### Author:  [@Dmfama20](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/Dmfama20)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 8:22am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-create-a-dictionary-authenticator/15503/1 "2022-08-25T08:22:18Z")
Hi,
I try to add a list of users and passwords to jupyterhub\_config.py. Based on the docs
[https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/authenticators.html#how-the-base-authenticator-works](https://jupyterhub.readthedocs.io/en/stable/reference/authenticators.html#how-the-base-authenticator-works)
I’ve tried the following
```auto
from jupyterhub.auth import Authenticator
class DictionaryAuthenticator(Authenticator):
passwords = {'peter':'777'}
async def authenticate(self, handler, data):
if self.passwords.get(data['username']) == data['password']:
return data['username']
c.JupyterHub.authenticator_class = 'DictionaryAuthenticator'
```
But when starting the container it throws the following error:
```auto
jupyterhub | File "/srv/jupyterhub/jupyterhub_config.py", line 55, in
jupyterhub | from jupyterhub.auth import Authenticator
jupyterhub | ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'jupyterhub'
```
What is the correct way to add this dictionary authenticator?
TIA!
Alex
---
### Author:  [@djangoliv](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/djangoliv)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 9:57am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-create-a-dictionary-authenticator/15503/2 "2022-08-25T09:57:03Z")
It looks like you don’t have jupyterhub installed.
Try:
> pip install jupyterhub
in your virtualenv.
---
### Author:  [@Dmfama20](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/Dmfama20)
#### Post date: [August 25, 2022, 11:49am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-create-a-dictionary-authenticator/15503/3 "2022-08-25T11:49:16Z")
Hey,
thank you! That’s it.
But how should I refer to this new class:
```auto
c.JupyterHub.authenticator_class = 'Authenticator'
```
leads to the error
```auto
....instance must be a type, but 'Authenticator' could not be imported.....
```
Same error by using
```auto
c.JupyterHub.authenticator_class = 'DictionaryAuthenticator'
```
TIA!
Alex
---
### Author:  [@djangoliv](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/djangoliv)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2022, 6:54am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-create-a-dictionary-authenticator/15503/4 "2022-08-26T06:54:29Z")
Since your Class is defined directly in the jupyterhub\_config.py, you can try without quotes :
```auto
c.JupyterHub.authenticator_class = DictionaryAuthenticator
```
---
### Author:  [@Dmfama20](https://discourse.jupyter.org/u/Dmfama20)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2022, 7:52am UTC](https://discourse.jupyter.org/t/how-to-create-a-dictionary-authenticator/15503/5 "2022-08-30T07:52:09Z")
Perfect!
It’s working 🙂