Using the OpenID Conformance Suite
On 18 September, the OpenID Foundation is rolling out a refreshed interface for its conformance suite, with a new “Guided” mode that helps implementers find the right tests to run. The tests, the certification process, and the API are unchanged.
The conformance suite is the open-source tooling implementers use to validate OpenID Connect, FAPI, CIBA, OpenID for Identity Assurance, Authorization API, Shared Signals, and OpenID for Verifiable Credentials implementations. After a round of user research with Super User Studio, the Foundation has reworked the interface so that implementers meeting the suite for the first time can find their way without already knowing its internals. The full configuration surface that experienced users depend on stays in place.
A new Guided mode
The most visible change is how implementers navigate through the multiple supported tests and roles available.. Rather than guessing which tests are required to go through, we implemented a Guided mode, where users pick their ecosystem, their role your implementation plays, and the suite works out which test plans you need and describes them in plain language.
An implementer certifying an OpenID Provider for Open Finance Brazil, Chile Finanzas Abiertas or Saudi Openbanking, for example, is taken straight to the right FAPI Security Profile plans, with the applicable variants already explained and no need to recognize them by their internal names.
Before — the old schedule-test form:
After — Guided mode, step by step:
1. Choose ecosystem & role
2. See the full set of required plans
3. Review the resolved plan in plain language, then create it:
What stays the same
The tests themselves are unchanged. The test modules, plans, conformance criteria, and certification process are exactly what they were. The API behaves as before, so existing automation keeps working, and your saved plans, logs, and API tokens are all still there.
Experienced implementers keep the workflow they know. Advanced mode still offers the full configuration surface, including the specification and version selectors, every variant, and the JSON editor. A Guided | Advanced toggle moves between the two at any time, and switching costs nothing: work in progress is preserved, and answers from a guided session can prefill the advanced form.
A clearer, more accessible interface
The rest of the interface has been brought up to date as well: an OpenID-branded look, more readable type, and controls that behave consistently from page to page. When you configure a test, each field now has a plain-language label and inline help explaining what it is for, instead of showing the internal field name.
Accessibility improved too. Keyboard navigation, visible focus, color contrast, and screen-reader support have all been strengthened, and automated accessibility checks now run whenever the Foundation builds the frontend, so these gains do not quietly slip away as the suite changes.
The plans list, before and after:
Before:
After:
A test log, before and after:
Before:
After:
What implementers should expect
Most implementers need to do nothing. The new interface appears the next time you sign in, and Guided mode is there the next time you schedule a test. Existing deep links into the configuration flow still work. The Foundation encourages implementers to try Guided mode and to say where it falls short, and is especially keen to hear from ecosystem partners and first-time certifiers on whether it gets them to the right tests more quickly.
All OIDF tests are open source and freely available, with some suites available for self-certification, and some in beta while we mature the tests.
Feedback is welcome on the conformance-suite issue tracker on GitLab: opening an issue through the design-feedback form tags it for the team working on the refresh.
The OpenID Foundation thanks Super User Studio for the user research that informed this work, and Kaelig Deloumeau for the redesign and full front end overhaul of the certification suite.