We created a Cognito user pool in this recipe. To start using the Cognito user pool, we also need to create an app client. An app client is an entity that has permission to call APIs as unauthenticated users; such API functions include register, sign-in, and forgot password. We will look at how to create a Cognito user pool, and then how to use it to perform unauthenticated calls, in the next recipe.

We explored the use of Cognito as an identity provider. Identity providers provide user pool management on their own. Cognito can also be used as an identity broker, where an external provider will maintain the user pool, and Cognito will just provide temporary credentials, after that provider verifies the user credentials. However, most of these external providers will need an actual domain name that we own, for security reasons.