Protecting Routes & Data
Implement middleware and server-side checks to protect specific routes and data based on user authentication status.
Why Protect Routes & Data?
In any application, not all information or features should be accessible to everyone. Protecting routes and data is crucial for security.
- Route Protection: Prevents unauthorized users from even reaching certain pages (e.g., an admin dashboard).
- Data Protection: Ensures users can only view or modify data they are authorized to access (e.g., a user's own profile, not someone else's).
This lesson explores how Next.js helps you enforce these rules on the server side.
Introducing Next.js Middleware
Next.js Middleware allows you to run code before a request is completed. It's like a gatekeeper for your application.
Middleware runs on the Edge Runtime, providing extremely fast execution. It can:
- Redirect users to different pages.
- Rewrite URLs.
- Add/modify request or response headers.
- Perform authentication checks.