authentication_skill

Overview

This skill provides a complete authentication system built with Better Auth, including email verification, password reset, protected routes, and full account management. It bundles production-ready patterns and step-by-step recipes for integrating authentication in TypeScript Next.js apps with Neon Postgres and Drizzle ORM. The recipes include transactional email setup, UI components, server and client authentication, and account settings flows.

How this skill works

Follow a sequence of recipes that wire up environment validation, database connection, and UI theming, then add Better Auth for user sessions and Resend for transactional emails. The system implements email verification and password reset flows, server-side route protection, and an account settings page that handles profile edits, password and email updates, session management, and account deletion. Each recipe is modular so you can adopt individual pieces or the full stack in order.

When to use it

• Building a new full-stack Next.js app that requires secure sign-up, sign-in, and account management.
• Adding email verification and password reset flows with production-ready transactional emails.
• Protecting server-side routes while keeping public pages accessible.
• Replacing a fragile custom auth system with a type-safe, maintainable solution.
• Implementing session management and account deletion features for compliance or user control.

Best practices

• Complete prerequisite recipes first: environment schema, database, and UI setup to avoid integration issues.
• Use Resend for transactional emails and test templates in staging before sending to production.
• Enforce server-side protected routes for any sensitive pages or API endpoints.
• Keep environment variables validated and type-safe to prevent runtime surprises.
• Rotate credentials and review session handling for long-lived tokens and logout behavior.

Example use cases

• A SaaS app that requires email verification before allowing access to paid features.
• A consumer web app that needs password reset emails and a self-serve account settings page.
• An internal dashboard where some pages are public and others require authenticated access.
• Migrating legacy auth to a modern stack with Drizzle ORM and Neon Postgres.
• Rapid prototyping of authentication flows with prebuilt UI components and recipes.