A Guide to Implementing Passwordless Login

Passwordless authentication is gaining traction among developers and companies like Slack, Notion, and PayPal due to its reduced vulnerability to cyberattacks, as it does not store password hashes in databases. This approach eliminates the attack surface for malicious actors, although it introduces complexities in UX, potential increased costs, and is not entirely foolproof against security breaches. A software-based implementation using email magic links involves generating tokens with JWT, creating endpoints for sending and verifying these tokens, and integrating these steps to authenticate users efficiently. Challenges include handling sessions across different browsers and ensuring security practices like limiting token validity and using SSL/TLS encryption. While this guide provides a framework for implementing passwordless authentication, it emphasizes the importance of robust security measures and offers a starting point for developers interested in exploring this authentication method further.