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This guide explains how to wire up TrueFoundry SSO against any SAML 2.0 Identity Provider (IdP) — useful when there isn’t a dedicated guide for your IdP yet. If your IdP is Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, Google, or another provider that already has a TrueFoundry guide, prefer that guide instead. After you finish, members of your IdP can sign in to TrueFoundry through a customisable Login with SSO button.

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Prerequisites

  • A TrueFoundry tenant with Admin access to Settings → Security & Access → SSO.
  • Administrator access to your Identity Provider, with permission to create SAML applications / Service Provider entries.
  • An IdP that implements SAML 2.0 with SP-initiated login.
Keep the IdP admin console and TrueFoundry’s Settings → Security & Access → SSO page open in side-by-side tabs. You’ll bounce between them to copy SP metadata from TrueFoundry into the IdP, then bring the IdP’s Login URL and certificate back into TrueFoundry.

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Configuration overview

1

Create the SSO configuration in TrueFoundry

Save a SAML SSO configuration in TrueFoundry to surface the Single Sign On URL, Audience URI (SP Entity ID), and Relay URL.
2

Create a SAML service provider in your IdP

Register TrueFoundry as a Service Provider using the values from the previous step.
3

Configure SAML signing and attributes

Sign responses with RSA-SHA256 and emit the attributes TrueFoundry expects.
4

Paste the IdP details back into TrueFoundry

Save the IdP login URL and signing certificate in TrueFoundry.
5

Assign users and test sign-in

Grant users access in your IdP and verify the end-to-end flow.

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Step 1 — Create the SSO configuration in TrueFoundry

1

Open SSO settings

Go to Settings → Security & Access → SSO.Click the + icon labeled Add New SSO Config.
TrueFoundry SSO settings page with the Add New SSO Config plus button highlighted

SSO page in TrueFoundry — click the + icon to add a new SSO configuration

2

Fill in the basic fields

  • Enabled: turn this on.
  • Name: a lowercase alphanumeric label — for example, companysso.
  • SSO Provider: choose Custom.
  • Authentication Configuration: select SAML v2.
Leave Identity Provider Endpoint and X.509 Certificate blank for now — you’ll fill them in once your IdP surfaces those values.
3

Save to reveal the Single sign-on URL, Audience URI (SP Entity ID), and Relay URL

Click Save. TrueFoundry displays the values you need for your IdP on the SSO configuration card:
TrueFoundry SSO configuration card displaying Audience URI, Single Sign On URL, Metadata URL, and Relay URL for SAML setup

TrueFoundry SSO configuration card showing the SAML values to copy into your IdP

Keep this TrueFoundry tab open. You’ll come back here in Step 4 after you’ve configured the IdP side.

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Step 2 — Create a SAML service provider in your IdP

The exact wording varies by IdP, but every SAML 2.0 Identity Provider asks for the same set of inputs.
1

Create a new SAML application

In your IdP admin console, create a new application (sometimes labelled SAML application, Service Provider, Relying Party Trust, or Connected App).
2

Provide the SP endpoints

Enter the values from Step 1:
Do not add a trailing slash to either URL. Many IdPs treat https://login.truefoundry.com/... and https://login.truefoundry.com/.../ as different values and refuse to issue assertions for the wrong one.
3

Set the NameID format

Set the NameID format to Email Address (urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress) and map the NameID value to the user’s primary email address. This makes TrueFoundry’s email matching work out of the box.
If your IdP only supports persistent or unspecified NameID formats, that’s fine — just make sure you emit a separate email attribute, as described in Step 3.

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Step 3 — Configure SAML signing and attributes

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Signing options

TrueFoundry validates the signature on every SAML response, so the IdP-side signing options must be enabled.
TrueFoundry rejects unsigned SAML responses. If you see a “signature missing” error on sign-in, double-check that response signing is turned on in your IdP.

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Attribute mapping

Configure your IdP to emit at least the following attributes. Standard, simple names map to TrueFoundry’s defaults without any extra configuration.
Some IdPs ship default attribute names following the long http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/... URI scheme — for example http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress. The cleanest approach is to also emit short attribute names (email, sub) so that TrueFoundry’s defaults work. If you can’t change the IdP-side names, see Optional: mapping legacy attribute names below.

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Step 4 — Paste the IdP details back into TrueFoundry

Once the IdP application is created, the IdP will publish two values that TrueFoundry needs.
1

Get the signing certificate (PEM)

Download the IdP’s signing certificate in Base64 / PEM form. Open the file in a text editor and copy the entire contents, including the surrounding lines:
If your IdP gives you raw certificate bytes or only a SHA-1 fingerprint, you’ll need to convert it to PEM. Most IdPs offer a Download Certificate (Base64) button — prefer that.
2

Get the SAML SSO URL

Copy the SAML SSO URL / IdP Login URL / SSO endpoint from your IdP. This is the URL TrueFoundry redirects the browser to when a user starts the SSO flow.
3

Paste into TrueFoundry

Return to Settings → Security & Access → SSO in TrueFoundry, edit the SSO configuration you created in Step 1, and fill in:
  • Identity Provider Endpoint → the SAML SSO URL from your IdP.
  • X.509 Certificate → the PEM certificate text (including the BEGIN/END lines).
Click Save.

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Step 5 — Assign users and test sign-in

1

Assign users in your IdP

Depending on your IdP, you’ll either grant users access by assigning them to the application directly, by adding them to a group that’s assigned to the application, or by making the application available to all users in the tenant. Follow your IdP’s documentation.
Users who haven’t been assigned to the application will see an “access denied” or “user not authorised” error when they try to sign in.
2

Test sign-in

  1. Open a private/incognito window and visit your TrueFoundry login page.
  2. Click Login with SSO (or whichever button label you chose under Show advanced fields → Button Text).
  3. Authenticate as an assigned user.
If the sign-in succeeds you’ll land in the TrueFoundry dashboard. The user is created automatically if JIT provisioning is on; otherwise the user must already exist in TrueFoundry or be invited.

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Optional: mapping legacy attribute names

Some IdPs only emit attributes under long URI names like http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress. You have two options:
  • Recommended: add short aliases (email, sub) on the IdP side so TrueFoundry’s defaults work.
  • Alternative: keep the long names on the IdP and override TrueFoundry’s claim configuration. On the TrueFoundry SSO form, expand Show advanced fields and set:

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Optional customizations

The fields below live under Show advanced fields on the SSO form and apply to both OIDC and SAML.

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Troubleshooting

The certificate pasted into TrueFoundry doesn’t match the IdP’s active signing certificate. Re-download the Base64 / PEM certificate from your IdP and paste the full content (including the BEGIN/END lines) into the X.509 Certificate field.If your IdP rotated its signing key recently, TrueFoundry needs the new certificate — old keys are rejected.
The IdP refused TrueFoundry’s NameID format request. In the IdP application, set the NameID format to Email Address (urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:1.1:nameid-format:emailAddress) and map it to the user’s primary email.
The SAML assertion is missing the email attribute (or it has a non-standard name).
  • Add an email attribute on the IdP side, mapped to the user’s primary email.
  • Or expand Show advanced fields on the TrueFoundry SSO form and set Email Claim to the exact attribute name your IdP emits (for example http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/ws/2005/05/identity/claims/emailaddress).
The Audience / SP Entity ID value configured in your IdP does not match TrueFoundry’s Audience URI (SP Entity ID). Re-copy the value from the TrueFoundry SSO configuration card, paste it into the IdP’s audience field with no trailing slash, and re-save the IdP application.
Same root cause as the audience mismatch, but for the ACS URL. The IdP must send the assertion to TrueFoundry’s Single Sign On URL — copy it again from the SSO configuration card, paste it into the IdP’s ACS / Single Sign-On URL field, and re-save.
Confirm your IdP emits email and sub as described in Step 3. If you renamed attributes, expand Show advanced fields in TrueFoundry and set Email Claim and Unique ID Claim accordingly.
The TrueFoundry Auth Server enforces the NotBefore / NotOnOrAfter conditions in the SAML response. If the IdP host clock drifts more than a few seconds from real time, assertions are rejected. Sync the IdP host’s clock with an authoritative NTP source.
Check the provisioning mode under Settings → Security & Access → Provisioning:
  • Invite-only — the user must be invited from Access → Users first.
  • JIT — the user is created on first login automatically.
  • SCIM — the user must be synced from your IdP first.
See Manage Users for details.

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Optional next steps