ory/kratos

What is it?

Key features

• 01Self-service login, registration, recovery and verification flows exposed as APIs
• 02Multi-factor authentication and passwordless options such as passkeys and TOTP
• 03Social sign-in, OIDC and SAML support, with SCIM and SSO in the enterprise edition
• 04Configurable identity schemas and traits for user profile data
• 05Admin APIs for managing identity lifecycle
• 06Runs self-hosted with PostgreSQL, MySQL or CockroachDB, or on the Ory Network

Use cases

• Adding login and registration to a web or mobile app without building auth from scratch
• Replacing a hosted identity provider such as Auth0 or Okta with a self-managed service
• Centralizing account recovery and profile management across several microservices
• Pairing with Ory Hydra to provide OAuth2 and OpenID Connect for existing clients

Quick start

1. 1

   Run the official Ory CLI install script from the README

2. 2

   Move the ory binary into your PATH

   sudo mv ./ory /usr/local/bin/
3. 3

   Sign in or sign up to Ory

   ory auth
4. 4

   Create a new Ory project

   ory create project --create-workspace "Ory Open Source" --name "GitHub Quickstart" --use-project

Things to know

• !The quickstart uses the managed Ory Network, not a self-hosted install.
• !Some enterprise features such as SCIM, SAML and CAPTCHAs require a commercial Ory Enterprise License.

Topics

FAQ

What is kratos?

Headless, API-first identity and user management service in Go covering login, registration, recovery, verification and profile flows. Ory Kratos is an API-first identity and user management system for cloud native applications. It centralizes self-service login, registration, account recovery, verification and profile management, so application services consume these flows over HTTP instead of implementing them individually.

Is kratos free to use? What license does it have?

kratos is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.

Is kratos still maintained?

Updated within 6 months. The last commit to kratos was on Jul 29, 2026.

What can I use kratos for?

Adding login and registration to a web or mobile app without building auth from scratch Replacing a hosted identity provider such as Auth0 or Okta with a self-managed service Centralizing account recovery and profile management across several microservices Pairing with Ory Hydra to provide OAuth2 and OpenID Connect for existing clients

How do I install kratos?

Run the official Ory CLI install script from the README Move the ory binary into your PATH: sudo mv ./ory /usr/local/bin/ Sign in or sign up to Ory: ory auth Create a new Ory project: ory create project --create-workspace "Ory Open Source" --name "GitHub Quickstart" --use-project

Where can I get kratos?

The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/ory/kratos