AuthKit React Router Library

Important

This is an early-stage port of 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 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:

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="<your password>" # generate a secure password here

2. Programmatic Configuration

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

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.

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 and add the following:

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:

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:

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.

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 } = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Welcome back {user?.firstName && `, ${user?.firstName}`}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

Sign-in and sign-up routes

getSignInUrl and getSignUpUrl return a { url, headers } pair. The headers contain a short-lived Set-Cookie used for PKCE + CSRF protection, which must travel to the browser on the same redirect response that sends the user to AuthKit. Create dedicated redirect routes for sign-in and sign-up and link to those routes from your pages:

// app/routes/login.ts
import { redirect, type LoaderFunctionArgs } from 'react-router';
import { getSignInUrl } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export async function loader({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) {
  const url = new URL(request.url);
  const { url: authUrl, headers } = await getSignInUrl(url.searchParams.get('returnTo') ?? undefined, request);
  return redirect(authUrl, { headers });
}

// app/routes/signup.ts
import { redirect, type LoaderFunctionArgs } from 'react-router';
import { getSignUpUrl } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

export async function loader({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) {
  const url = new URL(request.url);
  const { url: authUrl, headers } = await getSignUpUrl(url.searchParams.get('returnTo') ?? undefined, request);
  return redirect(authUrl, { headers });
}

Passing request ensures the Secure attribute on the PKCE cookie matches your app's live protocol (important in local dev, where the app runs on http://localhost even if WORKOS_REDIRECT_URI is an https:// URL).

Then link to those routes from any page where you want to offer sign-in or sign-up:

// app/routes/_index.tsx
import { type ActionFunctionArgs, type LoaderFunctionArgs, Form, Link, useLoaderData } from 'react-router';
import { signOut, authkitLoader } from '@workos-inc/authkit-react-router';

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

export async function action({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) {
  return await signOut(request);
}

export default function HomePage() {
  const { user } = useLoaderData<typeof loader>();

  if (!user) {
    return (
      <>
        <Link to="/login">Log in</Link>
        <br />
        <Link to="/signup">Sign Up</Link>
      </>
    );
  }

  return (
    <Form method="post">
      <p>Welcome back {user?.firstName && `, ${user?.firstName}`}</p>
      <button type="submit">Sign out</button>
    </Form>
  );
}

Note

Prior to 0.10.0, getSignInUrl / getSignUpUrl returned a bare URL string that could be rendered directly in a <Link>. That pattern is no longer supported — see Migrating from 0.4.x below.

Sign-in endpoint

The sign-in route above doubles as your Sign-in endpoint (also known as initiate_login_uri) — the URL WorkOS redirects to when it needs to start an authentication flow on your app's behalf (for example, when an admin impersonates a user from the dashboard, or when a password-reset email lands on a device that is not already signed in).

In the WorkOS dashboard, go to Redirects and set the Sign-in endpoint to the public URL of the route (e.g., http://localhost:5173/login in development, https://your-app.com/login in production).

Important

A configured Sign-in endpoint is required for impersonation to work. Without it, WorkOS-initiated flows (such as impersonating a user from the dashboard) redirect directly to your callback URL without a state parameter and fail the PKCE/CSRF verification this library enforces on every callback, surfacing as a Missing required auth parameter error.

Requiring auth

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

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.

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.

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:

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:

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

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:

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:

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.

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

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:

{
  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:

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:

// 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.

Troubleshooting

Missing required auth parameter when impersonating from the WorkOS dashboard

This error occurs when WorkOS-initiated flows (such as dashboard impersonation) redirect directly to your callback URL without going through your application's sign-in flow. Because this library enforces PKCE/CSRF verification on every callback, the request is rejected when the required state parameter is missing.

Fix: Configure a sign-in endpoint in your WorkOS dashboard so that impersonation flows route through your app first, allowing the PKCE verifier and CSRF state to be set up before redirecting to WorkOS.

Migrating from 0.4.x

0.10.0 is a breaking release that adds PKCE and CSRF protection to the authorization-code flow. Upgrading from 0.4.x requires small changes to any route that builds a sign-in or sign-up URL.

1. getSignInUrl / getSignUpUrl now return { url, headers }

They used to return a bare URL string. They now return an object with a url and a Set-Cookie header that must travel to the browser on the redirect that starts the OAuth flow, so that the callback can verify the response came from this browser (CSRF) and recover the PKCE code verifier.

// 0.4.x
const signInUrl = await getSignInUrl();
return redirect(signInUrl);

// 0.10.0+
const { url, headers } = await getSignInUrl('/dashboard', request);
return redirect(url, { headers });

2. Use a dedicated redirect route for sign-in / sign-up

The old "load the URL into your page data and render it in a <Link>" pattern no longer works: the cookie and the URL must leave the server on the same response. Move the URL generation into a loader that returns a redirect, and link to that loader's path from your page:

// app/routes/login.ts
export async function loader({ request }: LoaderFunctionArgs) {
  const { url, headers } = await getSignInUrl(undefined, request);
  return redirect(url, { headers });
}

// Any page:
<Link to="/login">Log in</Link>

See Sign-in and sign-up routes above for the full pattern.

3. Pass request when calling from a loader

getSignInUrl / getSignUpUrl (and getAuthorizationUrl) accept the incoming Request as their second argument. Pass it when available so the PKCE cookie's Secure attribute reflects the live request protocol rather than the configured redirectUri's — otherwise local dev on http://localhost with WORKOS_REDIRECT_URI=https://… mints a Secure cookie the browser silently drops, and the callback fails with Auth cookie missing.

4. @workos-inc/node minimum is ^8.9.0

PKCE is implemented in @workos-inc/node's pkce namespace, which requires ^8.9.0. If your app pins an older version, upgrade:

npm install @workos-inc/node@^8.9.0