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How to Authenticate Users with MetaMask

Introduction​

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a NextJS application that allows users to log in using their Web3 wallets.

After Web3 wallet authentication, the next-auth library creates a session cookie with an encrypted JWT (JWE) stored inside. It contains session info (such as an address, signed message, and expiration time) in the user's browser. It's a secure way to store users' info without a database, and it's impossible to read/modify the JWT without a secret key.

Once the user is logged in, they will be able to visit a page that displays all their user data.

You can find the repository with the final code here.

The above shows what the user will see once they log in using their wallet.

info

You can find the final dapp with implemented style on our GitHub.

Prerequisites​

  1. Create a Moralis account.
  2. Install and set up Visual Studio.
  3. Create your NextJS dapp (you can create it using create-next-app or follow the NextJS dapp tutorial).
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In this tutorial, we will use the latest version of nextjs and the pages directory to create our dapp.

Install the Required Dependencies​

  1. Install moralis and @moralisweb3/next (if not installed) and next-authdependencies:
npm install moralis @moralisweb3/next next-auth
  1. To implement authentication using a Web3 wallet (e.g., MetaMask), we need to use a Web3 library. For the tutorial, we will use wagmi. So, install the wagmi dependency:
npm install wagmi viem
  1. Add new environment variables in your .env.local file in the app root:
  • APP_DOMAIN: RFC 4501 DNS authority that is requesting the signing.
  • MORALIS_API_KEY: You can get it here.
  • NEXTAUTH_URL: Your app address. In the development stage, use http://localhost:3000.
  • NEXTAUTH_SECRET: Used for encrypting JWT tokens of users. You can put any value here or generate it on https://generate-secret.now.sh/32. Here's an .env.local example:
APP_DOMAIN=amazing.finance
MORALIS_API_KEY=xxxx
NEXTAUTH_URL=http://localhost:3000
NEXTAUTH_SECRET=7197b3e8dbee5ea6274cab37245eec212
danger

Keep your NEXTAUTH_SECRET value in secret to prevent security problems.

caution

Every time you modify the .env.local file, you need to restart your dapp.

Wrapping App with WagmiConfig and SessionProvider​

  1. Create the pages/_app.jsx file. We need to wrap our pages with WagmiConfig (docs) and SessionProvider (docs):
import { createConfig, configureChains, WagmiConfig } from "wagmi";
import { publicProvider } from "wagmi/providers/public";
import { SessionProvider } from "next-auth/react";
import { mainnet } from "wagmi/chains";

const { publicClient, webSocketPublicClient } = configureChains(
  [mainnet],
  [publicProvider()]
);

const config = createConfig({
  autoConnect: true,
  publicClient,
  webSocketPublicClient,
});

function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }) {
  return (
    
    <WagmiConfig config={config}>
      <SessionProvider session={pageProps.session} refetchInterval={0}>
        <Component {...pageProps} />
      </SessionProvider>
    </WagmiConfig>
  );
}

export default MyApp;
info

NextJS uses the App component to initialize pages. You can override it and control the page initialization. Check out the NextJS docs.

Configure Next-Auth and MoralisNextAuth​

  1. Create a new file, pages/api/auth/[...nextauth].js, with the following content:
import NextAuth from "next-auth";
import { MoralisNextAuthProvider } from "@moralisweb3/next";

export default NextAuth({
  providers: [MoralisNextAuthProvider()],
  // adding user info to the user session object
  callbacks: {
    async jwt({ token, user }) {
      if (user) {
        token.user = user;
      }
      return token;
    },
    async session({ session, token }) {
      session.user = token.user;
      return session;
    },
  },
});
  1. Add an authenticating config to the pages/api/moralis/[...moralis].ts:
import { MoralisNextApi } from "@moralisweb3/next";

export default MoralisNextApi({
  apiKey: process.env.MORALIS_API_KEY,
  authentication: {
    domain: "amazing.dapp",
    uri: process.env.NEXTAUTH_URL,
    timeout: 120,
  },
});

Create Sign-In Page​

  1. Create a new page file, pages/signin.jsx, with the following content:
function SignIn() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h3>Web3 Authentication</h3>
    </div>
  );
}

export default SignIn;
  1. Let's create a button for enabling our Web3 provider and console.log users' information:
import { useConnect } from "wagmi";
import { MetaMaskConnector } from "wagmi/connectors/metaMask";

function SignIn() {
  const { connectAsync } = useConnect();

  const handleAuth = async () => {
    const { account, chain } = await connectAsync({
      connector: new MetaMaskConnector(),
    });

    const userData = { address: account, chainId: chain.id };

    console.log(userData);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <h3>Web3 Authentication</h3>
      <button onClick={handleAuth}>Authenticate via Metamask</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default SignIn;

Web3 Authentication Page

  1. Extend the handleAuth functionality for calling useSignMessage() hook:
import { MetaMaskConnector } from "wagmi/connectors/metaMask";
import { useAccount, useConnect, useSignMessage, useDisconnect } from "wagmi";
import { useAuthRequestChallengeEvm } from "@moralisweb3/next";

function SignIn() {
  const { connectAsync } = useConnect();
  const { disconnectAsync } = useDisconnect();
  const { isConnected } = useAccount();
  const { signMessageAsync } = useSignMessage();
  const { requestChallengeAsync } = useAuthRequestChallengeEvm();

  const handleAuth = async () => {
    if (isConnected) {
      await disconnectAsync();
    }

    const { account, chain } = await connectAsync({
      connector: new MetaMaskConnector(),
    });

    const { message } = await requestChallengeAsync({
      address: account,
      chainId: chain.id,
    });

    const signature = await signMessageAsync({ message });

    console.log(signature);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <h3>Web3 Authentication</h3>
      <button onClick={handleAuth}>Authenticate via Metamask</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default SignIn;

Secure Authentication after Signing and Verifying the Signed Message​

  1. Return to the pages/signin.jsx file. Let's add the next-auth authentication:
import { MetaMaskConnector } from "wagmi/connectors/metaMask";
import { signIn } from "next-auth/react";
import { useAccount, useConnect, useSignMessage, useDisconnect } from "wagmi";
import { useRouter } from "next/router";
import { useAuthRequestChallengeEvm } from "@moralisweb3/next";

function SignIn() {
  const { connectAsync } = useConnect();
  const { disconnectAsync } = useDisconnect();
  const { isConnected } = useAccount();
  const { signMessageAsync } = useSignMessage();
  const { requestChallengeAsync } = useAuthRequestChallengeEvm();
  const { push } = useRouter();

  const handleAuth = async () => {
    if (isConnected) {
      await disconnectAsync();
    }

    const { account, chain } = await connectAsync({
      connector: new MetaMaskConnector(),
    });

    const { message } = await requestChallengeAsync({
      address: account,
      chainId: chain.id,
    });

    const signature = await signMessageAsync({ message });

    // redirect user after success authentication to '/user' page
    const { url } = await signIn("moralis-auth", {
      message,
      signature,
      redirect: false,
      callbackUrl: "/user",
    });
    /**
     * instead of using signIn(..., redirect: "/user")
     * we get the url from callback and push it to the router to avoid page refreshing
     */
    push(url);
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <h3>Web3 Authentication</h3>
      <button onClick={handleAuth}>Authenticate via Metamask</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export default SignIn;

Showing the User Profile​

  1. Let's create a user page, pages/user.jsx, with the following content:
import { getSession, signOut } from "next-auth/react";

// gets a prop from getServerSideProps
function User({ user }) {
  return (
    <div>
      <h4>User session:</h4>
      <pre>{JSON.stringify(user, null, 2)}</pre>
      <button onClick={() => signOut({ redirect: "/signin" })}>Sign out</button>
    </div>
  );
}

export async function getServerSideProps(context) {
  const session = await getSession(context);

  // redirect if not authenticated
  if (!session) {
    return {
      redirect: {
        destination: "/signin",
        permanent: false,
      },
    };
  }

  return {
    props: { user: session.user },
  };
}

export default User;

Testing the MetaMask Wallet Connector​

Visit http://localhost:3000/signin to test the authentication.

  1. Click on the Authenticate via Metamask button:

Sign-In Page

  1. Connect the MetaMask wallet:

Selecting a MetaMask Wallet

MetaMask Wallet Connecting

  1. Sign the message:

Signing the Message

  1. After successful authentication, you will be redirected to the /user page:

User Page

  1. Visit http://localhost:3000/user to test the user session functionality:
  • When a user authenticates, we show the user's info on the page.
  • When a user is not authenticated, we redirect to the /signin page.
  • When a user is authenticated, we show the user's info on the page, even refreshing after the page.
    • (Explanation: After Web3 wallet authentication, the next-auth library creates a session cookie with an encrypted JWT (JWE) stored inside. It contains session info [such as an address and signed message] in the user's browser.)

User Session Page