Authentication with Better Auth

What is Better Auth?

Better Auth is a TypeScript authentication library that runs entirely on your own infrastructure. No third-party service, no per-seat pricing, no vendor lock-in. You own the session data, the user records, and the OAuth tokens.

It integrates directly with Drizzle and Next.js App Router with minimal config.

Server setup

// services/auth/index.ts
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { drizzleAdapter } from "better-auth/adapters/drizzle";
import { db } from "@/services/db";
 
export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: drizzleAdapter(db, { provider: "pg" }),
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
  socialProviders: {
    google: {
      clientId: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID!,
      clientSecret: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    },
  },
});

Route handler

Better Auth needs a single catch-all route to handle all auth endpoints:

// app/api/auth/[...all]/route.ts
import { auth } from "@/services/auth";
import { toNextJsHandler } from "better-auth/next-js";
 
export const { GET, POST } = toNextJsHandler(auth);

Reading the session

On the server, call auth.api.getSession directly:

import { auth } from "@/services/auth";
import { headers } from "next/headers";
 
const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: await headers() });
if (!session) redirect("/sign-in");

On the client, use the authClient:

"use client";
 
import { authClient } from "@/services/auth/client";
 
const { data: session } = authClient.useSession();

// sign in with email
await authClient.signIn.email({ email, password });
 
// sign in with Google
await authClient.signIn.social({ provider: "google" });
 
// sign out
await authClient.signOut();

Protecting routes with middleware

// middleware.ts
import { auth } from "@/services/auth";
import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from "next/server";
 
export async function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: request.headers });
  if (!session) return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/sign-in", request.url));
  return NextResponse.next();
}
 
export const config = { matcher: ["/admin/:path*", "/settings/:path*"] };

What is Better Auth?

It integrates directly with Drizzle and Next.js App Router with minimal config.

Server setup

// services/auth/index.ts
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { drizzleAdapter } from "better-auth/adapters/drizzle";
import { db } from "@/services/db";
 
export const auth = betterAuth({
  database: drizzleAdapter(db, { provider: "pg" }),
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
  socialProviders: {
    google: {
      clientId: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID!,
      clientSecret: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
    },
  },
});

Reading the session

On the server, call auth.api.getSession directly:

import { auth } from "@/services/auth";
import { headers } from "next/headers";
 
const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: await headers() });
if (!session) redirect("/sign-in");

On the client, use the authClient:

"use client";
 
import { authClient } from "@/services/auth/client";
 
const { data: session } = authClient.useSession();

Protecting routes with middleware

// middleware.ts
import { auth } from "@/services/auth";
import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from "next/server";
 
export async function middleware(request: NextRequest) {
  const session = await auth.api.getSession({ headers: request.headers });
  if (!session) return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/sign-in", request.url));
  return NextResponse.next();
}
 
export const config = { matcher: ["/admin/:path*", "/settings/:path*"] };

Authentication with Better Auth

What is Better Auth?

Server setup

Route handler

Reading the session

Protecting routes with middleware

Let's Get In Touch.

Authentication with Better Auth

What is Better Auth?

Server setup

Route handler

Reading the session

Protecting routes with middleware

Let's Get In Touch.

Authentication with Better Auth

What is Better Auth?

Server setup

Route handler

Reading the session

Sign-in and sign-out

Protecting routes with middleware

Let's Get In Touch.

Authentication with Better Auth

What is Better Auth?

Server setup

Route handler

Reading the session

Sign-in and sign-out

Protecting routes with middleware

Let's Get In Touch.