Nuxt•4mo ago

Using layouts for authenticated pages?

Hey, for the nuxt experts, are layouts a good way to handle authenticated pages? Aka redirect to login page if not authenticated in certain pages. I know that in some frameworks, using layouts are not the best idea, for instance, in svelte, there is this weird issue that if you use layouts, it only checks for authentication the first time you enter a page using the layout, so for instance, if you enter page A, then go to page B and sign out, you can go back to page A and you will still be authenticated (kinda) and be able to do actions while not being authenticated...

18 Replies

kapa.ai•4mo ago

Hi @Mr. Afonso. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave: ---------------------- In Nuxt, layouts themselves are not designed to handle authentication logic or redirects. The recommended approach for protecting authenticated pages is to use route middleware, not layouts. Middleware allows you to check authentication status before rendering a page and redirect unauthenticated users to the login page. Here's how you can do it: 1. Create a middleware (e.g., middleware/authenticated.ts):

   export default defineNuxtRouteMiddleware(() => {
     const { loggedIn } = useUserSession()

     // Redirect the user to the login screen if they're not authenticated
     if (!loggedIn.value) {
       return navigateTo('/login')
     }
   })

   export default defineNuxtRouteMiddleware(() => {
     const { loggedIn } = useUserSession()

     // Redirect the user to the login screen if they're not authenticated
     if (!loggedIn.value) {
       return navigateTo('/login')
     }
   })

Protect App Routes 2. Apply the middleware to protected pages using definePageMeta:

   <script setup lang="ts">
   definePageMeta({
     middleware: ['authenticated'],
   })
   </script>

   <script setup lang="ts">
   definePageMeta({
     middleware: ['authenticated'],
   })
   </script>

Home Page Example This approach ensures that authentication is checked every time a protected page is accessed, regardless of layout changes or navigation. Layouts in Nuxt are primarily for structuring your UI (headers, sidebars, etc.), not for handling authentication or route protection. Summary:
Use middleware for authentication checks and redirects, not layouts. This avoids the issues you described from other frameworks, where authentication is only checked once per layout load and not on every navigation. Nuxt's middleware system is specifically designed to handle these scenarios robustly. ---------------------- Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: ----------------------

kapa.ai•4mo ago

<@310721759110496257> Kapa.ai is still learning and improving, please let me know how I did by reacting below.

Mr. AfonsoOP•4mo ago

Well, I am using stores (pinia) which are frontend only from what I understood? How would I achieve this?

David Stack•3mo ago

is your app ssr or spa?

Cake•3mo ago

no, you would use middlewares

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

Ssr But then I'd not have access to stores right? And I mean, if all interactions that require authentication and safe, why wpuld doing it in the frontend be an issue?

Cake•3mo ago

why would you not be able to access stores? i'm confused

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

are stores accessible server side? aren't midlewears server side?

Cake•3mo ago

accessible in both they run in both client and server

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

did not know that so I'd just check in middlewear the page, if that page is in the "whitelisted" list, then required auth otherwise ignore?

Cake•3mo ago

no I mean if it's a global middleware sure, global middleware + a meta field indicating if the page needs auth or not

definePageMeta {
 requiresAuth: true
}

definePageMeta {
 requiresAuth: true
}

or named middleware

{
definePageMeta {
  middlewares: ["auth"] // 
}

{
definePageMeta {
  middlewares: ["auth"] // 
}

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

so middlewear would work like that?

Cake•3mo ago

yeah, I recommend reading the docs :Peepo_Sip: https://nuxt.com/docs/guide/directory-structure/middleware

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

oh I was using middlewear in the server instead of outside.... although if I wanted to check for auth also on the server, I couldn't use this same approach right? this only does it on the "vue" side of things aka people can still manipulate it

Cake•3mo ago

yeah you would typically validate on both sides

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

well I guess my initial question was on how to "centralize" those checks, aka so that I don't need to add the check logic on each page/endpoint

Cake•3mo ago

it needs to implemented separatly in both server and client client being vue what you can do is export utility functions that you use in both but you have to make a middleware for Nuxt (vue) and an middleware for you Api

Mr. AfonsoOP•3mo ago

I see... I was previously using this before switching to stores (pinia)

export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
    const { account } = createSessionClient(event);

    try {
        event.context.user = await account.get();
    } catch (error) {}
});

export default defineEventHandler(async (event) => {
    const { account } = createSessionClient(event);

    try {
        event.context.user = await account.get();
    } catch (error) {}
});

on the server middlewear so yea Okay, so what I did was use pinia and a global middleware for client-side nav and auth handling and a server middleware to check api endpoints

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