Next.js AWS Cognito Authentication | Complete 2025 Guide

🚀 Implementing Authentication in a Next.js App with AWS Cognito

If you’re building a serverless or JAMstack app using Next.js, integrating AWS Cognito for authentication is a powerful and scalable solution. In this guide, we’ll walk you through setting up authentication using AWS Cognito User Pools and managing sessions within your Next.js frontend.

🔗 Table of Contents

1. Why AWS Cognito for Authentication?
2. Set Up AWS Cognito User Pool
3. Integrate AWS Cognito in Next.js App
4. Implement Signup, Login & Logout
5. Handle Tokens & Sessions
6. Protect Routes in Next.js
7. Conclusion

✅ Why AWS Cognito for Authentication?

AWS Cognito offers:

• Secure user sign-up and sign-in
• Built-in multi-factor authentication
• Easy integration with AWS Lambda and API Gateway
• Supports OAuth, SAML, and custom authentication flows

📘 Also Read: AWS Cognito Docs

🔧 Set Up AWS Cognito User Pool

1. Go to AWS Cognito Console
2. Create a User Pool
   • Choose Email or Phone number as username
   • Enable MFA if needed
   • Set up App client (no client secret for browser-based apps)
3. Copy your:
   • User Pool ID
   • App Client ID
   • AWS Region

💻 Integrate AWS Cognito in Next.js App

Install AWS Amplify (or Amazon Cognito SDK):

npm install aws-amplify

Initialize AWS Amplify:

// aws-config.js
import { Amplify } from 'aws-amplify';

Amplify.configure({
  Auth: {
    region: 'us-east-1',
    userPoolId: 'us-east-1_XXXXXXX',
    userPoolWebClientId: 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXX',
  },
});

Use it in your app:

// _app.js
import '../styles/globals.css';
import '../aws-config';

function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }) {
  return <Component {...pageProps} />
}

🔐 Implement Signup, Login & Logout

Signup:

import { Auth } from 'aws-amplify';

const signUp = async () => {
  try {
    await Auth.signUp({
      username: 'test@example.com',
      password: 'Password123!',
      attributes: { email: 'test@example.com' }
    });
  } catch (error) {
    console.log('Signup Error:', error);
  }
};

Login:

const signIn = async () => {
  try {
    const user = await Auth.signIn('test@example.com', 'Password123!');
    console.log('Signed in user:', user);
  } catch (error) {
    console.log('Sign-in Error:', error);
  }
};

Logout:

const signOut = async () => {
  await Auth.signOut();
};

🔐 Handle Tokens & Sessions

To get current user session:

const session = await Auth.currentSession();
const idToken = session.getIdToken().getJwtToken();

Use this token in API calls (e.g., Axios headers).

🔒 Protect Routes in Next.js

You can create a HOC (higher-order component) or use middleware to protect pages:

import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { useRouter } from 'next/router';
import { Auth } from 'aws-amplify';

const withAuth = (WrappedComponent) => {
  return (props) => {
    const router = useRouter();

    useEffect(() => {
      Auth.currentAuthenticatedUser()
        .catch(() => {
          router.push('/login');
        });
    }, []);

    return <WrappedComponent {...props} />;
  };
};

export default withAuth;

Use this to wrap protected pages:

export default withAuth(MySecurePage);

🧩 Conclusion

By using AWS Cognito with Next.js, you get scalable, secure, and easy-to-manage user authentication. With Amplify, you can abstract much of the heavy lifting and focus on building your app’s experience.

📚 Related Posts

• Deploying Next.js App to AWS
• Serverless Authentication using JWT
• Next.js Middleware: What You Need to Know

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