authentication-best-practices
About authentication-best-practices
A Better Auth recipe for developers implementing session handling and authentication flows. It explains client and server session access, route guards, and sign-in, sign-up, and sign-out patterns.
Key features
- 01Client-side session hooks
- 02Server-side session access
- 03Guarding authenticated routes
- 04Sign-in, sign-up, and sign-out
- 05Parallel user-data fetching
Use cases
- 01Read sessions in client components
- 02Reject unauthenticated route requests
- 03Load user data after validating a session
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ andrelandgraf/ fullstackrecipes --skill authentication-best-practicesAfter installing, type/authentication-best-practicesin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEAuthentication Best Practices
Read sessions, protect routes, and run sign in/up/out with Better Auth.
Prerequisites
Complete these setup recipes first:
- Better Auth Setup
Client-Side Sessions
Use the auth client hooks from @/lib/auth/client in client components.
"use client";
import { useSession, signOut } from "@/lib/auth/client";
export function UserMenu() {
const { data: session, isPending } = useSession();
if (isPending) return <div>Loading...</div>;
if (!session) return <a href="/sign-in">Sign In</a>;
return (
<div>
<span>{session.user.name}</span>
<button onClick={() => signOut()}>Sign Out</button>
</div>
);
}
Server-Side Sessions
In Server Components and API routes, call auth.api.getSession with the request headers.
import { auth } from "@/lib/auth/server";
import { headers } from "next/headers";
const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: await headers() });
if (!session) {
return new Response("Unauthorized", { status: 401 });
}
// session.user.id for queries...
Guarding Routes
Redirect unauthenticated users away from protected pages, and authenticated users away from auth pages.
import { redirect } from "next/navigation";
import { headers } from "next/headers";
import { auth } from "@/lib/auth/server";
export default async function ProtectedPage() {
const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: await headers() });
if (!session) redirect("/sign-in");
return <Dashboard user={session.user} />;
}
export default async function SignInPage() {
const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: await headers() });
if (session) redirect("/chats");
return <SignIn />;
}
After validating the session, fetch user-specific data in parallel.
const [chats, profile] = await Promise.all([
getUserChats(session.user.id),
getUserProfile(session.user.id),
]);
Sign In / Up / Out
import { signIn, signUp, signOut } from "@/lib/auth/client";
await signIn.email({ email, password, callbackURL: "/chats" });
await signIn.social({ provider: "google", callbackURL: "/chats" });
await signUp.email({ email, password, name, callbackURL: "/verify-email" });
await signOut({
fetchOptions: { onSuccess: () => router.push("/") },
});