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2.3.2. App Registrations and Permission Scopes

💡 First Principle: App registrations define your application's identity in Microsoft Entra ID. Permission scopes define what APIs your application can call and what data it can access.

Scenario: You're developing an application that needs to read user profiles and send emails on behalf of users. You must register the application and request appropriate permissions.

App Registration Key Settings

  • Application (client) ID: Unique identifier for your app
  • Directory (tenant) ID: Your Entra ID tenant
  • Redirect URIs: Where authentication responses are sent
  • Credentials: Client secrets or certificates for authentication
  • API permissions: What APIs the app can access

Permission Types

TypeDescriptionConsent Required
Delegated permissionsApp acts on behalf of signed-in userUser or admin
Application permissionsApp acts as itself (no user context)Admin only

OpenID Connect Scopes

  • openid: Required, enables sign-in
  • profile: Access to user's basic profile
  • email: Access to user's primary email address
  • offline_access: Enables refresh tokens for extended access

⚠️ Exam Trap: Confusing scopes with permissions. A scope defines what capability you're requesting (e.g., read emails). A permission is granted consent to use that scope. Without consent, having the scope configured does nothing.

Alvin Varughese
Written byAlvin Varughese
Founder15 professional certifications