SAML Single Sign On (SSO) Into Bitbucket Using Salesforce

Bitbucket SAML app gives the ability to enable SAML Single Sign On for Bitbucket Software. Bitbucket Software is compatible with all SAML Identity Providers. Here we will go through a guide to configure SSO between Bitbucket and Salesforce. By the end of this guide, Salesforce users should be able to login and register to Bitbucket Software.

Step 1: Setup Salesforce as Identity Provider

  • Log into Salesforce and go to Setup.
  • From the left pane, select IdentityIdentity Provider.
  • In the service provider section click on the Service Providers are now created via Connected Apps. Click here.
  • Enter Connected App Name, API Name and Contact Email.


  • Under Web App Settings, check the Enable SAML checkbox and enter the following values:
    • Entity ID SP-EntityID / Issuer from Service Provider Info Tab
    ACS URL ACS (AssertionConsumerService) URL from Service Provider Info Tab
    Subject Type Username
    Name ID Format urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:nameid-format:persistent
  • Now from the left pane, under Administration Setup, select Manage Apps » Connected Apps. Click on the App you just created.
  • Under Manage Profiles, Select the profiles you want to give access to log in through this app.
  • Under SAML Login Information, click on Download Metadata.
  • Open the downloaded file in some browser like chrome, firefox, IE and Search for "ds:X509Certificate" tab and copy the entire string under this tag. The string would be like this: "MII...."
  • Keep this certificate value handy for next steps.

Step 2: Setup Bitbucket as Service Provider

Now we will go through the steps to setup Bitbucket as a Service Provider using miniOrange add-on:



Configure Bitbucket Flow Driven Setup

Configuring IDP First Time

You can skip the Flow Driven setup by closing it by clicking on SKIP Quick Setup and continue with setting up using Single IDP Setup.

1. Click on the Configure button from the plugin's list. It will show you the following page to download the setup guide. Click Next


2. Note down the following information. This information is required for creating an application on IdP. Click Next.
  • SP Entity ID / Issuer
  • ACS URL
  • Certificate

3. We can configure IDP Settings in Bitbucket in four ways:

3.1. Using Metadata URL
Enter IDP Name, select IDP Metadata as URL & enter your IDP metadata URL in the given textbox. Click on Import to fetch IDP settings.


3.2. Using Metadata File
Enter IDP Name, select IDP Metadata as File & browse your IDP metadata file. Click on Import to fetch IDP settings.


3.3. Using Metadata Text
Enter IDP Name, select IDP Metadata as Text & add your IDP metadata XML content in the given text area. Click on Import to fetch IDP settings.


3.4. Manual Configuration
You can also configure IDP settings on Bitbucket manually. For that, you need to click here.


Enter the following details
  • IDP Entity ID /Issuer
  • Single Sign-on URL
  • Single Logout URL
  • IDP Signing Certificate

4. Enter username attribute name & email address attribute name from IDP. Click on the Save button after adding valid information. If you are not sure about this information, you can configure this later.


5. Click on Finish.

Configure Identity Provider Setup

Configuring Single IDP

We can configure IDP settings in 3 ways:

A. By Metadata URL

  • Click on Import from Metadata in Configure IDP tab
  • Select IDP: Import From Metadata URL
  • Enter IDP metadata URL: Enter your metadata URL
  • If your IDP changes certificates at intervals, you can select Refresh metadata periodically. Select 5 minutes for the best results.
  • Click Import



B. By uploading Metadata XML file

  • Click on Import from Metadata in Configure IDP tab
  • Select IDP: Import from Metadata File
  • Upload metadata file
  • Click Import



C. Manual Configuration

Go to Configure IDP tab and enter the following details

  • IDP Entity ID
  • Single Sign On URL
  • Single Logout URL
  • X.509 Certificate

Step 3: Setting up Bitbucket user profile attributes

    We will be setting up user profile attributes for Bitbucket. If your users are stored in a directory that is Read Only, please check Disable Attribute Mapping in User Profile tab and follow steps given in Matching a User.



    a. Finding correct attributes
  • Go to Configure IDP tab. Scroll down and click on Test Configuration.
  • You will see all the values returned by your IDP to Bitbucket in a table. If you don't see value for First Name, Last Name, Email or Username, make the required settings in your IDP to return this information.
  • Once you see all the values in Test Configuration, keep the window open and go to User Profile tab.
    • b. Setting profile attributes
  • In this tab, fill the values by matching the name of the attribute. For instance, if the Attribute Name in the Test Configuration window is NameID, enter NameID against Username
  • Setting up both Username and Email is required if you want to let users register. If you want existing users to the only login, configure the attribute using which you will match the user in Bitbucket.
    • c. Matching a User
    When the user logs into Bitbucket, one of the user's data/attribute coming in from the IDP is used to search the user in Bitbucket. This is used to detect the user in Bitbucket and log in the user to the same account.
  • Go to User Profile tab
  • Select Username or Email for Login/Search Bitbucket user account by
  • Enter the attribute name from IDP which corresponds to Username or Email using Finding Correct Attributes

Step 4: Assigning groups to users

    We will be setting up user group attributes for Bitbucket. If your users are stored in a directory that is Read Only, please check Disable Group Mapping in User Groups tab and skip to Setting default group.


    a. Finding Group Attribute
  • Just like we found Attribute Name for User Profile attributes, we find group attribute.
  • Go to Configure IDP tab. Scroll down and click on Test Configuration.
  • You will see all the values returned by your IDP to Bitbucket in a table. If you don't see value with groups, make the required settings in your IDP to return group names.
  • Once you see all the values in Test Configuration, keep the window open and go to User Groups tab.
  • Enter the Attribute Name of group against Group Attribute
  • At the bottom of the page, all groups in Bitbucket are shown. You can map groups in IDP which correspond to Bitbucket groups. For example, if you want all users in dev-ops and dev groups in IDP to be added to crucible-users, you will need to enter dev-ops;dev against crucible-users
  • If you want user mapping to work for only limited groups in Bitbucket, check the option Update User Groups

    • b. Setting default group
  • Select the users' Default Group in the tab User Groups. If no group is mapped, users are added by default to this group.
  • You can enable default groups for all users or only new users using the option Enable Default Groups for.

Step 5: SSO Settings

    The settings in SSO Settings tab define the user experience for Single Sign On.
    a. Sign In Settings
  • Set button text for button on login page using Login Button Text
  • Set redirect URL after login using Relay State. Keep this empty for coming back to the same page user started from
  • Enable Auto-redirect to IDP if you want to allow users to login only using IDP. Enable backdoor for emergency

    • b. Sign Out Settings
    Set Logout URL or Logout Template to redirect users after logout action.


    c. SSO Error Settings
    Set error template to redirect users to a custom error page instead of login page. Use this if you have Auto-redirect to IDP enabled.

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