
SSO allows team members to sign in with their Google or Microsoft Workspace credentials:
Open your LaunchNotes workspace
Navigate to Settings > Security
Locate SSO and click Select SSO
Click Go to authorization
Click Add allowed email domain and enter your organization's domain
Important: Team members must have a Google or Microsoft account with an email domain that matches your allowed domains. Existing team members will receive an email notification when SSO is enabled.
Setting up JWT authentication
JWT authentication is ideal for embedding LaunchNotes content in your application while maintaining your own user authentication system.
Use cases for JWT
Embedding your LaunchNotes feed directly in your application
Showing personalized content based on your users' attributes
Maintaining a seamless user experience without requiring separate login
Configuration steps
Navigate to Settings > Security > Authentication
Select JWT
Copy the JWT Secret that was auto-generated for you
Configure your token payload with required claims:
sub(subject) - User identifieraud- Project IDiat- Timestamp when the token was createdexp(expiration) - Token expiration timestamp (required, sets token lifetime)
Implement JWT signing in your application using the shared secret
Pass the signed token when embedding LaunchNotes content
Deep dive on JWT installation:
Security best practices
Set reasonable expiration times (shorter is better for security)
Rotate your signing secret periodically
Validate tokens server-side before generating them
For more technical details, visit jwt.io.
Setting up SAML authentication
SAML provides enterprise-grade single sign-on through your organization's identity provider:
Why choose SAML?
Centralized access control - Manage all user access from your identity provider
Enhanced security - Enforce multi-factor authentication and conditional access policies
Compliance - Meet SOC 2, HIPAA, or other regulatory requirements
Audit trails - Track authentication events through your identity provider
Automatic provisioning - Add and remove user access instantly when team members join or leave
Supported identity providers
Okta
Azure Active Directory
Google Workspace
OneLogin
Auth0
Any SAML 2.0 compliant identity provider
Installation
SAML authentication is available on Premium plans. Contact [email protected] to discuss upgrading and installing.
Two-factor authentication (2FA)
LaunchNotes doesn't offer built-in two-factor authentication. However, when using SAML authentication, you can enforce 2FA and other conditional access policies through your identity provider. This gives you centralized control over authentication security requirements.
Notes & important info
Authentication vs. Authorization: Different methods split these responsibilities differently. SSO and SAML handle both through their respective systems. JWT splits them - you control who gets tokens (authorization), and LaunchNotes verifies those tokens (authentication).
Plan requirements: SSO and JWT are available on all plans. SAML requires a Premium plan.
Multiple authentication methods: You can enable multiple methods simultaneously. Team members can use whichever authentication method works best for them, though many organizations prefer to standardize on SAML for security and compliance reasons.