---
title: "Introduction"
url: https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/introduction/
description: "Catalyst Authentication enables you to provide secure authentication and sign-ins for your app users, and manage their user accounts."
last_updated: 2026-08-28T06:26:16Z
service: Cloud Scale
type: general
---

# Authentication

### Introduction

Authentication is a component of the Catalyst Cloud Scale service that enables you to add end-users to your application, customize app login and sign-up forms to match your business branding, manage user accounts and roles, and ensure secure access throughout your application directly from the console. This authentication component, powered by Catalyst, provides a secure and scalable way to handle user authentication and authorization within your application.

You can perform the following actions using Authentication from the remote console:

* Add or remove the end-users of your application
* Enable or disable their user accounts in your application
* Create templates for emails to invite new users to access the application
* Reset their passwords
* Access Catalyst's user sign-in code snippet that you can include in your application
* Configure Google and Zoho sign-in providers for your application
* Create and manage roles to define the levels of access and permissions for users

![cloud_scale_authentication](https://catalyst-docs-development.zohostratus.in/images/help/authentication/cloud_scale_authentication.webp)

Catalyst provides two types of user authentication for your application:
- [Native Catalyst Authentication](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/native-catalyst-authentication/introduction/)
    - [Hosted Authentication Type](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/native-catalyst-authentication/hosted-authentication-type/introduction/)
    - [Embedded Authentication Type](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/native-catalyst-authentication/embedded-authentication/introduction/)
- [Third-party Authentication Type](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/third-party-authentication/introduction/)

> **Note:** You can implement one instance of each of these authentication methods in a single application. You must set up at least one authentication method before you start adding users to your application.

With Authentication, the backend infrastructure management is entirely handled by Catalyst, allowing you to integrate it in your application with ease and with minimal coding effort. 

All the operations that you can perform from the authentication console are listed below:

* Configure and implement an [authentication type](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/authentication-types/) of your preference
* [Design the login element](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/native-catalyst-authentication/hosted-authentication-type/configure-hosted-authentication/) of your application
* Enable user login through common [social login platforms](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/social-logins/introduction/)
* [Add or remove end-users](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/user-management/introduction/) of your application
* Configure and change the end-users' [user roles](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/user-management/roles/introduction/) to define their levels of access and permissions to various Catalyst features
* [Configure](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/authentication-types/#adding-more-than-one-type-of-authentication) more than one type of authentication
* Authorize external domains and enable [CORS and iFrame](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/whitelisting/authorized-domains/introduction/) for your application in them
* Design the [email templates](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/cloud-scale/help/authentication/email-templates/introduction/) that need to be sent to your end-users in the event of an initial sign up or if their passwords need to be reset

The document is divided into five pages to cover the five features of Catalyst Authentication: **Users**, **Email Templates**, **Sign-in Method**, **Roles**, **Authorized Domains**. Each section explains the key concepts, benefits, and implementation of each feature.

To learn about using Authentication in the development and production environments, visit the [Environments help page](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/deployment-and-billing/environments/introduction/).

### SDK and API documentation

You can also add and manage the end-users of your application, and obtain user details using [Catalyst API](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/api/oauth2/overview-and-terminology/#OverviewandTerminology) and SDKs. For more information and code samples on working in these programming environments, refer to these help pages:

* [Authentication - Java SDK](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/sdk/java/v1/cloud-scale/authentication/add-new-user/)
* [Authentication - Node.js SDK](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/sdk/nodejs/v2/cloud-scale/authentication/get-component-instance/)
* [Authentication - Python SDK](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/sdk/python/v1/cloud-scale/authentication/get-component-instance/)
* [Authentication - Web SDK](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/sdk/web/v4/cloud-scale/authentication/get-auth-instance/)
* [Authentication API](https://docs.catalyst.zoho.com/en/api/code-reference/cloud-scale/authentication/add-new-user/#AddNewUser)