Account (Self-Service) Registration

CAS provides a modest workflow to handle self-service account registration. Once enabled, the account registration workflow allows users to register accounts with CAS to:

  • Provide an initial, customizable set of details such as first name, last name, email to kickstart the account creation request.
  • Receive an activation link with instructions via email or text message to verify the account creation request.
  • Finalize the account creation request, choose a password, security questions, etc.
  • Ultimately, submit the account registration request to an identity manager system for provisioning and follow-up processes.
:information_source: Usage Note

CAS is NOT, as of this writing, an identity management solution and does not intend to provide features or support capabilities that are typically found in such systems, such as complex provisioning workflows, account lifecycle management, inbound/outbound attribute mappings, etc. While all open-source software can be customized to no end, the capabilities described here ultimately expect one or more systems of record to hold and manage user accounts.

Account registration and sign-up functionality is enabled by including the following dependency in the WAR overlay:



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<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apereo.cas</groupId>
    <artifactId>cas-server-support-account-mgmt</artifactId>
    <version>${cas.version}</version>
</dependency>





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implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-account-mgmt:${project.'cas.version'}"





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dependencyManagement {
    imports {
        mavenBom "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}"
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-account-mgmt"
}





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dependencies {
    /*
        The following platform references should be included automatically and are listed here for reference only.

        implementation enforcedPlatform("org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}")
        implementation platform(org.springframework.boot.gradle.plugin.SpringBootPlugin.BOM_COORDINATES)
        
    */
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-account-mgmt"
}

Configuration

The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Required in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting may be needed to activate or affect the behavior of the CAS feature and generally should be reviewed, possibly owned and adjusted. If the setting is assigned a default value, you do not need to strictly put the setting in your copy of the configuration, but should review it nonetheless to make sure it matches your deployment expectations.

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.encryption.key=

    • The encryption key is a JWT whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.signing.key=

    • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.registration-properties.location=

    • The location of the resource. Resources can be URLs, or files found either on the classpath or outside somewhere in the file system.

    In the event the configured resource is a Groovy script, specially if the script set to reload on changes, you may need to adjust the total number of inotify instances. On Linux, you may need to add the following line to /etc/sysctl.conf: fs.inotify.max_user_instances = 256.

    You can check the current value via cat /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_instances.

    In situations and scenarios where CAS is able to automatically watch the underlying resource for changes and detect updates and modifications dynamically, you may be able to specify the following setting as either an environment variable or system property with a value of false to disable the resource watcher: org.apereo.cas.util.io.PathWatcherService.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.SpringResourceProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.password-policy-pattern=^(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*\d)(?=.*[$@$!%*?&])[A-Za-z\d$@$!%*?&]{8,10}

    • A String value representing password policy regex pattern. Minimum 8 and Maximum 10 characters at least 1 Uppercase Alphabet, 1 Lowercase Alphabet, 1 Number and 1 Special Character.

    This settings supports regular expression patterns. [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.account.AccountManagementRegistrationCoreProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Optional in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting is not immediately necessary in the end-user CAS configuration, because a default value is assigned or the activation of the feature is not conditionally controlled by the setting value. In other words, you should only include this field in your configuration if you need to modify the default value or if you need to turn on the feature controlled by the setting.

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.alg=

    • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.enabled=true

    • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.encryption.key-size=512

    • The encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.signing.key-size=512

    • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.strategy-type=ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN

    • Control the cipher sequence of operations. The accepted values are:

    • ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN: Encrypt the value first, and then sign.
    • SIGN_AND_ENCRYPT: Sign the value first, and then encrypt.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.expiration=PT1M

    • How long in minutes should the registration link remain valid.

    This settings supports the java.time.Duration syntax [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.account.AccountManagementRegistrationCoreProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.include-client-ip-address=true

    • Whether the registration token will contain the client IP Address.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.account.AccountManagementRegistrationCoreProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.include-server-ip-address=true

    • Whether the registration token will contain the server IP Address.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.account.AccountManagementRegistrationCoreProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.security-questions-count=2

    • Whether account registration should present security questions and how many, to complete the registration process.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.account.AccountManagementRegistrationCoreProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.encryption.key=

    • The encryption key is a JWT whose length is defined by the encryption key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.signing.key=

    • The signing key is a JWT whose length is defined by the signing key size setting.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.alg=

    • The signing/encryption algorithm to use.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.enabled=true

    • Whether crypto operations are enabled.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.encryption.key-size=512

    • The encryption key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.signing.key-size=512

    • The signing key size.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.SigningJwtCryptoProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.core.crypto.strategy-type=ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN

    • Control the cipher sequence of operations. The accepted values are:

    • ENCRYPT_AND_SIGN: Encrypt the value first, and then sign.
    • SIGN_AND_ENCRYPT: Sign the value first, and then encrypt.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.core.util.EncryptionJwtSigningJwtCryptographyProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    This CAS feature is able to accept signing and encryption crypto keys. In most scenarios if keys are not provided, CAS will auto-generate them. The following instructions apply if you wish to manually and beforehand create the signing and encryption keys.

    Note that if you are asked to create a JWK of a certain size for the key, you are to use the following set of commands to generate the token:

    

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    wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/apereo/cas/master/etc/jwk-gen.jar
java -jar jwk-gen.jar -t oct -s [size]

    The outcome would be similar to:

    

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    {
  "kty": "oct",
  "kid": "...",
  "k": "..."
}

    The generated value for k needs to be assigned to the relevant CAS settings. Note that keys generated via the above algorithm are processed by CAS using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm which is a specification for the encryption of electronic data established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
  • cas.account-registration.core.password-policy-pattern=^(?=.*[a-z])(?=.*[A-Z])(?=.*\d)(?=.*[$@$!%*?&])[A-Za-z\d$@$!%*?&]{8,10}

    • A String value representing password policy regex pattern. Minimum 8 and Maximum 10 characters at least 1 Uppercase Alphabet, 1 Lowercase Alphabet, 1 Number and 1 Special Character.

    This settings supports regular expression patterns. [?].

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.account.AccountManagementRegistrationCoreProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    Password Policy Strategies

    If the password policy strategy is to be handed off to a Groovy script, the outline of the script may be as follows:

    

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    import java.util.*
import org.ldaptive.auth.*
import org.apereo.cas.*
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.*
import org.apereo.cas.authentication.support.*

List<MessageDescriptor> run(final Object... args) {
    def (response,configuration,logger,applicationContext) = args
    logger.info("Handling password policy [{}] via ${configuration.getAccountStateHandler()}", response)

    def accountStateHandler = configuration.getAccountStateHandler()
    return accountStateHandler.handle(response, configuration)
}

    The parameters passed are as follows:

    Parameter Description
    response The LDAP authentication response of type org.ldaptive.auth.AuthenticationResponse
    configuration The LDAP password policy configuration carrying the account state handler defined.
    logger The object responsible for issuing log messages such as logger.info(...).
    applicationContext The Spring ApplicationContext that allows one to interact with the runtime.

    To prepare CAS to support and integrate with Apache Groovy, please review this guide.

    Configuration Metadata

    The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

    Be Selective

    This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

    YAGNI

    Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

    Naming Convention

    Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

    :information_source: Note

    When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

    Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

    Validation

    Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, specially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

    Indexed Settings

    CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.

    Account Registration Requests

    The account registration request expects a number of user inputs initially to kick off the registration process. For starters, a default set of fields and inputs are expected by CAS out of the box, and as always, such details and fields can be described in metadata form using a JSON document that matches the following map:

    

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    {
  "@class" : "java.util.HashMap",
  "field-name" : {
    "@class" : "org.apereo.cas.acct.AccountRegistrationProperty",
    "name" : "field-name",
    "required" : true,
    "label" : "cas.screen.acct.label.field",
    "title" : "cas.screen.acct.title.field",
    "pattern": ".+",
    "type": "email",
    "values" : [ "java.util.ArrayList", [ "sample@gmail.com", "sample2@hotmail.com" ] ],
    "order": 0
  }
}

    The following fields are supported:

    Field Description
    name The name of the input field to display on the registration screen.
    required Whether or not this input is required. Defaults to false.
    label Key to a message key in the CAS language bundles to describe the label text for this input.
    title Key to a message key in the CAS language bundles to describe the title text for this input.
    pattern Regular expression pattern to force and validate the acceptable pattern for the input value.
    type The type of this input field (i.e. select, email, phone, text, etc.).
    order The display order of this input on the screen.
    values List of values to display in order, when type is set to select.
    :information_source: Is it possible to...?

    You must be wondering by now whether it's possible to customize the screen and include other types of fields, forms and values. In general, you should be able to use JSON metadata to describe additional fields so long as the input field's type is simple enough and supported. If you have a type that isn't supported by the existing metadata, you will need to build the input field and workflows and rules linked to it yourself as custom code.

    The loading and processing of the user registration metadata and fields can be customized using the following component:

    

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    @Bean
public AccountRegistrationPropertyLoader accountMgmtRegistrationPropertyLoader() {
    return new MyAccountRegistrationPropertyLoader(resource);
}

    Communication Strategy

    Account creation requests are expected to be verified using a dedicated activation link that can be shared with the user using mail or text messages. The activation link is expected to remain valid for a configurable period of time.

    To learn more about available options, please see this guide or this guide, or this guide.

    The following settings and properties are available from the CAS configuration catalog:

    The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Required in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting may be needed to activate or affect the behavior of the CAS feature and generally should be reviewed, possibly owned and adjusted. If the setting is assigned a default value, you do not need to strictly put the setting in your copy of the configuration, but should review it nonetheless to make sure it matches your deployment expectations.

  • cas.account-registration.mail.attribute-name=

    • Principal attribute names that indicates the destination email address for this message. The attributes must already be resolved and available to the CAS principal. When multiple attributes are specified, each attribute is then examined against the available CAS principal to locate the email address value, which may result in multiple emails being sent.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.from=

    • Email from address.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.subject=

    • Email subject line.

    The subject can either be defined verbaitm, or it may point to a message key in the language bundle using the syntax #{subject-language-key}. This key should point to a valid message defined in the appropriate language bundle that is then picked up via the active locale. In case where the language code cannot resolve the real subject, a default subject value would be used.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.sms.attribute-name=

    • Principal attribute names that indicates the destination phone number for this SMS message. The attribute must already be resolved and available to the CAS principal.

    This setting supports the Spring Expression Language.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.sms.SmsProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.sms.from=

    • The from address for the message.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.sms.SmsProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.sms.text=

    • The body of the SMS message.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.sms.SmsProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    The configuration settings listed below are tagged as Optional in the CAS configuration metadata. This flag indicates that the presence of the setting is not immediately necessary in the end-user CAS configuration, because a default value is assigned or the activation of the feature is not conditionally controlled by the setting value. In other words, you should only include this field in your configuration if you need to modify the default value or if you need to turn on the feature controlled by the setting.

  • cas.account-registration.mail.bcc=

    • Email BCC address, if any.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.cc=

    • Email CC address, if any.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.html=false

    • Indicate whether the message body should be evaluated as HTML text. The application of this setting depends on the email provider implementation and may not be fully supported everywhere. This is typically relevant for the default org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSender.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.priority=1

    • Set the priority (X-Priority header) of the message. Values: 1 (Highest), 2 (High), 3 (Normal), 4 (Low), 5 (Lowest). The application of this setting depends on the email provider implementation and may not be fully supported everywhere. This is typically relevant for the default org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSender.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.reply-to=

    • Email Reply-To address, if any.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.text=

    • Email message body. Could be plain text or a reference to an external file that would serve as a template.

    If specified as a path to an external file with an extension .gtemplate, then the email message body would be processed using the Groovy template engine. The template engine uses JSP style <% %> script and <%= %> expression syntax or GString style expressions. The variable out is bound to the writer that the template is being written to.

    If using plain text, the contents are processed for string subtitution candidates using named variables. For example, you may refer to an expected url variable in the email text via ${url}, or use ${token} to locate the token variable. In certain cases, additional parameters are passed to the email body processor that might include authentication and/or principal attributes, the available locale, client http information, etc.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • cas.account-registration.mail.validate-addresses=false

    • Set whether to validate all addresses which get passed to this helper. The application of this setting depends on the email provider implementation and may not be fully supported everywhere. This is typically relevant for the default org.springframework.mail.javamail.JavaMailSender.

    org.apereo.cas.configuration.model.support.email.EmailProperties.

    How can I configure this property?

    The following settings may also need to be defined to describe the mail server settings:
  • spring.mail.default-encoding=UTF-8

    • Default MimeMessage encoding.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.host=

    • SMTP server host. For instance, 'smtp.example.com'.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.jndi-name=

    • Session JNDI name. When set, takes precedence over other Session settings.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.password=

    • Login password of the SMTP server.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.port=

    • SMTP server port.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.properties=

    • Additional JavaMail Session properties.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.protocol=smtp

    • Protocol used by the SMTP server.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.test-connection=false

    • Whether to test that the mail server is available on startup.

    How can I configure this property?

  • spring.mail.username=

    • Login user of the SMTP server.

    How can I configure this property?

    Configuration Metadata

    The collection of configuration properties listed in this section are automatically generated from the CAS source and components that contain the actual field definitions, types, descriptions, modules, etc. This metadata may not always be 100% accurate, or could be lacking details and sufficient explanations.

    Be Selective

    This section is meant as a guide only. Do NOT copy/paste the entire collection of settings into your CAS configuration; rather pick only the properties that you need. Do NOT enable settings unless you are certain of their purpose and do NOT copy settings into your configuration only to keep them as reference. All these ideas lead to upgrade headaches, maintenance nightmares and premature aging.

    YAGNI

    Note that for nearly ALL use cases, declaring and configuring properties listed here is sufficient. You should NOT have to explicitly massage a CAS XML/Java/etc configuration file to design an authentication handler, create attribute release policies, etc. CAS at runtime will auto-configure all required changes for you. If you are unsure about the meaning of a given CAS setting, do NOT turn it on without hesitation. Review the codebase or better yet, ask questions to clarify the intended behavior.

    Naming Convention

    Property names can be specified in very relaxed terms. For instance cas.someProperty, cas.some-property, cas.some_property are all valid names. While all forms are accepted by CAS, there are certain components (in CAS and other frameworks used) whose activation at runtime is conditional on a property value, where this property is required to have been specified in CAS configuration using kebab case. This is both true for properties that are owned by CAS as well as those that might be presented to the system via an external library or framework such as Spring Boot, etc.

    :information_source: Note

    When possible, properties should be stored in lower-case kebab format, such as cas.property-name=value. The only possible exception to this rule is when naming actuator endpoints; The name of the actuator endpoints (i.e. ssoSessions) MUST remain in camelCase mode.

    Settings and properties that are controlled by the CAS platform directly always begin with the prefix cas. All other settings are controlled and provided to CAS via other underlying frameworks and may have their own schemas and syntax. BE CAREFUL with the distinction. Unrecognized properties are rejected by CAS and/or frameworks upon which CAS depends. This means if you somehow misspell a property definition or fail to adhere to the dot-notation syntax and such, your setting is entirely refused by CAS and likely the feature it controls will never be activated in the way you intend.

    Validation

    Configuration properties are automatically validated on CAS startup to report issues with configuration binding, specially if defined CAS settings cannot be recognized or validated by the configuration schema. Additional validation processes are also handled via Configuration Metadata and property migrations applied automatically on startup by Spring Boot and family.

    Indexed Settings

    CAS settings able to accept multiple values are typically documented with an index, such as cas.some.setting[0]=value. The index [0] is meant to be incremented by the adopter to allow for distinct multiple configuration blocks.

    Username Validations

    By default, registration requests allow the user to choose a username, Construction and extraction of a usename field from the registration request can be customized using the following component:

    

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    @Bean
public AccountRegistrationUsernameBuilder accountRegistrationUsernameBuilder() {
    return new MyAccountRegistrationUsernameBuilder();
}

    See this guide to learn more about how to register configurations into the CAS runtime.