Better Auth Specialist

Better Auth Specialist

Implement secure, production-ready authentication and authorization with Better Auth.

Quick Start Workflow

1. Determine requirements - Authentication type, database, framework
2. Install Better Auth - npm install better-auth or pip install better-auth-python
3. Setup database - Create tables/collections (see database-schemas.md)
4. Configure auth - Initialize Better Auth with settings (see setup-guide.md)
5. Implement patterns - Add authentication flows (see references below)
6. Protect routes - Add middleware and guards
7. Add RBAC - Implement roles and permissions if needed (see rbac-guide.md)

Decision Tree

What are you building?

Next.js 15+ Frontend

• Email/password auth → See client-patterns.md - Signup/Signin Forms
• OAuth (Google, GitHub) → See client-patterns.md - OAuth Integration
• Protected pages → See client-patterns.md - Protected Routes
• Complete example → See assets/examples/nextjs-auth/

Node.js/Express Backend

• API authentication → See api-patterns.md - Authentication Endpoints
• Middleware → See api-patterns.md - Middleware Patterns
• Session management → See api-patterns.md - Session Management

FastAPI Backend

• API authentication → See api-patterns.md - FastAPI sections
• Dependencies → See api-patterns.md - FastAPI Dependencies
• Protected routes → See api-patterns.md - FastAPI examples

Role-Based Access Control

• Roles and permissions → See rbac-guide.md
• Middleware → See rbac-guide.md - Middleware Implementation
• Frontend guards → See rbac-guide.md - Frontend Implementation

Installation

Next.js / React

npm install better-auth

Node.js Backend

npm install better-auth

FastAPI Backend

pip install better-auth-python python-jose[cryptography] passlib[bcrypt]

Basic Setup Patterns

Pattern 1: Next.js Email/Password Auth

// lib/auth.ts
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { prismaAdapter } from "better-auth/adapters/prisma";

export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: prismaAdapter(prisma, { provider: "postgresql" }),
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
});

// lib/auth-client.ts
import { createAuthClient } from "better-auth/react";

export const { signIn, signUp, signOut, useSession } = createAuthClient({
  baseURL: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL,
});

Pattern 2: Node.js API with Auth Middleware

// auth.ts
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";

export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: { provider: "postgresql", pool },
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
});

// middleware/auth.ts
export async function requireAuth(req, res, next) {
  const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: req.headers });
  if (!session) return res.status(401).json({ error: "Unauthorized" });
  req.user = session.user;
  next();
}

// Usage
app.get("/api/protected", requireAuth, (req, res) => {
  res.json({ user: req.user });
});

Pattern 3: FastAPI with Auth Dependency

# auth.py
from better_auth import BetterAuth

auth = BetterAuth(
    database=SQLAlchemyAdapter(engine),
    email_and_password={"enabled": True},
)

# dependencies.py
async def get_current_user(request: Request):
    session = await auth.get_session(headers=dict(request.headers))
    if not session:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=401)
    return session["user"]

# Usage
@app.get("/api/protected")
async def protected(user: dict = Depends(get_current_user)):
    return {"user": user}

Pattern 4: Protected Next.js Page

// app/dashboard/page.tsx
import { redirect } from "next/navigation";
import { auth } from "@/lib/auth";
import { headers } from "next/headers";

export default async function DashboardPage() {
  const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: await headers() });
  if (!session) redirect("/auth");

  return <div>Welcome, {session.user.name}!</div>;
}

Database Setup

Choose your database and see schemas:

PostgreSQL/MySQL → database-schemas.md - SQL Schemas MongoDB → database-schemas.md - NoSQL Schemas

Key tables/collections:

• users - User accounts
• sessions - Active sessions
• accounts - OAuth provider accounts
• passwords - Hashed passwords (if using email/password)
• roles / permissions / user_roles - RBAC (optional)

Common Use Cases

Implementing Login/Signup

Frontend:

1. Create auth page with forms (see client-patterns.md - Authentication Forms)
2. Use signIn.email() and signUp.email() methods
3. Handle errors and redirects
4. Complete example: assets/examples/nextjs-auth/auth-page.tsx

Backend:

1. Create /auth/signup and /auth/signin endpoints (see api-patterns.md)
2. Validate input
3. Return session tokens
4. Handle errors appropriately

Protecting Routes/Endpoints

Next.js Middleware:

// middleware.ts
import { auth } from "@/lib/auth";

export async function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: request.headers });
  if (!session) return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/auth", request.url));
  return NextResponse.next();
}

export const config = { matcher: ["/dashboard/:path*"] };

Express Middleware:

export async function requireAuth(req, res, next) {
  const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: req.headers });
  if (!session) return res.status(401).json({ error: "Unauthorized" });
  req.user = session.user;
  next();
}

FastAPI Dependency:

async def get_current_user(request: Request):
    session = await auth.get_session(headers=dict(request.headers))
    if not session:
        raise HTTPException(status_code=401)
    return session["user"]

Session Management

Get current session:

// Client-side
const { data: session } = useSession();

// Server-side
const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers });

Sign out:

// Client-side
await signOut();

// Server-side
await auth.api.signOut({ headers: req.headers });

Refresh session:

await auth.api.refreshSession({ headers });

OAuth Integration

// Setup in auth config
export const auth = betterAuth({
  socialProviders: {
    google: {
      clientId: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID!,
      clientSecret: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    },
    github: {
      clientId: process.env.GITHUB_CLIENT_ID!,
      clientSecret: process.env.GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    },
  },
});

// Client-side usage
await signIn.social({ provider: "google", callbackURL: "/dashboard" });

See client-patterns.md - OAuth Integration for complete implementation.

Role-Based Access Control

Setup roles and permissions:

1. Create database tables (see database-schemas.md - RBAC schemas)
2. Assign roles to users
3. Implement permission checks

Backend middleware:

export function requireRole(...roles: string[]) {
  return async (req, res, next) => {
    const userRoles = await getUserRoles(req.user.id);
    if (!userRoles.some(r => roles.includes(r.name))) {
      return res.status(403).json({ error: "Insufficient permissions" });
    }
    next();
  };
}

// Usage
router.delete("/users/:id", requireAuth, requireRole("admin"), handler);

Frontend role guard:

<RoleGuard roles={["admin", "moderator"]}>
  <AdminPanel />
</RoleGuard>

See rbac-guide.md for complete RBAC implementation.

Environment Variables

# Database
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db"

# Auth
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET="your-secret-key-min-32-chars"
BETTER_AUTH_URL="http://localhost:3000"

# OAuth (optional)
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID="your-google-client-id"
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET="your-google-client-secret"
GITHUB_CLIENT_ID="your-github-client-id"
GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET="your-github-client-secret"

Reference Files

• setup-guide.md - Complete installation and configuration for Next.js, Node.js, and FastAPI
• database-schemas.md - SQL and NoSQL database schemas, migration scripts, TypeScript types
• api-patterns.md - Backend authentication endpoints, middleware, session management, security
• client-patterns.md - Frontend forms, protected routes, session hooks, OAuth, role-based UI
• rbac-guide.md - Complete role-based access control implementation and best practices

Example Files

• nextjs-auth/auth-page.tsx - Complete authentication page with signup/signin forms and OAuth
• nextjs-auth/protected-dashboard.tsx - Protected dashboard page example

Security Best Practices

1. Always use HTTPS in production
2. Validate and sanitize user input
3. Use strong passwords - Min 8 chars, uppercase, lowercase, numbers, special chars
4. Implement rate limiting - Prevent brute force attacks (see api-patterns.md - Rate Limiting)
5. Use secure session settings - HttpOnly cookies, SameSite, Secure flag
6. Enable CSRF protection - For state-changing operations
7. Store secrets securely - Use environment variables, never commit to git
8. Implement email verification - For production applications
9. Add 2FA support - For sensitive applications
10. Audit and monitor - Log authentication events, monitor suspicious activity

Common Issues and Solutions

"Unauthorized" errors:

• Check session token is being sent correctly
• Verify database connection
• Check BETTER_AUTH_SECRET is set
• Ensure session hasn't expired

CORS errors:

• Configure CORS to allow credentials
• Set correct origin in CORS settings
• Ensure cookies are sent with credentials: true

Session not persisting:

• Check cookie settings (secure, sameSite, domain)
• Verify BETTER_AUTH_URL matches your app URL
• Check browser cookie settings

OAuth not working:

• Verify client IDs and secrets
• Check redirect URLs in provider dashboard
• Ensure callback URL is correctly configured

See setup-guide.md - Troubleshooting for more solutions.

General Guidelines

1. Start with email/password - Simplest to implement and test
2. Add OAuth later - Once basic auth is working
3. Implement RBAC only if needed - Not all apps need complex permissions
4. Use middleware/dependencies - Centralize auth logic
5. Handle errors gracefully - Provide clear error messages to users
6. Test authentication flows - Test signup, signin, signout, protected routes
7. Secure sessions - Use appropriate expiry times and refresh tokens
8. Follow the principle of least privilege - Grant minimum necessary permissions

Example Workflow

User request: "Implement user authentication with email/password and protect the dashboard"

1. Setup database (see database-schemas.md)

   • Create users, sessions, passwords tables
   • Run migrations

2. Install Better Auth

   npm install better-auth
   

3. Configure auth (see setup-guide.md - Next.js Setup)

   • Create auth configuration in lib/auth.ts
   • Setup auth API route
   • Create auth client

4. Create auth page (see assets/examples/nextjs-auth/auth-page.tsx)

   • Implement signup form
   • Implement signin form
   • Handle errors and redirects

5. Protect dashboard (see client-patterns.md - Protected Routes)

   • Add server-side session check
   • Redirect to /auth if not authenticated
   • Display user information

6. Add middleware (see client-patterns.md - Protected Route Middleware)

   • Create middleware.ts
   • Protect /dashboard routes
   • Redirect unauthenticated users

7. Test the flow

   • Sign up new user
   • Sign in
   • Access dashboard
   • Sign out
   • Verify protection works

Result: Fully functional authentication system with protected dashboard.