Nestjs Authentication

NestJS Authentication Skill

Purpose

You are a specialized assistant for authentication and authorization in NestJS.

Use this skill to:

• Set up or refactor auth modules in a NestJS project
• Implement local/email-password login, signup, logout
• Implement JWT access tokens (and optionally refresh tokens)
• Implement guards, decorators, and strategies for:
  • Authenticated routes
  • Role-based access control (RBAC)
  • Permissions/claims-based access
• Integrate auth into controllers, services, and other modules
• Secure API endpoints and keep secrets & tokens handled correctly
• Integrate with external identity providers (OAuth / OpenID) at a high level (patterns, not provider-specific SDKs)

Do not use this skill for:

• Project creation/scaffolding → use nestjs-project-scaffold
• Non-NestJS frameworks (e.g. Hono, Express-only backends)
• Low-level database/ORM work (entities & migrations) → use TypeORM-specific skills

If CLAUDE.md exists, follow its preferences about auth style (JWT vs sessions, OAuth providers, password storage rules, etc.).

When To Apply This Skill

Trigger this skill when the user asks for things like:

• “Add auth to this NestJS API.”
• “Create login/signup/logout endpoints in Nest.”
• “Protect these routes with JWT auth.”
• “Implement role-based access (admin/user) using guards.”
• “Add refresh tokens to our NestJS auth.”
• “Refactor this messy Nest auth module into something clean.”

Avoid when:

• Only implementing domain logic unrelated to auth.
• Only exposing a public, unauthenticated endpoint.

Default Auth Approach (Configurable)

By default, this skill prefers:

• Stateless JWT access tokens for API auth
• Optional refresh tokens to renew access
• @nestjs/passport + passport-jwt (or equivalent) strategies
• Password hashing with bcrypt (or argon2 if project prefers)
• Role-based access via custom decorators and guards

Adjust based on project constraints (e.g. session cookies, API gateway, external IdP).

Suggested Module Structure

By convention, an auth module is structured like:

src/modules/auth/
  auth.module.ts
  auth.service.ts
  auth.controller.ts
  strategies/
    jwt.strategy.ts
    local.strategy.ts       # optional
  guards/
    jwt-auth.guard.ts
    roles.guard.ts
  dto/
    login.dto.ts
    signup.dto.ts
  decorators/
    current-user.decorator.ts
    roles.decorator.ts

User-facing data (e.g. User entity, user repository) typically lives in a users module and is injected into AuthService when needed.

High-Level Workflow

When this skill is active, follow these steps:

1. Confirm or create an AuthModule

• If an AuthModule already exists:
  • Inspect its structure and see if it aligns with the conventions above.
  • Plan refactor steps if it is tangled or non-idiomatic.
• If no AuthModule exists:
  • Create src/modules/auth/auth.module.ts, auth.service.ts, auth.controller.ts, dto/, guards/, strategies/, decorators/.

Example minimal AuthModule outline:

import { Module } from "@nestjs/common";
import { JwtModule } from "@nestjs/jwt";
import { PassportModule } from "@nestjs/passport";
import { AuthService } from "./auth.service";
import { AuthController } from "./auth.controller";
import { JwtStrategy } from "./strategies/jwt.strategy";
import { UsersModule } from "../user/user.module";

@Module({
  imports: [
    UsersModule,
    PassportModule,
    JwtModule.register({}), // config via ConfigModule or env
  ],
  controllers: [AuthController],
  providers: [AuthService, JwtStrategy],
  exports: [AuthService],
})
export class AuthModule {}

Use ConfigModule for secrets/expiry settings rather than hardcoding values.

2. Environment & Config

• Ensure environment variables for JWT:

  JWT_ACCESS_SECRET=super-secret-key
  JWT_ACCESS_EXPIRES_IN=15m
  JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=another-super-secret-key
  JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRES_IN=7d
  

• Create a config file (e.g. src/config/auth.config.ts) if project uses modular config:

  export default () => ({
    auth: {
      jwtAccessSecret: process.env.JWT_ACCESS_SECRET,
      jwtAccessExpiresIn: process.env.JWT_ACCESS_EXPIRES_IN ?? "15m",
      jwtRefreshSecret: process.env.JWT_REFRESH_SECRET,
      jwtRefreshExpiresIn: process.env.JWT_REFRESH_EXPIRES_IN ?? "7d",
    },
  });
  

• Use ConfigService inside AuthModule/JwtModule registration.

3. AuthService Responsibilities

Design AuthService to handle:

• Validating credentials (delegating to UsersService and password hashing)
• Issuing tokens (access & refresh)
• Refreshing tokens (if implemented)
• High-level auth flows (login, signup, logout, etc.)

Example outline:

// src/modules/auth/auth.service.ts
import { Injectable, UnauthorizedException } from "@nestjs/common";
import { JwtService } from "@nestjs/jwt";
import * as bcrypt from "bcrypt";
import { UsersService } from "../user/user.service";
import { User } from "../user/entities/user.entity";

@Injectable()
export class AuthService {
  constructor(
    private readonly usersService: UsersService,
    private readonly jwtService: JwtService,
  ) {}

  async validateUser(email: string, password: string): Promise<User | null> {
    const user = await this.usersService.findByEmail(email);
    if (!user) return null;

    const passwordValid = await bcrypt.compare(password, user.passwordHash);
    if (!passwordValid) return null;

    return user;
  }

  async createAccessToken(user: User) {
    const payload = { sub: user.id, email: user.email, roles: user.roles };
    return this.jwtService.signAsync(payload);
  }

  async createAuthTokens(user: User) {
    // Optionally create refresh tokens here too
    const accessToken = await this.createAccessToken(user);
    return { accessToken };
  }
}

4. Strategies & Guards

Implement JWT strategy:

// src/modules/auth/strategies/jwt.strategy.ts
import { Injectable } from "@nestjs/common";
import { PassportStrategy } from "@nestjs/passport";
import { ExtractJwt, Strategy } from "passport-jwt";
import { ConfigService } from "@nestjs/config";

@Injectable()
export class JwtStrategy extends PassportStrategy(Strategy) {
  constructor(configService: ConfigService) {
    super({
      jwtFromRequest: ExtractJwt.fromAuthHeaderAsBearerToken(),
      ignoreExpiration: false,
      secretOrKey: configService.get<string>("auth.jwtAccessSecret"),
    });
  }

  async validate(payload: any) {
    // Attach to request.user
    return {
      userId: payload.sub,
      email: payload.email,
      roles: payload.roles,
    };
  }
}

JWT auth guard:

// src/modules/auth/guards/jwt-auth.guard.ts
import { Injectable } from "@nestjs/common";
import { AuthGuard } from "@nestjs/passport";

@Injectable()
export class JwtAuthGuard extends AuthGuard("jwt") {}

Roles decorator & guard (for RBAC):

// src/modules/auth/decorators/roles.decorator.ts
import { SetMetadata } from "@nestjs/common";

export const ROLES_KEY = "roles";
export const Roles = (...roles: string[]) => SetMetadata(ROLES_KEY, roles);

// src/modules/auth/guards/roles.guard.ts
import {
  CanActivate,
  ExecutionContext,
  Injectable,
} from "@nestjs/common";
import { Reflector } from "@nestjs/core";
import { ROLES_KEY } from "../decorators/roles.decorator";

@Injectable()
export class RolesGuard implements CanActivate {
  constructor(private reflector: Reflector) {}

  canActivate(context: ExecutionContext): boolean {
    const requiredRoles = this.reflector.getAllAndOverride<string[]>(ROLES_KEY, [
      context.getHandler(),
      context.getClass(),
    ]);
    if (!requiredRoles || requiredRoles.length === 0) return true;

    const { user } = context.switchToHttp().getRequest();
    if (!user || !user.roles) return false;

    return requiredRoles.some((role) => user.roles.includes(role));
  }
}

5. AuthController

Expose login/signup endpoints via a controller:

// src/modules/auth/auth.controller.ts
import { Body, Controller, Post, UseGuards } from "@nestjs/common";
import { AuthService } from "./auth.service";
import { LoginDto } from "./dto/login.dto";

@Controller("auth")
export class AuthController {
  constructor(private readonly authService: AuthService) {}

  @Post("login")
  async login(@Body() dto: LoginDto) {
    const user = await this.authService.validateUser(dto.email, dto.password);
    if (!user) {
      // throw UnauthorizedException here or inside AuthService
      throw new UnauthorizedException("Invalid credentials");
    }
    return this.authService.createAuthTokens(user);
  }

  // signup, refresh, logout endpoints can be added similarly
}

For more advanced setups:

• Use local strategy (passport-local) for form login flows.
• Use refresh token endpoints that validate refresh tokens and issue new access tokens.

6. Securing Routes in Other Modules

Use guards and decorators in other modules’ controllers:

// src/modules/user/user.controller.ts
import { Controller, Get, UseGuards } from "@nestjs/common";
import { JwtAuthGuard } from "../auth/guards/jwt-auth.guard";
import { Roles } from "../auth/decorators/roles.decorator";
import { RolesGuard } from "../auth/guards/roles.guard";

@Controller("users")
@UseGuards(JwtAuthGuard, RolesGuard)
export class UserController {
  @Get("me")
  @Roles("user", "admin")
  getMe() {
    // controller logic
  }
}

This skill should:

• Help apply guards correctly at class or method level.
• Avoid overcomplicated configs when simple solutions suffice.

7. Password Handling

Best practices enforced by this skill:

• Always hash passwords using bcrypt or argon2 before storage.
• Never log or return password hashes in responses.
• Use environment-based salt rounds or parameters when needed.

8. Integrating with Other Skills

• nestjs-modules-services-controllers:
  • This skill uses module/service/controller structure created by that skill.
• nestjs-typeorm-integration:
  • User entities, user repositories, and DB schema belong there; this skill coordinates with it for auth needs.
• nestjs-testing-skill:
  • Tests for auth flows (login, token validation, guards) can be added via that skill.

Advanced Topics (Optional)

This skill can also support:

• Session-based auth using cookies and server-side sessions (instead of or alongside JWT).
• OAuth/OIDC integrations (Google, GitHub, etc.):
  • Using Passport strategies and OAuth callbacks.
  • Storing user identities from external providers.
• API gateway / microservices integration:
  • Using JWTs to authenticate requests across services.
  • Extracting auth logic into a dedicated auth service in a microservice architecture.

These should be applied when the project explicitly requires them.

Example Prompts That Should Use This Skill

• “Implement JWT login and protect /admin routes in this NestJS app.”
• “Add signup, login, and me endpoints to this NestJS project.”
• “Refactor our existing auth module to use guards and decorators cleanly.”
• “Add role-based access control (user/admin) to our controllers.”
• “Implement refresh tokens and secure them properly.”

For such prompts, rely on this skill to provide secure, idiomatic NestJS auth structures, keeping concerns separated between tokens, guards, controllers, and user data access.