1_unsafe_token_authenticatable.rb

# This snippet shows how TokenAuthenticatable works in Devise today.
# In case you want to maintain backwards compatibility, you can ditch
# devise's token mechanism in favor of this hand-rolled one. If not,
# it is recommended to migrate to the mechanism defined in the following
# snippet (2_safe_token_authenticatable.rb).
#
# In both snippets, we are assuming the User is the Devise model.
class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  # You likely have this before callback set up for the token.
  before_save :ensure_authentication_token

  def ensure_authentication_token
    if authentication_token.blank?
      self.authentication_token = generate_authentication_token
    end
  end

  private
  
  def generate_authentication_token
    loop do
      token = Devise.friendly_token
      break token unless User.where(authentication_token: token).first
    end
  end
end

# With a token setup, all you need to do is override
# your application controller to also consider token
# lookups:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  # This is our new function that comes before Devise's one
  before_filter :authenticate_user_from_token!
  # This is Devise's authentication
  before_filter :authenticate_user!

  private
  
  # For this example, we are simply using token authentication
  # via parameters. However, anyone could use Rails's token
  # authentication features to get the token from a header.
  def authenticate_user_from_token!
    user_token = params[:user_token].presence
    user       = user_token && User.find_by_authentication_token(user_token.to_s)

    if user
      # Notice we are passing store false, so the user is not
      # actually stored in the session and a token is needed
      # for every request. If you want the token to work as a
      # sign in token, you can simply remove store: false.
      sign_in user, store: false
    end
  end
end

2_safe_token_authentication.rb

# We could make the authentication mechanism above a bit more safe
# by requiring a token **AND** an e-mail for token authentication.
# The code in the model looks the same, we just need to slightly
# change the controller:
class ApplicationController < ActionController::Base
  # This is our new function that comes before Devise's one
  before_filter :authenticate_user_from_token!
  # This is Devise's authentication
  before_filter :authenticate_user!

  private
  
  def authenticate_user_from_token!
    user_email = params[:user_email].presence
    user       = user_email && User.find_by_email(user_email)

    # Notice how we use Devise.secure_compare to compare the token
    # in the database with the token given in the params, mitigating
    # timing attacks.
    if user && Devise.secure_compare(user.authentication_token, params[:user_token])
      sign_in user, store: false
    end
  end
end