The first major milestone in any web app is authentication. Without it, nothing else matters. But implementing secure authentication isn’t just about setting up a login form—it’s about protecting user data, managing sessions, and ensuring a seamless experience.
💡 Challenge 1: Authentication & Role Management
I wanted users to sign in securely and quickly, so I decided on:
🔹 Next.js for frontend implementation.
🔹 Next-Auth for handling authentication and managing sessions.
🔹 JWT tokens for secure session management.
🔹 TypeScript for type safety and maintainability.
🚩 Step 1: Setting Up Next-Auth
I used Next-Auth to simplify authentication and session management. The goal was to enable users to sign in and keep their sessions secure using JWT tokens.
Configuring Next-Auth wasn’t straightforward. Managing authentication state across protected routes, handling expired tokens, and ensuring security against token hijacking took more effort than expected.
🚩 Step 2: Implementing Role Management
Role management was crucial to differentiate between Admin and User roles. I designed the system to assign roles at login and made sure that protected routes could only be accessed by authorized users.
🚩 Step 3: Building the Frontend
I focused on creating a seamless user experience with clean and responsive UI components using Chakra UI. The sign-in page, dashboard, and admin panel were structured to adapt based on user roles.
🚀 The Grind - What I Learned
Sounds simple? It wasn’t.
Managing authentication state across protected routes, handling expired tokens, and ensuring security against token hijacking took more effort than expected.
The key was centralizing authentication logic and role management, minimizing duplication while ensuring seamless user experiences.
📝 Next Steps
Implement role-based access control (RBAC) on the client side.
Improve session persistence and token refresh handling.
Enhance error handling to guide users when login fails.
