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Authelia documents passkey login and TOTP as separate settings, so enabling passkey login does not by itself remove TOTP. Passkey login is disabled by default and counts as one factor; when a request requires multi-factor authentication, Authelia prompts for the user’s password by default. The documented default second-factor method is TOTP. An empty diff cannot be diagnosed without the compared files, Authelia version, and effective runtime configuration.
Can Authelia passkeys and TOTP coexist?
Yes. Authelia treats passkey login as a WebAuthn login option and configures the second-factor method separately. Its reference says passkey login “only counts as a single factor.” If the request requires multi-factor authentication, the documented default behavior is to prompt for the user’s password. Separately, default_2fa_method is documented as totp by default. See Authelia’s WebAuthn configuration reference and miscellaneous configuration reference.
Authelia documents an automatic change to a user’s second-factor method in the specific case where webauthn is configured as the default and TOTP is disabled. That is not the same as enabling passkey login. The documentation does not say that simply setting webauthn.enable_passkey_login to true disables TOTP.
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The available details do not identify the actual cause: the diff, deployed version, and effective configuration are needed to determine what happened. An empty file diff only shows that the compared files appear unchanged; it does not establish what configuration the running process loaded.
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- Confirm the comparison. Check that the intended revisions and file paths are being compared, and that the change was saved in the files you expect.
- Check the effective value. Determine whether the desired value is already set, or whether the setting’s documented default means the effective behavior is what you intended without a visible edit.
- Inspect every runtime input. Review the configuration files and directories Authelia actually loads, any filters applied to them, and deployment environment variables. The passkey setting has a documented environment-variable mapping; consult the environment variables reference.
- Validate against the installed release. Use the schema matching your Authelia version. Authelia’s configuration guidance explains that the versioned schema corresponds to a release;
latestis for the latest release andnextis for master. A rolling or mismatched schema may not describe the deployed version.
These checks can narrow the investigation, but without the actual diff and runtime state they do not prove a particular explanation.
What does enabling passkey login change?
The relevant setting is webauthn.enable_passkey_login. The reference lists it as false by default. Setting it to true enables passkey login; it does not, by that setting alone, select a new second-factor method. Authelia’s WebAuthn configuration reference describes the login behavior and available WebAuthn controls.
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Do not conflate passkey login with using WebAuthn as a second factor. They occupy different roles in the documented flow: passkey login counts as one factor, while the configured second-factor method is a separate setting. Whether a particular request requires another factor depends on the authentication policy applied to that request.
How should you configure passkeys without losing a TOTP fallback?
Start by making the intended roles explicit: passkey login enabled if users should be able to sign in that way, and TOTP retained as the default second-factor method if that is the desired fallback. Confirm the effective value of default_2fa_method and verify the deployed configuration after considering all loaded files and environment variables.
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Authelia also publishes a more restrictive recommended passkey profile. It is a recommendation, not the set of defaults; compatibility and operational requirements should be considered before applying it.
webauthn:
enable_passkey_login: true
attestation_conveyance_preference: 'direct'
filtering:
prohibit_backup_eligibility: true
metadata:
enabled: true
validate_trust_anchor: true
validate_entry: true
validate_status: true
validate_entry_permit_zero_aaguid: falseAuthelia describes this profile as compliant with NIST recommendations. The general reference lists passkey login and metadata validation as disabled by default. The prohibit_backup_eligibility control prevents registration of authenticators that can export credentials, which is likely to rule out synchronized credentials. Metadata validation uses a downloaded metadata service blob and requires about 5 MB of storage-backend data, according to Authelia’s WebAuthn configuration reference. These controls can narrow authenticator choices, so test the intended browser, operating system, and authenticator combinations before relying on them.
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What makes TOTP a useful fallback, and what should you check?
Authelia implements TOTP under RFC 6238, an extension of HOTP RFC 4226. Its example uses SHA-1, six digits, a 30-second period, skew of one, and a 32-byte generated secret. The documentation says these defaults favor compatibility because many authenticator apps support only six digits and SHA-1. Details are in Authelia’s TOTP configuration reference.
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For version-sensitive behavior, the same reference says algorithm, digits, and period settings are captured for newly registered keys from version 4.33.0 onward, and TOTP secrets are encrypted in the database in version 4.33.0 and above. Do not assume these details apply to older installations.
What to weigh when choosing passkey authenticators
Authelia documents platform and cross-platform WebAuthn authenticators, including physical security keys. A purchased key is optional; not every passkey requires one. The documentation does not provide a universal compatibility matrix, so assess the factors that affect your own deployment:
- Whether the credential is used for passkey login or as a second factor in an MFA flow.
- Whether the authenticator is platform-based, a cross-platform hardware key, or synchronized.
- Whether backup-eligible credentials are permitted by your configuration.
- Whether attestation and metadata validation are enabled and appropriate for your requirements.
- Whether the combination of browser, operating system, and authenticator works for your users.
Authelia’s WebAuthn configuration reference describes the configuration dimensions, but does not establish compatibility for every device combination.
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