For our new friends:

Logto is an Auth0 alternative designed for modern apps and SaaS products. It offers both Cloud and Open-source services to help you quickly launch your identity and management (IAM) system. Enjoy authentication, authorization, and multi-tenant management all in one.

We recommend starting with a free development tenant on Logto Cloud. This allows you to explore all the features easily.

In this article, we will go through the steps to quickly build the AWS SES sign-in experience (user authentication) with Next.js (Pages Router) and Logto.

Prerequisites

• A running Logto instance. Check out the introduction page to get started.
• Basic knowledge of Next.js (Pages Router).
• A usable AWS SES account.

Create an application in Logto

Logto is based on OpenID Connect (OIDC) authentication and OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports federated identity management across multiple applications, commonly called Single Sign-On (SSO).

To create your Traditional web application, simply follow these steps:

1. Open the Logto Console. In the "Get started" section, click the "View all" link to open the application frameworks list. Alternatively, you can navigate to Logto Console > Applications, and click the "Create application" button.
2. In the opening modal, click the "Traditional web" section or filter all the available "Traditional web" frameworks using the quick filter checkboxes on the left. Click the "Next.js" framework card to start creating your application.
3. Enter the application name, e.g., "Bookstore," and click "Create application".

🎉 Ta-da! You just created your first application in Logto. You'll see a congrats page which includes a detailed integration guide. Follow the guide to see what the experience will be in your application.

Integrate Logto SDK

tip:

• The sample project is available on our SDK repository.
• The example is based on Next.js Pages Router.

Installation

Install Logto SDK via your favorite package manager:

npm

npm i @logto/next

pnpm

pnpm add @logto/next

yarn

yarn add @logto/next

Integration

Init LogtoClient

Import and initialize LogtoClient:

libraries/logto.ts

import LogtoClient from '@logto/next';

export const logtoClient = new LogtoClient({
  appId: '<your-application-id>',
  appSecret: '<your-app-secret-copied-from-console>',
  endpoint: '<your-logto-endpoint>', // E.g. http://localhost:3001
  baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000',
  cookieSecret: 'complex_password_at_least_32_characters_long',
  cookieSecure: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production',
});

Configure Redirect URIs

Before we dive into the details, here's a quick overview of the end-user experience. The sign-in process can be simplified as follows:

1. Your app invokes the sign-in method.
2. The user is redirected to the Logto sign-in page. For native apps, the system browser is opened.
3. The user signs in and is redirected back to your app (configured as the redirect URI).

Regarding redirect-based sign-in

1. This authentication process follows the OpenID Connect (OIDC) protocol, and Logto enforces strict security measures to protect user sign-in.
2. If you have multiple apps, you can use the same identity provider (Logto). Once the user signs in to one app, Logto will automatically complete the sign-in process when the user accesses another app.

To learn more about the rationale and benefits of redirect-based sign-in, see Logto sign-in experience explained.

---

note:

In the following code snippets, we assume your app is running on http://localhost:3000/.

Configure redirect URIs

Switch to the application details page of Logto Console. Add a redirect URI http://localhost:3000/api/logto/sign-in-callback.

Just like signing in, users should be redirected to Logto for signing out of the shared session. Once finished, it would be great to redirect the user back to your website. For example, add http://localhost:3000/ as the post sign-out redirect URI section.

Then click "Save" to save the changes.

Prepare API routes

Prepare API routes to connect with Logto.

Go back to your IDE/editor, use the following code to implement the API routes first:

pages/api/logto/[action].ts

import { logtoClient } from '../../../libraries/logto';

export default logtoClient.handleAuthRoutes();

This will create 4 routes automatically:

1. /api/logto/sign-in: Sign in with Logto.
2. /api/logto/sign-in-callback: Handle sign-in callback.
3. /api/logto/sign-out: Sign out with Logto.
4. /api/logto/user: Check if user is authenticated with Logto, if yes, return user info.

Implement sign-in and sign-out

We have prepared the API routes, now let's implement the sign-in and sign-out buttons in your home page. We need to redirect the user to the sign-in or sign-out route when needed. To help with this, use useSWR to fetch authentication status from /api/logto/user.

Check this guide to learn more about useSWR.

/pages/index.tsx

import { type LogtoContext } from '@logto/next';
import useSWR from 'swr';

const Home = () => {
  const { data } = useSWR<LogtoContext>('/api/logto/user');

  return (
    <nav>
      {data?.isAuthenticated ? (
        <p>
          Hello, {data.claims?.sub},
          <button
            onClick={() => {
              window.location.assign('/api/logto/sign-out');
            }}
          >
            Sign Out
          </button>
        </p>
      ) : (
        <p>
          <button
            onClick={() => {
              window.location.assign('/api/logto/sign-in');
            }}
          >
            Sign In
          </button>
        </p>
      )}
    </nav>
  );
};

export default Home;

Checkpoint: Test your application

Now, you can test your application:

1. Run your application, you will see the sign-in button.
2. Click the sign-in button, the SDK will init the sign-in process and redirect you to the Logto sign-in page.
3. After you signed in, you will be redirected back to your application and see the sign-out button.
4. Click the sign-out button to clear token storage and sign out.

Add AWS SES connector

Email connector is a method used to send one-time passwords (OTPs) for authentication. It enables Email address verification to support passwordless authentication, including Email-based registration, sign-in, two-factor authentication (2FA), and account recovery. You can easily connect AWS SES as your Email provider. With the Logto Email connector, you can set this up in just a few minutes.

To add a Email connector, simply follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Console > Connector > Email and SMS connectors.
2. To add a new Email connector, click the "Set up" button and select "AWS SES".
3. Review the README documentation for your selected provider.
4. Complete the configuration fields in the "Parameter Configuration" section.
5. Customize the Email template using the JSON editor.
6. Test your configuration by sending a verification code to your Email address.

note:

If you are following the in-place Connector guide, you can skip the next section.

Set up AWS SES email connector

Configure a mail service in the AWS service console

Register AWS account

Go to AWS and register an account.

Create a identity

• Go to Amazon Simple Email Service Console
• Create an identity, choose one of the following options
  • Create an domain
  • Create an email address

Configuration of the connector

1. Click your username in the upper right corner of the Amazon console to enter Security Credentials. If you don't have one, create an AccessKey and save it carefully.
2. Complete the settings of the Amazon Simple Email Service connector:
   • Use the AccessKey ID and AccessKey Secret obtained in step 1 to fill in accessKeyId and accessKeySecret respectively.
   • region: Fill in the region field with the region of the identity you use to send mail.
   • emailAddress: The email address you use to send mail, in the format of Logto\<[email protected]> or \<[email protected]>

the following parameters are optional; parameters description can be found in the AWS SES API documentation.

• feedbackForwardingEmailAddress
• feedbackForwardingEmailAddressIdentityArn
• configurationSetName

Test the Amazon SES connector

You can type in an email address and click on "Send" to see whether the settings work before "Save and Done".

That's it. Don't forget to Enable connector in sign-in experience.

Configure types

Name	Type
accessKeyId	string
accessKeySecret	string
region	string
emailAddress	string (OPTIONAL)
emailAddressIdentityArn	string (OPTIONAL)
feedbackForwardingEmailAddress	string (OPTIONAL)
feedbackForwardingEmailAddressIdentityArn	string (OPTIONAL)
configurationSetName	string (OPTIONAL)
templates	Template[]

Template Properties	Type	Enum values
subject	string	N/A
content	string	N/A
usageType	enum string	'Register' | 'SignIn' | 'ForgotPassword' | 'Generic'

Save your configuration

Double check you have filled out necessary values in the Logto connector configuration area. Click "Save and Done" (or "Save changes") and the AWS SES connector should be available now.

Enable AWS SES connector in Sign-in Experience

Once you create a connector successfully, you can enable phone number-based passwordless login and registration.

1. Navigate to Console > Sign-in experience > Sign-up and sign-in.
2. Set up sign-up methods (Optional):
   1. Select "Email address" or "Email or phone number" as the sign-up identifier.
   2. "Verify at sign-up" is forced to be enabled. You can also enable "Create a password" on registration.
3. Set up sign-in methods:
   1. Select Email address as one of sign-in identifiers. You can provide multiple available identifiers (email, phone number, and username).
   2. Select "Verification code" and / or "Password" as the authentication factor.
4. Click "Save changes" and test it in "Live preview".

In addition to registration and login via OTPs, you can also have password recovery and -based security verification enabled, as well as linking Email address to profile. See End-user flows for more details.

Testing and Validation

Return to your Next.js (Pages Router) app. You should now be able to sign in with AWS SES. Enjoy!

Further readings

End-user flows: Logto provides a out-of-the-box authentication flows including MFA and enterprise SSO, along with powerful APIs for flexible implementation of account settings, security verification, and multi-tenant experience.

Authorization: Authorization defines the actions a user can do or resources they can access after being authenticated. Explore how to protect your API for native and single-page applications and implement Role-based Access Control (RBAC).

Organizations: Particularly effective in multi-tenant SaaS and B2B apps, the organization feature enable tenant creation, member management, organization-level RBAC, and just-in-time-provisioning.

Customer IAM series Our serial blog posts about Customer (or Consumer) Identity and Access Management, from 101 to advanced topics and beyond.