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@thallesp/nestjs-better-auth

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NestJS Better Auth Integration

A comprehensive NestJS integration library for Better Auth, providing seamless authentication and authorization for your NestJS applications.

Installation

Install the library in your NestJS project:

# Using npm
npm install better-auth nestjs-better-auth

# Using yarn
yarn add better-auth nestjs-better-auth

# Using pnpm
pnpm add better-auth nestjs-better-auth

# Using bun
bun add better-auth nestjs-better-auth

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have:

A working NestJS application
Better Auth installed and configured (installation guide)

Basic Setup

1. Disable Body Parser

Disable NestJS's built-in body parser to allow Better Auth to handle the raw request body:

import { NestFactory } from "@nestjs/core";
import { AppModule } from "./app.module";

async function bootstrap() {
  const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule, {
    bodyParser: false,
  });
  await app.listen(process.env.PORT ?? 3333);
}
bootstrap();

Don't worry, better-auth will automatically re-add the default body parsers.

Warning: Currently, Better Auth's NestJS integration only supports Express and does not work with Fastify.

2. Import AuthModule

Import the AuthModule in your root module:

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { AuthModule } from 'better-auth/nestjs';
import { auth } from "./auth";

@Module({
  imports: [
    AuthModule.forRoot(auth),
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Route Protection

Better Auth provides an AuthGuard to protect your routes. You can choose one of two approaches to implement route protection:

Option 1: Controller or Route Level Protection

Apply the guard to specific controllers or routes:

import { Controller, Get, UseGuards } from '@nestjs/common';
import { AuthGuard } from 'better-auth/nestjs';

@Controller('users')
@UseGuards(AuthGuard) // Apply to all routes in this controller
export class UserController {
  @Get('me')
  async getProfile() {
    return { message: "Protected route" };
  }
}

Option 2: Global Protection

Alternatively, you can register the guard globally using APP_GUARD to protect all routes by default:

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { APP_GUARD } from '@nestjs/core';
import { AuthModule, AuthGuard } from 'better-auth/nestjs';
import { auth } from "./auth";

@Module({
  imports: [
    AuthModule.forRoot(auth),
  ],
  providers: [
    {
      provide: APP_GUARD,
      useClass: AuthGuard,
    },
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Info: Choose either the controller/route level approach or the global approach based on your needs. You don't need to implement both.

Decorators

Better Auth provides several decorators to enhance your authentication setup:

Session Decorator

Access the user session in your controllers:

import { Controller, Get } from '@nestjs/common';
import { Session, UserSession } from 'better-auth/nestjs';

@Controller('users')
export class UserController {
  @Get('me')
  async getProfile(@Session() session: UserSession) {
    return session;
  }
}

Public and Optional Decorators

Control authentication requirements for specific routes:

import { Controller, Get } from '@nestjs/common';
import { Public, Optional } from 'better-auth/nestjs';

@Controller('users')
export class UserController {
  @Get('public')
  @Public() // Mark this route as public (no authentication required)
  async publicRoute() {
    return { message: "This route is public" };
  }

  @Get('optional')
  @Optional() // Authentication is optional for this route
  async optionalRoute(@Session() session: UserSession) {
    return { authenticated: !!session, session };
  }
}

Hook Decorators

Create custom hooks that integrate with NestJS's dependency injection:

import { Injectable } from "@nestjs/common";
import { BeforeHook, Hook } from "better-auth/nestjs";
import type { AuthContext } from "better-auth";
import { SignUpService } from "./sign-up.service";

@Hook()
@Injectable()
export class SignUpHook {
    constructor(private readonly signUpService: SignUpService) {}

    @BeforeHook('/sign-up/email')
    async handle(ctx: AuthContext) {
        // Custom logic like enforcing email domain registration
        // Can throw APIError if validation fails
        await this.signUpService.execute(ctx);
    }
}

import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { AuthModule } from 'better-auth/nestjs';
import { SignUpHook } from './hooks/sign-up.hook';
import { SignUpService } from './sign-up.service';
import { auth } from "./auth";

@Module({
  imports: [
    AuthModule.forRoot(auth),
  ],
  providers: [SignUpHook, SignUpService],
})
export class AppModule {}

AuthService

The AuthService is automatically provided by the AuthModule and can be injected into your controllers to access the Better Auth instance and its API endpoints.

import { Controller, Get, Post, Request, Body, UseGuards } from '@nestjs/common';
import { AuthGuard, AuthService } from 'better-auth/nestjs';
import { fromNodeHeaders } from 'better-auth/node';
import type { Request as ExpressRequest } from 'express';
import { auth } from '../auth';

@Controller('users')
@UseGuards(AuthGuard)
export class UsersController {
  constructor(private authService: AuthService<typeof auth>) {}

  @Get('accounts')
  async getAccounts(@Request() req: ExpressRequest) {
    // Pass the request headers to the auth API
    const accounts = await this.authService.api.listUserAccounts({
      headers: fromNodeHeaders(req.headers),
    });
    
    return { accounts };
  }

  @Post('api-keys')
  async createApiKey(@Request() req: ExpressRequest, @Body() body) {
    // Access plugin-specific functionality with request headers
    // createApiKey is a method added by a plugin, not part of the core API
    return this.authService.api.createApiKey({
      ...body,
      headers: fromNodeHeaders(req.headers)
    });
  }
}

When using plugins that extend the Auth type with additional functionality, use generics to access the extended features as shown above with AuthService<typeof auth>. This ensures type safety when using plugin-specific API methods like createApiKey.

Request Object Access

You can access the session and user through the request object:

import { Controller, Get, Request } from '@nestjs/common';
import type { Request as ExpressRequest } from 'express';

@Controller('users')
export class UserController {
  @Get('me')
  async getProfile(@Request() req: ExpressRequest) {
    return {
      session: req.session, // Session is attached to the request
      user: req.user, // User object is attached to the request
    };
  }
}

The request object provides:

req.session: The full session object containing user data and authentication state
req.user: A direct reference to the user object from the session (useful for observability tools like Sentry)

Exception Filter

Better Auth's NestJS integration includes a built-in exception filter for handling APIError instances. You can disable this filter and implement your own:

AuthModule.forRoot(auth, { disableExceptionFilter: true })

Then you can create your own exception filter:

@Catch(APIError)
export class CustomAPIErrorFilter implements ExceptionFilter {
  catch(exception: APIError, host: ArgumentsHost) {
    const ctx = host.switchToHttp();
    const response = ctx.getResponse();
    
    // Your custom error handling logic
    response.status(exception.statusCode).json({
      statusCode: exception.statusCode,
      message: exception.body?.message,
      // Add custom fields as needed
      timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    });
  }
}

This allows you to customize error responses while still leveraging Better Auth's error system.

Module Options

When configuring AuthModule.forRoot(), you can provide options to customize the behavior:

AuthModule.forRoot(auth, {
  disableExceptionFilter: false,
  disableTrustedOriginsCors: false,
  disableBodyParser: false
})

The available options are:

Option	Default	Description
`disableExceptionFilter`	`false`	When set to `true`, disables the built-in exception filter for handling `APIError` instances. Use this if you want to implement your own custom exception filter.
`disableTrustedOriginsCors`	`false`	When set to `true`, disables the automatic CORS configuration for the origins specified in `trustedOrigins`. Use this if you want to handle CORS configuration manually.
`disableBodyParser`	`false`	When set to `true`, disables the automatic body parser middleware. Use this if you want to handle request body parsing manually.

@thallesp/nestjs-better-auth