Next.js Protected API Routes (with NextAuth)

Next.js is a popular React framework that allows you to build server-side rendered and static websites. NextAuth is an authentication library for Next.js that provides easy and secure authentication and authorization for your applications.

One of the features that Next.js and NextAuth provide is the ability to create protected API routes. This allows you to create API endpoints that require authentication to access, ensuring that only authorized users can make requests to these routes.

Setting up NextAuth

To get started with NextAuth, you first need to install it in your Next.js application. You can do this by running the following command in your terminal:


npm install next-auth


Once NextAuth is installed, you will need to configure it with your authentication provider, such as Google, GitHub, or your own custom provider. NextAuth provides easy-to-use configuration options that allow you to set up authentication with just a few lines of code.

Creating a Protected API Route

After setting up NextAuth, you can create a protected API route in your Next.js application. To do this, you simply need to create a new file in the pages/api directory and use the getSession function from NextAuth to check if the user is authenticated.


import { getSession } from 'next-auth/client'

if (session) {
// If the user is authenticated, handle the request
res.status(200).json({ message: 'This is a protected route' })
} else {
// If the user is not authenticated, return a 401 Unauthorized status
res.status(401).json({ message: 'Unauthorized' })
}
}


In this example, we use the getSession function to check if the user has an active session. If the user is authenticated, we return a 200 status with the data. If the user is not authenticated, we return a 401 status, indicating that the user is unauthorized to access the route.

Securing Your API Routes

With NextAuth, you can easily secure your Next.js API routes and ensure that only authorized users can access them. By using the getSession function, you can check if the user is authenticated and handle the request accordingly.

Next.js protected API routes with NextAuth provide a simple and secure way to create authenticated endpoints for your application. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up protected API routes in your Next.js application and ensure that only authorized users can access them.