README

A CakePHP 5.x plugin for step-up verification and MFA: email verification links, Email OTP, SMS OTP, and TOTP (authenticator apps).

Features

• emailVerify — email verification link
• emailOtp — email one-time code
• smsOtp — SMS one-time code
• totp — TOTP / authenticator apps (RFC 6238, no external library needed for code generation)
• Pluggable SMS transports (dummy driver included)
• Optional at-rest encryption of the TOTP secret (Sodium or AES-256-GCM)
• Rate-limiting, lockout, and resend cooldown for OTP codes
• VerificationComponent handles all controller logic (auto-start, verify, mark verified, redirect)

Requirements

• PHP 8.2+
• CakePHP 5.3+
• cakephp/authentication ^4.0
• bacon/bacon-qr-code (optional, for SVG QR rendering in TOTP enrollment)

How It Works

The plugin adds two verification gates to your application:

1. Setup flow — runs once, immediately after registration. The user must complete every step listed in requiredSetupSteps before they can access the app. Steps are executed in order:

1. emailVerify — user receives a confirmation link; clicks it to confirm their address. Until confirmed, all other steps are blocked.
2. OTP enrollment — if emailOtp, smsOtp, or totp are listed, the user enrolls in the chosen method (enters a code, scans a QR, etc.).

If more than one OTP driver is listed in requiredSetupSteps the user is first directed to a choose-verification screen where they pick which method they want to use. See docs/verification_flow.md.

2. Login flow — runs on every subsequent login, after the user authenticates with their password. The plugin checks which OTP method the user enrolled in and redirects them to enter a code before they reach the app.

The plugin relies on the CakePHP Authentication identity object to identify the current user. It does not manage its own session. Persistent verification results (email_verified_at, totp_secret, verification_preferences, …) are written to your users table. OTP codes and rate-limiting state are stored temporarily in the CakePHP Cache (auto-deleted after use or expiry).

Installation

composer require salines/cakephp-verification
bin/cake plugin load Verification
bin/cake verification:install

Add the required columns to your users table (see migration example in the full guide), then implement the UsersController actions.

See docs/installation.md for the full installation guide.

Configuration

Open config/verification.php and set the steps your app needs:

'Verification' => [
    'enabled' => true,

    // Available steps: 'emailVerify', 'emailOtp', 'smsOtp', 'totp'
    // emailVerify always runs first (blocks other steps until confirmed).
    // If more than one OTP step is listed, the user is asked to choose one.
    'requiredSetupSteps' => ['emailVerify', 'emailOtp'],

    'routing' => [
        'nextRoute'               => ['plugin' => false, 'controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'verify'],
        'pendingRoute'            => ['plugin' => false, 'controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'pending'],
        'enrollRoute'             => ['plugin' => false, 'controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'enroll'],
        'enrollPhoneRoute'        => ['plugin' => false, 'controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'enrollPhone'],
        'chooseVerificationRoute' => ['plugin' => false, 'controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'chooseVerification'],
        'onVerifiedRoute'         => ['plugin' => false, 'controller' => 'Users', 'action' => 'index'],
    ],

    'storage' => [
        'maxAttempts'    => 5,
        'lockoutSeconds' => 900,
        'resendCooldown' => 60,
    ],
],

See docs/configuration.md for the full configuration reference.

Setup

Component

Load VerificationComponent alongside Authentication in AppController:

// src/Controller/AppController.php
public function initialize(): void
{
    parent::initialize();
    $this->loadComponent('Flash');
    $this->loadComponent('Authentication.Authentication');
    $this->loadComponent('CakeVerification.Verification');
}

See docs/verification_component.md for the full component API.

Helper

VerificationHelper is auto-loaded by the plugin. It provides qrCode() for TOTP enrollment views and lastSmsCode() for debug-mode SMS inspection.

See docs/verification_helper.md for details.

Available Steps

Documentation

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.