https://github.com/workos/authkit-react-router

Authentication and session helpers for using WorkOS & AuthKit with React Router 7+
https://github.com/workos/authkit-react-router
Last synced: 4 months ago
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Authentication and session helpers for using WorkOS & AuthKit with React Router 7+
Host: GitHub
URL: https://github.com/workos/authkit-react-router
Owner: workos
License: mit
Created: 2025-03-10T20:00:07.000Z (over 1 year ago)
Default Branch: main
Last Pushed: 2026-01-09T00:27:15.000Z (6 months ago)
Last Synced: 2026-01-11T11:28:52.564Z (6 months ago)
Language: TypeScript
Size: 477 KB
Stars: 12
Watchers: 7
Forks: 3
Open Issues: 4
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE
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README

          # AuthKit React Router Library

> [!IMPORTANT]

> This is an early-stage port of [authkit-remix](https://github.com/workos/authkit-remix) to support React Router. The features focus on framework mode (e.g. Remix), with more planned support for library mode and more features.

The AuthKit library for React Router 7+ provides convenient helpers for authentication and session management using WorkOS & AuthKit with React Router. You can find this library in action in the [react-router-authkit-example](https://github.com/workos/react-router-authkit-example) repo.

## Installation

Install the package with:

```

npm i @workos-inc/authkit-react-router

```

or

```

yarn add @workos-inc/authkit-react-router

```

## Configuration

AuthKit for React Router offers a flexible configuration system that allows you to customize various settings. You can configure the library in three ways:

### 1. Environment Variables

The simplest way is to set environment variables in your `.env.local` file:

```bash

WORKOS_CLIENT_ID="client_..." # retrieved from the WorkOS dashboard

WORKOS_API_KEY="sk_test_..." # retrieved from the WorkOS dashboard

WORKOS_REDIRECT_URI="http://localhost:5173/callback" # configured in the WorkOS dashboard

WORKOS_COOKIE_PASSWORD="" # generate a secure password here

```

### 2. Programmatic Configuration

You can also configure AuthKit programmatically by importing the `configure` function:

```typescript

import { configure } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

// In your root or entry file

configure({

  clientId: 'client_1234567890',

  apiKey: 'sk_test_1234567890',

  redirectUri: 'http://localhost:5173/callback',

  cookiePassword: 'your-secure-cookie-password',

  // Optional settings

  cookieName: 'my-custom-cookie-name',

  apiHttps: true,

  cookieMaxAge: 60 * 60 * 24 * 30, // 30 days

});

```

### 3. Custom Environment Source

For non-standard environments (like Deno or Edge functions), you can provide a custom environment variable source:

> [!Warning]

>

> While this library includes support for custom environment sources that could theoretically work in non-Node.js runtimes like Deno or Edge functions, this functionality has not been extensively tested (yet). If you're planning to use AuthKit in these environments, you may encounter unexpected issues. We welcome feedback and contributions from users who test in these environments.

```typescript

import { configure } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

configure((key) => Deno.env.get(key));

// Or combine with explicit values

configure({ clientId: 'client_1234567890' }, (key) => Deno.env.get(key));

```

### Configuration Priority

When retrieving configuration values, AuthKit follows this priority order:

1. Programmatically provided values via `configure()`

2. Environment variables (prefixed with `WORKOS_`)

3. Default values for optional settings

### Available Configuration Options

> [!NOTE]

>

> To print out the entire config, a `getFullConfig` function is provided for debugging purposes.

| Option           | Environment Variable     | Default               | Required | Description                                   |

| ---------------- | ------------------------ | --------------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------- |

| `clientId`       | `WORKOS_CLIENT_ID`       | -                     | Yes      | Your WorkOS Client ID                         |

| `apiKey`         | `WORKOS_API_KEY`         | -                     | Yes      | Your WorkOS API Key                           |

| `redirectUri`    | `WORKOS_REDIRECT_URI`    | -                     | Yes      | The callback URL configured in WorkOS         |

| `cookiePassword` | `WORKOS_COOKIE_PASSWORD` | -                     | Yes      | Password for cookie encryption (min 32 chars) |

| `cookieName`     | `WORKOS_COOKIE_NAME`     | `wos-session`         | No       | Name of the session cookie                    |

| `apiHttps`       | `WORKOS_API_HTTPS`       | `true`                | No       | Whether to use HTTPS for API calls            |

| `cookieMaxAge`   | `WORKOS_COOKIE_MAX_AGE`  | `34560000` (400 days) | No       | Maximum age of cookie in seconds              |

| `apiHostname`    | `WORKOS_API_HOSTNAME`    | `api.workos.com`      | No       | WorkOS API hostname                           |

| `apiPort`        | `WORKOS_API_PORT`        | -                     | No       | Port to use for API calls                     |

> [!NOTE]

>

> The `cookiePassword` must be at least 32 characters long for security reasons.

## Setup

### Callback route

AuthKit requires that you have a callback URL to redirect users back to after they've authenticated. In your React Router app, [create a new route](https://reactrouter.com/start/framework/routing) and add the following:

```ts

import { authLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export const loader = authLoader();

```

Make sure this route matches the `WORKOS_REDIRECT_URI` variable and the configured redirect URI in your WorkOS dashboard. For instance if your redirect URI is `http://localhost:2884/callback` then you'd put the above code in `/app/routes/callback.ts`.

You can also control the pathname the user will be sent to after signing-in by passing a `returnPathname` option to `authLoader` like so:

```ts

export const loader = authLoader({ returnPathname: '/dashboard' });

```

If your application needs to persist `oauthTokens` or other auth-related information after the callback is successful, you can pass an `onSuccess` option:

```ts

export const loader = authLoader({

  onSuccess: async ({ oauthTokens }) => {

    await saveToDatabase(oauthTokens);

  },

});

```

## Usage

### Access authentication data in your React Router application

Use `authkitLoader` to configure AuthKit for your React Router application routes.

```tsx

import { type LoaderFunctionArgs, useLoaderData } from 'react-router';

import { authkitLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) => authkitLoader(args);

export function App() {

  // Retrieves the user from the session or returns `null` if no user is signed in

  // Other supported values include `sessionId`, `organizationId`,

  // `role`, `permissions`, `entitlements`, `featureFlags`, and `impersonator`.

  const { user, signInUrl, signUpUrl } = useLoaderData();

  return (

    


      Welcome back {user?.firstName && `, ${user?.firstName}`}

    

  );

}

```

For pages where you want to display a signed-in and signed-out view, use `authkitLoader` to retrieve the user profile from WorkOS. You can pass in additional data by providing a loader function directly to `authkitLoader`.

```tsx

import { type ActionFunctionArgs, type LoaderFunctionArgs, data, Form, Link, useLoaderData } from 'react-router';

import { getSignInUrl, getSignUpUrl, signOut, authkitLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) =>

  authkitLoader(args, async ({ request, auth }) => {

    return data({

      signInUrl: await getSignInUrl(),

      signUpUrl: await getSignUpUrl(),

    });

  });

export async function action({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) {

  return await signOut(request);

}

export default function HomePage() {

  const { user, signInUrl, signUpUrl } = useLoaderData();

  if (!user) {

    return (

      <>

        Log in

        


        Sign Up

      >

    );

  }

  return (

    

      
Welcome back {user?.firstName && `, ${user?.firstName}`}

      Sign out

    

  );

}

```

### Requiring auth

For pages where a signed-in user is mandatory, you can use the `ensureSignedIn` option:

```tsx

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) => authkitLoader(args, { ensureSignedIn: true });

```

Enabling `ensureSignedIn` will redirect users to AuthKit if they attempt to access the page without being authenticated.

### Signing out

Use the `signOut` method to sign out the current logged in user, end the session, and redirect to your app's homepage. The homepage redirect is set in your WorkOS dashboard settings under "Redirect".

If you would like to specify where a user is redirected, an optional `returnTo` argument can be passed. Allowed values are configured in the WorkOS Dashboard under _[Logout redirects](https://workos.com/docs/user-management/sessions/configuring-sessions/logout-redirect)_.

```ts

export async function action({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) {

  // Called when the form in SignInButton is submitted

  return await signOut(request, { returnTo: 'https://example.com' });

}

```

### Get the access token

Access tokens are available through the `getAccessToken()` function within your loader. This design encourages server-side token usage while making the security implications explicit.

```tsx

import { data, type LoaderFunctionArgs } from 'react-router';

import { authkitLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) =>

  authkitLoader(args, async ({ auth, getAccessToken }) => {

    if (!auth.user) {

      // Not signed in - getAccessToken() would return null

      return data({ data: null });

    }

    // Explicitly call the function to get the access token

    const accessToken = getAccessToken();

    const serviceData = await fetch('/api/path', {

      headers: {

        Authorization: `Bearer ${accessToken}`,

      },

    });

    return data({

      data: await serviceData.json(),

    });

  });

```

#### Security Considerations

By default, access tokens are not included in the data sent to React components. This helps prevent unintentional token exposure in:

- Browser developer tools

- HTML source code

- Client-side logs or error reporting

If you need to expose the access token to client-side code, you can explicitly return it from your loader:

```tsx

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) =>

  authkitLoader(

    args,

    async ({ auth, getAccessToken }) => {

      const accessToken = getAccessToken();

      return {

        // Only expose to client if absolutely necessary

        accessToken,

        userData: await fetchUserData(accessToken),

      };

    },

    { ensureSignedIn: true },

  );

```

**Note:** Only expose access tokens to the client when necessary for your use case (e.g., making direct API calls from the browser). Consider alternatives like:

- Making API calls server-side in your loaders

- Creating proxy endpoints in your application

- Using separate client-specific tokens with limited scope

#### Using with `ensureSignedIn`

When using the `ensureSignedIn` option, you can be confident that `getAccessToken()` will always return a valid token:

```tsx

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) =>

  authkitLoader(

    args,

    async ({ auth, getAccessToken }) => {

      // With ensureSignedIn: true, the user is guaranteed to be authenticated

      const accessToken = getAccessToken();

      // Use the token for your API calls

      const data = await fetchProtectedData(accessToken);

      return { data };

    },

    { ensureSignedIn: true },

  );

```

### Using withAuth for low-level access

For advanced use cases, the `withAuth` function provides direct access to authentication data, including the access token. Unlike `authkitLoader`, this function:

- Does not handle automatic token refresh

- Does not manage cookies or session updates

- Returns the access token directly as a property

- Requires manual redirect handling for unauthenticated users

```tsx

import { withAuth } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

import { redirect, type LoaderFunctionArgs } from 'react-router';

export const loader = async (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) => {

  const auth = await withAuth(args);

  if (!auth.user) {

    // Manual redirect - withAuth doesn't handle this automatically

    throw redirect('/sign-in');

  }

  // Access token is directly available as a property

  const { accessToken, user, sessionId } = auth;

  // Use the token for server-side operations

  const apiData = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data', {

    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${accessToken}` },

  });

  // Be careful what you return - accessToken will be exposed if included

  return {

    user,

    apiData: await apiData.json(),

    // accessToken, // ⚠️ Only include if client-side access is necessary

  };

};

```

**When to use `withAuth` vs `authkitLoader`:**

- Use `authkitLoader` for most cases - it handles token refresh, cookies, and provides safer defaults

- Use `withAuth` when you need more control or are building custom authentication flows

- `withAuth` is useful for API routes or middleware where you don't need the full loader functionality

### Advanced: Direct access to the WorkOS client

For advanced use cases or functionality not covered by the helper methods, you can access the underlying WorkOS client directly:

```ts

import { getWorkOS } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

// Get the configured WorkOS client instance

const workos = getWorkOS();

// Use any WorkOS SDK method

const organizations = await workos.organizations.listOrganizations({

  limit: 10,

});

```

### Advanced: Custom authentication flows

While the standard authentication flow handles session management automatically, some use cases require manually creating and storing a session. This is useful for custom authentication flows like email verification or token exchange.

For these scenarios, you can use the `saveSession` function:

```ts

import { redirect } from 'react-router';

import { getWorkOS, saveSession } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

// Example: Email verification flow

async function handleEmailVerification(request: Request) {

  const { code } = await request.json();

  // Authenticate with the WorkOS API directly

  const authResponse = await getWorkOS().userManagement.authenticateWithEmailVerification({

    clientId: process.env.WORKOS_CLIENT_ID,

    code,

  });

  // Save the session data to a cookie

  await saveSession(

    {

      accessToken: authResponse.accessToken,

      refreshToken: authResponse.refreshToken,

      user: authResponse.user,

      impersonator: authResponse.impersonator,

    },

    request,

  );

  return redirect('/dashboard');

}

```

### Debugging

To enable debug logs, pass in the debug flag when using `authkitLoader`.

```ts

import { authkitLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) => authkitLoader(args, { debug: true });

```

If providing a loader function, you can pass the options object as the third parameter

```ts

import { authkitLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export const loader = (args: LoaderFunctionArgs) =>

  authkitLoader(

    args,

    async ({ auth }) => {

      return json({ foo: 'bar' });

    },

    { debug: true },

  );

```

## Customizing Session Storage

By default, AuthKit for React Router uses cookie-based session storage with these settings:

```typescript

{

  name: "wos-session", // Default or WORKOS_COOKIE_NAME if set

  path: "/",

  httpOnly: true,

  secure: true, // When redirect URI uses HTTPS

  sameSite: "lax",

  maxAge: 34560000, // 400 days (configurable via WORKOS_COOKIE_MAX_AGE)

  secrets: [/* your cookie password, configurable via WORKOS_COOKIE_PASSWORD */],

}

```

### Custom Session Storage

You can provide your own session storage implementation to both `authkitLoader` and `authLoader`:

```typescript

import { createMemorySessionStorage } from '@react-router/node';

import { authkitLoader, authLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

// Create memory-based session storage

const memoryStorage = createMemorySessionStorage({

  cookie: {

    name: 'auth-session',

    secrets: ['test-secret'],

    sameSite: 'lax',

    path: '/',

    httpOnly: true,

    secure: false, // Use false for testing

    maxAge: 60 * 60 * 24, // 1 day

  },

});

// In your root loader

export const loader = (args) =>

  authkitLoader(args, {

    storage: memoryStorage,

    cookie: { name: 'auth-session' },

  });

// In your callback route

export const loader = authLoader({

  storage: memoryStorage,

  cookie: { name: 'auth-session' },

});

```

For code reuse and consistency, consider using a shared function:

```typescript

// app/lib/session.ts

export function getAuthStorage() {

  const storage = createCookieSessionStorage({

    /* config */

  });

  return { storage, cookie: { name: 'my-custom-session' } };

}

// Then in your routes

import { getAuthStorage } from '~/lib/session';

export const loader = (args) =>

  authkitLoader(args, {

    ...getAuthStorage(),

    // Other options...

  });

```

> [!NOTE]

> When deploying to serverless environments like AWS Lambda, ensure you pass the same storage configuration to both your main routes and the callback route to handle cold starts properly.

AuthKit works with any session storage that implements React Router's `SessionStorage` interface, including Redis-based or database-backed implementations.
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