React & Node.js Quickstart

This is a quickstart guide to help you integrate Descope with your React & Node.js application. Follow the steps below to get started.

Install React SDK

Install the SDK with the following command:

Terminal

npm i --save @descope/react-sdk

Import and Wrap Application with `AuthProvider`

Wrap the entire application with <AuthProvider />. You need your Project ID for this step, which you can find on the project page of your Descope console.

Note

You can also add the optional baseUrl parameter if you're utilizing a CNAME within your Descope project (ex: https://auth.company.com).

index.js

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom/client';
import { AuthProvider } from '@descope/react-sdk';
 
import App from './App';
 
const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById('root'));
 
root.render(
    <React.StrictMode>
        <AuthProvider projectId='__ProjectID__'>
            <App />
        </AuthProvider>
    </React.StrictMode>
);

Import Descope Functions and Add Flows Component

To trigger the Descope Flow, you will need to add this component. The screens you've customized in your Flow will appear here. You can also customize the component with the following:

flowId: ID of the flow you wish to use
onSuccess and onError: functions that execute when authentication succeeds or fails

Note

For the full list of component customization options, refer to our Descope Components Customization Doc.

App.js

import { useDescope, useSession, useUser } from '@descope/react-sdk'
import { Descope } from '@descope/react-sdk'
import { getSessionToken } from '@descope/react-sdk';
 
const App = () => {
	return (
		<Descope
          flowId="sign-up-or-in"
          onSuccess={(e) => console.log(e.detail.user)}
          onError={(e) => console.log('Could not log in!')}
        />
	);
};

Utilize the React SDK Hooks and Functions

Descope provides many different hooks to check if the user is authenticated, session is loading etc. You can use these to customize the user experience:

isAuthenticated: Boolean for the authentication state of the current user session.
isSessionLoading: Boolean for the loading state of the session. Can be used to display a "loading" message while the session is still loading.
useUser: Returns information about the currently authenticated user.
sessionToken: The JWT for the current session.

Note

For the full list of available hooks and functions, refer to the Auth Helpers Doc.

App.js

import { useCallback } from 'react'
 
import { useDescope, useSession, useUser } from '@descope/react-sdk'
import { Descope } from '@descope/react-sdk'
import { getSessionToken } from '@descope/react-sdk';
 
const App = () => {
  const { isAuthenticated, isSessionLoading } = useSession()
  const { user, isUserLoading } = useUser()
 
  const exampleFetchCall = async () => {
    const sessionToken = getSessionToken();
 
    // Example Fetch Call with HTTP Authentication Header
    fetch('your_application_server_url', {
      headers: {
        Accept: 'application/json',
        Authorization: 'Bearer ' + sessionToken,
      }
    })
  }
 
  return <>
    {!isAuthenticated &&
      (
        <Descope
          flowId="sign-up-or-in"
          onSuccess={(e) => console.log(e.detail.user)}
          onError={(e) => console.log('Could not log in!')}
        />
      )
    }
 
    {
      (isSessionLoading || isUserLoading) && <p>Loading...</p>
    }
 
    {!isUserLoading && isAuthenticated &&
      (
        <>
          <p>Hello {user.name}</p>
          <div>My Private Component</div>
        </>
      )
    }
  </>;
}
 
export default App;

Add Logout Functionality

You can use the React useCallback hook to create your logout function.

useDescope(): Returns further operations related to authentication including logout.

App.js

import { useCallback } from 'react'
 
import { useDescope, useSession, useUser } from '@descope/react-sdk'
import { Descope } from '@descope/react-sdk'
import { getSessionToken } from '@descope/react-sdk';
 
const App = () => {
  const { isAuthenticated, isSessionLoading } = useSession()
  const { user, isUserLoading } = useUser()
  const { logout } = useDescope()
 
  const exampleFetchCall = async () => {
    const sessionToken = getSessionToken();
 
    // example fetch call with authentication header
    fetch('your_application_server_url', {
      headers: {
        Accept: 'application/json',
        Authorization: 'Bearer ' + sessionToken,
      }
    })
  }
 
  const handleLogout = useCallback(() => {
    logout()
  }, [logout])
 
  return <>
    {!isAuthenticated &&
      (
        <Descope
          flowId="sign-up-or-in"
          onSuccess={(e) => console.log(e.detail.user)}
          onError={(e) => console.log('Could not log in!')}
        />
      )
    }
 
    {
      (isSessionLoading || isUserLoading) && <p>Loading...</p>
    }
 
    {!isUserLoading && isAuthenticated &&
      (
        <>
          <p>Hello {user.name}</p>
          <div>My Private Component</div>
          <button onClick={handleLogout}>Logout</button>
        </>
      )
    }
  </>;
}
 
export default App;

At this point, you're done with the frontend. If you would like to also handle Session Management in your backend, keep on reading!

Install Backend SDK

Install the SDK with the following command:

Terminal

npm i --save @descope/node-sdk

Import and Setup Backend SDK

You'll need import and setup all of the packages from the SDK.

If you're using a CNAME with your Descope project, make sure to include baseUrl in the parameters (e.g. {baseUrl : 'https://api.descope.com'}) when you initialize DescopeClient.

index.js

import DescopeClient from '@descope/node-sdk';
 
try {
    const descopeClient = DescopeClient({ projectId: '__ProjectID__' });
} catch (error) {
    console.log("failed to initialize: " + error)
}

Implement Session Validation

You will need to then fetch the session token from the Authorization header of each request, and use the SDK to validate the token.

The frontend SDK will store the session token in either a cookie or your browser's local storage. If using a cookie, the token will be sent to your app server automatically with every request.

index.js

// Fetch session token from HTTP Authorization Header
const sessionToken="xxxx"
 
try {
  const authInfo = await descopeClient.validateSession(sessionToken);
  console.log("Successfully validated user session:");
  console.log(authInfo);
} catch (error) {
  console.log ("Could not validate user session " + error);
}

Congratulations

Now that you've got the authentication down, go focus on building out the rest of your app!

Checkpoint

Your application is now integrated with Descope. Please test with sign-up or sign-in use case.

Need help?

Now that you have the end-to-end application working, you can choose to configure and personalize many different areas of Descope, including your brand, style, custom user authentication journeys, etc. We recommend starting with customizing your user-facing screens, such as signup and login.

Customize

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