How to Add Authentication to a Next.js App with NextAuth

The tutorial explains how to build a Next.js App Router hackathon application using Auth.js v5, formerly NextAuth, for session management and Descope as the identity provider for passwordless, social, and other login methods. It covers configuring the official Descope provider through an auth.ts file, App Router route handlers, and environment variables; creating a custom sign-in button that redirects users to Descope’s hosted login flow; and protecting a server-rendered dashboard by validating sessions with the auth() function. The example application retrieves attendee application and acceptance information from Airtable through a protected API route, although the route shown uses a separate secret-token check. It also describes Auth.js’s default JWT session model, in which signed tokens are stored in HTTP-only cookies and can scale without a shared session database, while noting that database sessions may be preferable when immediate revocation is required. Finally, it compares Auth.js as a self-managed session layer with Descope as a managed customer identity platform, explaining that they can be used together or that Descope SDKs can provide native authentication for Next.js, React, and Node.js applications with less custom configuration.

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