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Getting StartedInstallation

Installing Auth.js

Start by installing the appropriate package for your framework.

npm install @auth/express

Installing @auth/core is not necessary, as a user you should never have to interact with @auth/core.

Setup Environment

The only environment variable that is mandatory is the AUTH_SECRET. This is a random value used by the library to encrypt tokens and email verification hashes. (See Deployment to learn more). You can generate one via the official Auth.js CLI running:

npx auth secret

This will also add it to your .env file, respecting the framework conventions (eg.: Next.js’ .env.local).

Configure

Next, create the Auth.js config file and object. This is where you can control the behaviour of the library and specify custom authentication logic, adapters, etc. We recommend all frameworks to create an auth.ts file in the project. In this file we’ll pass in all the options to the framework specific initalization function and then export the route handler(s), signin and signout methods, and more.

You can name this file whatever you want and place it wherever you like, these are just conventions we’ve come up with.

  1. Start by importing ExpressAuth and adding the handler to the auth route.
./src/routes/auth.route.ts
import { ExpressAuth } from "@auth/express"
import express from "express"
 
const app = express()
 
// If your app is served through a proxy
// trust the proxy to allow us to read the `X-Forwarded-*` headers
app.set("trust proxy", true)
app.use("/auth/*", ExpressAuth({ providers: [] }))

Note this creates the Auth.js API, but does not yet protect resources. Continue on to protecting resources for more details.

Setup Authentication Methods

With that, the basic setup is complete! Next we’ll setup the first authentication methods and fill out that providers array.

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