Implement a production ready auth service

[uday-rana]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. HTTP basic authentication is great for testing but not secure enough to use in production.

Describe the solution you'd like Research and implement a production ready auth service.

Describe alternatives you've considered N/A

Additional context Look into: NextAuth, Auth0, AWS Cognito, etc

[uday-rana]

After comparing different auth services I think Auth0 makes the most sense.

Auth0

• Overview: Auth0 is a popular and widely-used authentication service that supports various integrations, including Next.js and Express.js. It offers a free tier with up to 7,000 active users and has a high degree of customization for both the authentication UI and the backend.
• UI Customization: Auth0 provides a hosted login page that you can fully customize with your own HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Additionally, you can create custom login screens within your app.
• Integration with Next.js and Express.js: Auth0 provides SDKs and libraries for integrating with Next.js and Express.js, such as nextjs-auth0 and express-openid-connect. These libraries make the integration smoother.
• Free Tier: Offers free authentication for up to 7,000 active users per month, including multifactor authentication, social logins, and basic security features.

• Documentation: Auth0 has extensive and easy-to-follow documentation, which helps with integration and customization.

  Link: Auth0

[uday-rana]

This approach is good (but replace MongoDB with Postgres):

The hybrid approach involves using a third-party authentication service for handling user authentication (sign-up, login, session management) while storing additional user data (such as profiles, preferences, settings, etc.) in your own MongoDB Atlas database. This setup allows you to take advantage of the robust, feature-rich authentication systems provided by third-party services while maintaining control over user-specific data in a database you already use and know well.

Here’s a deeper dive into how the hybrid approach works, its benefits, and how you can implement it:

How the Hybrid Approach Works

1. User Authentication with Third-Party Service:

   • You use a service like Auth0, Firebase, Clerk, or Okta to handle authentication. These services manage the complexity of user registration, login, password recovery, multi-factor authentication (MFA), email verification, and session management.
   • When a user logs in (or signs up), the authentication service verifies the user's credentials and returns a JWT (JSON Web Token) or session token.

2. Storing User Data in MongoDB Atlas:

   • After the user is authenticated, you can store or update the user's data in your MongoDB Atlas database. This can include information like user preferences, profile details, custom metadata, etc.
   • MongoDB is a good choice for this because it allows you to store unstructured or semi-structured data in a flexible format (i.e., JSON-like documents), which is great for user data that might change over time (like settings, user history, etc.).

3. User Identity Linking:

   • The third-party service (Auth0, Firebase, etc.) typically returns user identifiers (such as a user ID or email address) along with the token. You can use this identifier to create or link a user record in your MongoDB Atlas database.
   • If you have a user profiles collection, the user’s information (e.g., name, profile picture, etc.) can be stored or updated there.

4. Session Management:

   • You can manage sessions using the JWT provided by the authentication service. This token is usually stored client-side (e.g., in a secure HTTP-only cookie or localStorage), and sent along with each API request to verify the user's identity on the server.
   • On the server side, you validate the JWT and fetch the user’s data from MongoDB based on the user ID (or other unique identifiers).

5. API Integration:

   • Your backend (e.g., Express.js API) can retrieve or modify user data in MongoDB based on the authenticated user’s information. For example:
     • After logging in, you can fetch the user's preferences or update their profile from MongoDB.
     • When making API requests, you check the user’s JWT, extract their unique ID, and then query MongoDB to retrieve or update their associated data.

Benefits of the Hybrid Approach

1. Security & Authentication Best Practices:

   • By using a third-party service like Auth0, Firebase, or Clerk, you’re offloading the responsibility of securely handling user authentication, which includes hashing passwords, securing sessions, handling MFA, etc. These services are built with robust security features and are compliant with standards such as OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect.
   • Additionally, these services handle all of the heavy lifting when it comes to dealing with security vulnerabilities and updates.

2. Ease of Use and Feature-Rich Authentication:

   • Third-party authentication services come with advanced features such as social logins (Google, Facebook, etc.), passwordless authentication, multi-factor authentication (MFA), single sign-on (SSO), and email verification out of the box.
   • Using these services saves you from having to implement these features yourself.

3. Scalability:

   • These authentication providers are designed to scale seamlessly with your app, handling millions of users without requiring you to manage your own authentication infrastructure.
   • MongoDB Atlas provides the same scalability for your user data storage, allowing you to store and manage user data at scale.

4. Separation of Concerns:

   • The hybrid approach allows you to focus on user-specific data and application logic in MongoDB, while leaving the complexities of authentication and security to specialized services. This separation of concerns simplifies both development and maintenance.
   • You don’t need to worry about storing sensitive information like hashed passwords or implementing token expiration and management systems yourself.

5. Familiarity with MongoDB:

   • If you’re already using MongoDB for other parts of your application, it’s a natural fit to store user data in the same database. You can reuse your existing database structure and easily integrate it with your authentication system.

How to Implement the Hybrid Approach

Here’s an outline of how you could implement the hybrid approach using MongoDB Atlas for data storage and a third-party service like Auth0 or Firebase for authentication:

1. Set up Authentication with Third-Party Service (e.g., Auth0, Firebase)

• Auth0:

  • Sign up for an Auth0 account and create a new application.
  • Configure your app to use Auth0's authentication API. For a Next.js app, you could use the nextjs-auth0 SDK to handle login, sign-up, and session management.
  • Customize the Auth0 login flow if needed (e.g., adding social logins, email/password authentication, MFA).

• Firebase:

  • Set up Firebase and configure Firebase Authentication for your app.
  • Use the Firebase SDK to integrate Firebase Authentication with your Next.js or Express.js app. Firebase handles sign-up, login, and session management for you.
  • You can add other features like social login (Google, Facebook) with minimal configuration.

2. Store User Data in MongoDB Atlas

• After a user logs in via a third-party service, you’ll need to store additional user information in MongoDB Atlas.

  For example:

  • On user sign-up or login, use the user’s Auth0 ID (or Firebase UID) to create a new document in the users collection.
  • Store user-related data such as their name, email, profile picture, preferences, and any other metadata you need.

  Example MongoDB schema:

  const userSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
  auth0Id: { type: String, unique: true, required: true },  // Auth0 user ID
  email: { type: String, required: true },
  username: { type: String },
  profilePicture: { type: String },  // URL of profile picture
  preferences: { type: Object },  // Custom user preferences
  createdAt: { type: Date, default: Date.now },
  });
  
  const User = mongoose.model("User", userSchema);

• When a user logs in or signs up, you check if the user exists in your MongoDB database. If not, create a new user document.

3. Authenticate and Link Data on the Backend

• After login, your Express.js backend can handle requests from the client.

  • When a user makes a request, send the JWT from the client (e.g., stored in a cookie or localStorage).
  • On the backend, use the authentication service’s SDK (e.g., auth0-node for Auth0) to verify the JWT and extract the user’s ID or other identifiers.
  • Query MongoDB to retrieve the user’s data using the identifier (e.g., Auth0 user ID or Firebase UID).
  • Return the user’s data as part of the response to the client.

  Example:

  const jwt = require("jsonwebtoken");
  const User = require("./models/User");
  
  app.get("/profile", async (req, res) => {
  const token = req.cookies.token;
  if (!token) return res.status(401).send("Unauthorized");
  
  const decoded = jwt.verify(token, "your-secret-key");  // Use appropriate JWT secret
  const user = await User.findOne({ auth0Id: decoded.sub });
  
  if (user) {
    res.json({ user: user });
  } else {
    res.status(404).send("User not found");
  }
  });

4. Manage User Sessions and Data

• Ensure you have proper session management by securely storing and verifying JWTs, and using cookies or localStorage for front-end session management.
• Allow users to update their profile, preferences, or other data stored in MongoDB and keep it in sync with their authentication status.

Challenges & Considerations

• Token Expiration: Ensure proper handling of token expiration and refresh tokens, especially if using JWT.
• Security: Always secure user data in transit (use HTTPS) and consider password hashing and encryption for sensitive information.
• Data Integrity: Make sure that changes to user data in MongoDB are synchronized with authentication records in the third-party service.

Conclusion

The hybrid approach allows you to leverage the best of both worlds: a powerful, secure authentication system provided by third-party services, combined with the flexibility and control of storing user data in your existing MongoDB Atlas database. This approach simplifies development by offloading authentication complexity while maintaining full control over user data and application logic.