How to Build a 2FA Application in Python

It’s easier than you might think to add () to your applications.

The secret is to use APIs provided by a cloud communications platform like Plivo.

Sometimes the best way to learn how to code something is by looking at an example, so we’ve created a on GitHub.

To use it, you need a Plivo account; you can and get enough free credits to lease a phone number with which to send or receive messages and build some starter applications.

If this is your first time using Plivo APIs, Plivo’s provides instructions on how to set up a Python development environment, including installing the Plivo Python SDK, setting up a Flask server, and installing ngrok, which exposes local servers running behind NATs and firewalls to the public internet over secure tunnels.

If it’s not already running (or ), type redis-server in a terminal window to start it.

Once you have the prerequisites out of the way, use git to clone the repository for the sample application into its own directory, or you can just .

Install the sample application’s dependencies using the included requirements.txt file by running pip install -r requirements.txt in the application directory.

Edit config.py and change a few items.

Replace the auth placeholders with your authentication credentials from the Plivo console.

• Replace the phone number placeholder with an actual phone number in (for example, +). Use your own Plivo number so you can test the code easily.

  
  

• Replace the PHLO ID with an empty string, since we’re doing our 2FA solely using code.

A Look at the Code

When you’re ready to see it in action, can help you test your code.

Simple and Reliable