From NextJS to Go and Why I Built My Own Auth

“Don’t roll your own auth.”

It’s practically a mantra in software development circles. And for good reasons – authentication is a critical security component where mistakes can be catastrophic. But what if I told you that building your own authentication system isn’t the security nightmare it’s often made out to be?

When I recently migrated my app Announcable from NextJS to Go, I faced the authentication question head-on. The popular auth solutions felt like bringing a Swiss Army knife to cut a piece of string—unnecessarily complex for what I needed.

Can you believe that most authentication libraries and services require you to adapt your entire application architecture to their patterns? I couldn’t help but wonder: is authentication really that complex, or have we just convinced ourselves it is?

With a fresh Go codebase and a desire to understand every part of my system, I decided to take the plunge. Two resources where particularly useful:

I was surprised when reading through the material. The core components of authentication are actually quite straightforward when broken down. It’s not about reinventing cryptography (please don’t do that!) but rather – as it is so often – about correctly implementing well-established patterns.

In this post, I’ll walk you through how I implemented each component of my authentication system in Go, with code examples that you can adapt for your own projects. Whether you’re considering building your own auth or just curious about what goes on behind those login forms, I hope you’ll find this breakdown illuminating.

Let’s demystify authentication together, one component at a time.

Core Components of an Authentication System

When you break it down, an authentication system isn’t some mystical black box. It’s a collection of well-defined components working together to answer one fundamental question: “Are you who you claim to be?”

Here are the essential components we’ll implement:

Secure Password Storage: This is our first line of defense. We’ll use bcrypt to convert plaintext passwords into hashed versions that can’t be reversed. It’s like storing the fingerprint of the password rather than the password itself.
Cryptographically Secure Random Generation: Randomness is crucial in security. We need unpredictable strings for session tokens, CSRF tokens, and more. If these were predictable, the whole system would collapse.
Session Management: Once a user logs in, we don’t want them to keep entering credentials. Sessions allow us to remember authenticated users across requests. The user gets a token (like a temporary ID card), and we store the associated data securely on our server.
Rate Limiting: Without this, attackers could try thousands of passwords per minute. Rate limiting puts a cap on how many attempts they get, making brute force attacks impractical.
CSRF Protection: Cross-Site Request Forgery is like someone tricking you into signing a document without reading it. Our protection ensures requests genuinely come from our application, not from malicious sites.
Authentication Handlers: These are the endpoints that process registration and login attempts, creating users and sessions when appropriate.
Authentication Middleware: This checks if incoming requests are authenticated before allowing access to protected resources.

Each component has a single responsibility, making the system easier to understand, test, and maintain. No monolithic authentication service that you have to adapt your entire application around.

In the following sections, we’ll implement each of these components in Go, starting with how to securely store passwords. The code will be clean, focused, and—most importantly—understandable.

Let’s get started with the foundation of any authentication system: secure password storage.

Implementation: Secure Password Storage with Bcrypt

The cornerstone of any authentication system is how you handle passwords. The cardinal rule is simple: never, ever store passwords in plain text. But what’s the right way to store them?

Enter bcrypt, a password-hashing function designed specifically for this purpose. Unlike general-purpose hashing algorithms like SHA-256, bcrypt is intentionally slow, which is actually a feature, not a bug. It makes brute-force attacks computationally expensive, even with modern hardware.

Think of bcrypt like a vault with a time-lock mechanism. Even if someone gets access to your database, they’d need significant time and computing power to crack each password. And the beauty of bcrypt is that you can adjust its “cost factor” to make it slower as computers get faster.

In Go, implementing password hashing with bcrypt is straightforward thanks to the golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt package. Let’s look at how I implemented this in Announcable:

package password
 
import (
	"golang.org/x/crypto/bcrypt"
)
 
func HashPassword(password string) (string, error) {
	passwordBytes := []byte(password)
	hashed, err := bcrypt.GenerateFromPassword(passwordBytes, bcrypt.MinCost)
	if err != nil {
		return "", err
	}
	return string(hashed), nil
}
 
func DoPasswordsMatch(hashedPassword, test string) bool {
	if err := bcrypt.CompareHashAndPassword([]byte(hashedPassword), []byte(test)); err != nil {
		return false
	}
	return true
}

The magic happens in two key functions:

HashPassword: Takes a plaintext password and returns a securely hashed version
DoPasswordsMatch: Compares a plaintext password against a stored hash to verify if they match

When a user registers, we hash their password and store only the hash. When they log in, we take their entered password, run it through the same hashing process, and compare the result with our stored hash. If they match, the password is correct.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate that something so fundamental to security is implemented in just a few lines of code! The complexity isn’t in the implementation but in the cryptographic principles behind it. Principles that brilliant minds have already figured out for us.

With our password storage secured, we need a way to generate random tokens for sessions and CSRF protection. Let’s tackle that next.

Implementation: Generating Cryptographically Secure Random Strings

Randomness might seem like a simple concept, but in security, not all random is created equal. When we talk about generating session tokens or CSRF tokens, we need randomness that’s unpredictable, even to someone with significant computing resources.

This is where cryptographically secure random number generators (CSPRNGs) come in. Unlike standard random functions that might be predictable if you know the seed, CSPRNGs are designed to resist prediction and reverse-engineering.

In Go, the crypto/rand package provides a cryptographically secure random number generator. Let’s look at how I implemented random string generation in Announcable:

package random
 
import (
	"crypto/rand"
	"crypto/sha256"
	"encoding/base32"
	"encoding/hex"
)
 
func CreateRandomToken() string {
	bytes := make([]byte, 15)
	rand.Read(bytes)
	token := base32.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(bytes)
	return token
}
 
func EncodeToken(token string) string {
	byteId := sha256.Sum256([]byte(token))
	return hex.EncodeToString(byteId[:])
}

This function does something seemingly simple but critically important: it generates a string of random bytes of a specified length, then encodes it to make it URL-safe.

Why is this so important? Imagine if our session tokens followed a predictable pattern. An attacker could potentially guess valid session tokens and hijack user sessions. With cryptographically secure random tokens, each one is completely independent and unpredictable.

With our ability to generate secure random tokens in place, we can now move on to building the session service—the component that will use these tokens to keep track of authenticated users across requests.

Implementation: Building a Session Service

Sessions are the backbone of modern web authentication. They allow us to recognize returning users without asking them to re-enter credentials with every request. But how do we implement sessions securely and efficiently?

At its core, a session is just a way to maintain state between HTTP requests. Since HTTP is stateless by design, we need a mechanism to associate requests with specific users. This is where our session service comes in.

The session flow works like this:

User logs in with correct credentials
Server generates a random session token
Server stores user information associated with that token
Server sends the token to the client (usually as a cookie)
Client includes the token in subsequent requests
Server validates the token and retrieves the associated user information

Let’s look at how I implemented this in Announcable (some parts left out for brevity):

package session
 
import (
	"your/project/random"
)
 
func (s *service) CreateToken() string {
    // create a random token through our random package
	token := random.CreateRandomToken()
	return token
}
 
func (s *service) CreateSession(token string, userId uuid.UUID) error {
    // create a new session record from a random token and user id
	sessionId := hashToken(token)
	expiresAt := calcNextExpiry()
	session := Session{ExternalID: sessionId, ExpiresAt: expiresAt, UserID: userId}
	return s.repository.Save(&session)
}
 
func (s *service) ValidateSession(token string) (*Session, error) {
    // returns a session from a token, if there is any
    // and resets the expiry if successful
	sessionId := hashToken(token)
	session, err := s.repository.FindByExternalId(sessionId)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	if sessionIsExpired(session) {
		if err := s.repository.Delete(session.ID); err != nil {
			return nil, err
		}
		return nil, s.repository.db.ErrRecordNotFound
	}
	session.ExpiresAt = calcNextExpiry()
	if err := s.repository.Save(session); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	return session, nil
}

There are several key components to this implementation:

First, the session store. In my case, I’m using a database to persist sessions, but you could also use Redis or even an in-memory store (though the latter wouldn’t survive server restarts).

Second, the session creation. When a user successfully authenticates, we generate a random token using our secure random generator, create a session record with the user’s information, and store it in our database.

Third, session validation. When a request comes in with a session token, we look up the corresponding session in our database. If it exists and hasn’t expired, we return it so other components can access the data stored in it.

And finally, session expiration and cleanup. Sessions should have a limited lifetime for security reasons. I’ve implemented an expiry for a session, and decided to reset its expiry each time a user accesses Announcable. That way, users do not get logged out if they continue using the app.

One thing you might notice is that I’m not storing the raw session token in the database. Instead, I hash it first. This is a security measure. If someone somehow gained access to your database, they wouldn’t be able to use the stored session identifiers directly. They’d need the original tokens, which are only sent to the legitimate users.

Implementation: Rate Limiting to Prevent Brute Force Attacks

Imagine someone trying every possible key on your front door until they find the one that works. That’s essentially what a brute force attack is, repeatedly guessing passwords until finding the correct one. Without protection, attackers could make thousands of login attempts per minute, significantly increasing their chances of breaking in.

This is where rate limiting comes in. It’s a simple but effective defense: Limit how many attempts a user (or IP address) can make within a certain timeframe. After reaching the limit, subsequent attempts are blocked temporarily.

In Announcable, I implemented a straightforward but effective rate limiting service.

The implementation uses a technique called a “token bucket” algorithm. Think of it like this: Each user has a bucket that slowly fills with tokens at a fixed rate. Each login attempt consumes tokens. If the bucket is empty, they’ve hit their limit and must wait for it to refill.

This is the implementation of the bucket itself:

package ratelimit
 
import (
	"errors"
	"math"
	"sync"
	"time"
)
 
 
type Bucket struct {
	count      float64
	refilledAt int64
	mu         sync.Mutex
}
 
func (b *Bucket) consume(cost, maxValue float64, refillIntervalMillis int64) bool {
	// lock the bucket
	b.mu.Lock()
	defer b.mu.Unlock()
	// calculate refill until now & refill bucket
	now := time.Now().UTC().UnixMilli()
	refill := float64(now-b.refilledAt) / float64(refillIntervalMillis) * maxValue
	b.count = math.Min(b.count+refill, maxValue)
	b.refilledAt = now
 
	// deduct cost if possible
	if b.count >= cost {
		b.count -= cost
		return true
	}
	return false
}

Each email address and IP address receives such a bucket. When a request arrives, I can simply check if the bucket of the email address and/or IP address still has capacity by trying to deduct from the bucket:

type TokenBucketRateLimit struct {
	refillIntervalMillis int64
	maxValue             float64
	buckets              map[string]*Bucket
}
 
func (tbr *TokenBucketRateLimit) Deduct(bucketLabel string, cost float64) error {
	now := time.Now().UTC().UnixMilli()
	// check if the label already has a bucket
	bucket, ok := tbr.buckets[bucketLabel]
	if !ok {
        // no bucket yet -> create one, then deduct again
		bucket := Bucket{count: tbr.maxValue, refilledAt: now}
		tbr.buckets[bucketLabel] = &bucket
		return tbr.Deduct(bucketLabel, cost)
	}
    // bucket exists -> consume
	if ok := bucket.consume(cost, tbr.maxValue, tbr.refillIntervalMillis); !ok {
		return errors.New("rate limit reached")
	}
	return nil
}

What makes this approach powerful is its flexibility. You can tune it to allow brief bursts of activity (like someone mistyping their password a few times) while still protecting against sustained attacks.

With rate limiting in place, we’ve significantly raised the bar for brute force attacks. But there’s another common attack vector we need to address: Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF). Let’s tackle that next.

Implementation: CSRF Protection

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) attacks are particularly sneaky. Imagine you’re logged into your banking website in one tab, and in another tab, you visit a malicious site. That malicious site could contain code that submits a form to your bank, transferring money to the attacker’s account—and because your browser automatically includes your session cookies, the bank would think it’s a legitimate request from you.

CSRF protection prevents this by ensuring that requests to your application must originate from your application.

The most common approach is to use a CSRF token—a random value that’s included in forms and verified on submission. Another very straight forward alternative is simply checking the origin of the request by checking the Origin header, and this is precisely what I did:

if request.Method != "GET" {
    originHeader := r.Header.Get()
    // You can also compare it against the Host or X-Forwarded-Host header.
    if originHeader != "https://announcable.me" {
        // Invalid request origin
        w.WriteHeader(403)
        return
    }
}

It’s important to note that typically I’d go for a proper CSRF token approach. With the current implementation however, where my data manipulation logic is strictly tied to POST, PUT and PATCH requests and not third party being able to manipulate data through other interfaces, this simple solution is enough at the moment.

With CSRF protection in place, we’ve addressed another major attack vector. Now let’s move on to implementing the actual registration and login handlers that will use all these security components.

Now that we have our security components in place, it’s time to implement the handlers that users will actually interact with: registration and login. These are the entry points to our authentication system, where all our previous work comes together.

Let’s start with the registration handler, which creates new user accounts:

package handler
 
// !! logging, error handling and validation
// left out for brevity and focus
 
type registerForm struct {
	Email           string
	Password        string
	ConfirmPassword string
}
 
// allow 5 requests per minute
var registerRateLimiter = ratelimit.New(60, 5)
 
func (h *Handler) HandleRegister(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	userService := user.NewService(*user.NewRepository(h.DB))
	sessionService := session.NewService(*session.NewRepository(h.DB))
 
	if err := r.ParseForm(); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Error parsing form", http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}
 
	req := registerForm{
		Email:           r.FormValue("email"),
		Password:        r.FormValue("password"),
		ConfirmPassword: r.FormValue("confirm"),
	}
 
    // check rate limit
	if err := registerRateLimiter.Deduct(req.Email, 1); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Too many requests. Please try again later.", http.StatusTooManyRequests)
		return
	}
	if err := registerRateLimiter.Deduct(req.OrgName, 1); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Too many requests. Please try again later.", http.StatusTooManyRequests)
		return
	}
 
    // check password guidelines
	if err := password.IsValidPassword(req.Password); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}
 
    // check if passwords match
	if req.Password != req.ConfirmPassword {
		http.Error(w, "Passwords do not match", http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}
 
	// check if user already exists
	existing, err := userService.GetByEmail(req.Email)
	if err != nil && !errors.Is(err, h.DB.ErrRecordNotFound) {
		http.Error(w, "Error creating user", http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}
	if existing != nil {
		http.Error(w, "User already exists", http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}
 
	// create user
    pwHash := password.HashPassword(req.Password)
	user, err := userService.Create(req.Email, pwHash)
	if err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Error creating user", http.StatusInternalServerError)
		return
	}
 
    // create session
	token := sessionService.CreateToken()
	if err := sessionService.Create(token, user.ID); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Error creating session", http.StatusInternalServerError)
		return
	}
 
	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusCreated)
}

The registration flow seems straightforward, but there’s a lot happening under the hood:

We validate the input data (username, email, password) to ensure it meets our requirements
We check if the username or email is already taken
We hash the password using bcrypt
We create a new user record in the database
We automatically log the user in by creating a session

Notice how we’re using our secure password hashing from earlier. This ensures that even if our database is compromised, the passwords remain protected.

Now, let’s look at the login handler:

package handler
 
// !! logging, error handling and validation
// left out for brevity and focus
 
type loginForm struct {
	Email    string
	Password string
}
 
var loginRateLimiter = ratelimit.New(60, 5)
 
func (h *Handler) HandleLogin(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
	userService := user.NewService(*user.NewRepository(h.DB))
	sessionService := session.NewService(*session.NewRepository(h.DB))
 
	if err := r.ParseForm(); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Error parsing form", http.StatusBadRequest)
		return
	}
 
	req := loginForm{
		Email:    r.FormValue("email"),
		Password: r.FormValue("password"),
	}
 
	// Check rate limit
	if err := loginRateLimiter.Deduct(req.Email, 1); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Too many login attempts. Please try again later.", http.StatusTooManyRequests)
		return
	}
 
	// validate credentials
	user, err := userService.GetByEmail(req.Email)
	if err != nil {
		if errors.Is(err, h.DB.ErrRecordNotFound) {
			http.Error(w, "Wrong credentials", http.StatusUnauthorized)
			return
		}
		http.Error(w, "Error accessing user", http.StatusInternalServerError)
		return
	}
	if match := password.DoPasswordsMatch(user.Password, req.Password); !match {
		http.Error(w, "Wrong credentials", http.StatusUnauthorized)
		return
	}
 
	// create session
	token := sessionService.CreateToken()
	if err := sessionService.Create(token, user.ID); err != nil {
		http.Error(w, "Error creating session", http.StatusInternalServerError)
		return
	}
 
	// set session cookie
	http.SetCookie(w, &http.Cookie{
		Name:     session.AuthCookieName,
		Value:    token,
		HttpOnly: true,
		SameSite: http.SameSiteStrictMode,
	})
 
	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
	return
}

The login flow is where many of our security components come into play:

First, we check if the user is rate-limited (too many failed attempts)
We look up the user by username or email
We verify the password using our password package
If successful, we generate a session token and create a session
We set the session cookie with the appropriate security flags

One important detail is how we handle errors. Notice that we don’t tell the user specifically whether the username doesn’t exist or the password is wrong—we just say “invalid credentials.” This prevents attackers from enumerating valid usernames.

Think of it like a bank teller who doesn’t tell you whether you got the account number wrong or the PIN wrong—they just say the combination is invalid. This gives away less information to potential attackers.

For added security, you could log successful and failed login attempts. This creates an audit trail that can be valuable for detecting unusual patterns or investigating security incidents, and is definitely something I would add as soon as Announcable leaves or in-company scope.

With our registration and login handlers implemented, users can now create accounts and authenticate. But how do we protect routes that require authentication? That’s where our authentication middleware comes in, which we’ll cover next.

Implementation: Authentication Middleware

Authentication middleware is the gatekeeper of your application. It sits between incoming requests and your protected routes, ensuring that only authenticated users can access sensitive functionality or data. In a web framework like Go’s standard HTTP package or libraries like Gin or Echo, middleware provides an elegant way to apply this check consistently across multiple routes.

Let’s look at how I implemented authentication middleware in Announcable:

package mw
 
type contextKey string
 
const (
	SessionIdKey          contextKey = "sessionId"
	UserIDKey             contextKey = "userId"
)
 
func (h *Handler) Authenticate(next http.Handler) http.Handler {
	sessionService := session.NewService(*session.NewRepository(h.DB))
	userService := user.NewService(*user.NewRepository(h.DB))
 
	return http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
		// get session cookie
		cookie, err := r.Cookie("<cookie-key>")
		if err != nil {
			http.Redirect(w, r, "/login", http.StatusSeeOther)
			return
		}
 
		authToken := cookie.Value
 
		session, err := sessionService.ValidateSession(authToken)
		if err != nil {
			if errors.Is(err, h.DB.ErrRecordNotFound) {
				http.Redirect(w, r, "/login", http.StatusSeeOther)
				return
			}
			http.Error(w, "Error validating session", http.StatusInternalServerError)
			return
		}
 
		user, err := userService.Get(session.UserID)
		if err != nil {
			http.Error(w, "Error getting user", http.StatusInternalServerError)
			return
		}
 
		ctx := r.Context()
		ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, SessionIdKey, session.ID.String())
		ctx = context.WithValue(ctx, UserIDKey, session.UserID.String())
 
		r = r.WithContext(ctx)
		next.ServeHTTP(w, r)
	})
}

The middleware follows a straightforward flow:

Extract the session token from the request (typically from a cookie)
Validate the token using our session service
If valid, attach the user information to the request context for downstream handlers
If invalid, either redirect to the login page or return a 401 Unauthorized response

What makes this approach powerful is its simplicity and reusability. Once implemented, we can protect any route by simply adding this middleware to the route definition:

r.With(
    mwHandler.Authenticate,
).Route("/release-notes", func(r chi.Router) {
    r.Get("/", handler.HandleReleaseNotesPage)
})

Please note that you would also check if the user is authorized to use a certain handler. I’ve also implemented role-based access control on top of the authentication flow, but this is probably something for another post.

Please note that beyond just checking if a user is logged in, we should also verify they have the required role or permissions (which might be a topic for another post).

With our authentication middleware in place, we’ve completed all the core components of our authentication system!

Putting It All Together: The Complete Flow

Now that we’ve built all the individual components, let’s step back and see how they work together to create a secure, robust authentication system. Understanding the complete flow helps visualize how each piece contributes to the overall security of your application.

Let’s walk through two common scenarios: a user registering and logging in for the first time, and a returning user accessing a protected resource.

New User Registration and First Login:

A new user visits the registration page, which includes our CSRF token in the form
They submit their information (username, email, password)

Our registration handler:

Validates the CSRF token
Checks rate limits to prevent abuse
Validates the input data
Hashes the password with bcrypt
Creates a new user record
The user is redirected to the login page
They enter their credentials

Our login handler:

Checks rate limits for the username/IP
Retrieves the user record
Verifies the password hash
Generates a secure random session token
Creates a session record
Sets a secure cookie with the session token
The user is redirected to the dashboard or homepage

Our authentication middleware:

Extracts the session token from the cookie
Validates the token with our session service
Retrieves the associated user information
Attaches the user to the request context
If authentication succeeds, the protected handler processes the request
If authentication fails, the user is redirected to login

What’s beautiful about this architecture is how each component has a single responsibility, making the system easier to understand, test, and maintain. The session service doesn’t need to know about passwords, the password hashing doesn’t need to know about CSRF, and so on.

One aspect I particularly like about this architecture is its adaptability. Need to change how sessions are stored? Just modify the session service. Want to add two-factor authentication? Create a new middleware that runs after the basic authentication check. The modular design makes extensions and modifications straightforward.

With our authentication system complete and working together seamlessly, let’s reflect on what we’ve learned and some final thoughts on building your own authentication.

Lessons Learned and Final Thoughts

After building my own authentication system for Announcable, I’ve come away with some valuable insights that might help you decide whether to roll your own auth or use an existing solution.

First, let me address the elephant in the room: was it worth it? For my specific case, absolutely. Building my own authentication gave me complete control over the user experience, eliminated dependencies on external services, and actually simplified my codebase compared to integrating some of the more complex auth providers.

But that doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for everyone. Here are the key lessons I learned:

## The Good

Simplicity can be secure. By breaking authentication down into its core components and implementing each one correctly, you can create a system that’s both simple and secure. The complexity of authentication isn’t in the concepts themselves but in ensuring you don’t miss anything important.

Understanding breeds confidence. There’s something deeply satisfying about understanding every line of code in your authentication system. When security issues arise (and they will), you’ll be in a much better position to address them quickly.

Flexibility is invaluable. Need to add a custom authentication flow? Want to integrate with a legacy system? With your own authentication, you’re not constrained by what a third-party service allows.

The Challenges

Security is a moving target. What’s secure today might not be tomorrow. You need to stay informed about new vulnerabilities and be prepared to update your system accordingly.

Edge cases abound. From handling password resets to account recovery to session invalidation across devices, there are many scenarios to consider beyond the basic login flow.

Maintenance responsibility. When you build it, you own it—including all future maintenance and security updates.

When to Roll Your Own Auth

Based on my experience, here are situations where building your own authentication makes sense:

You need complete control over the user experience
Your authentication requirements are relatively standard (username/password, session management)
You have the time and expertise to implement it correctly
You’re building a system where you want to minimize external dependencies

And situations where you should probably use an existing solution:

You need advanced features like multi-factor authentication, social logins, or enterprise SSO
Your team lacks security expertise
You’re working on a tight deadline
Your application has extremely high security requirements (banking, healthcare)

Final Thoughts

If you do decide to build your own authentication, remember these principles:

Don’t reinvent cryptography. Use established libraries for password hashing, random generation, etc.
Keep it simple. Complex systems have more potential vulnerabilities.
Follow standards. Use HTTPS, secure cookies, and other established security practices.
Test thoroughly. Try to break your own system before someone else does.
Stay informed. Security is an ongoing process, not a one-time implementation.

The Copenhagen book and Lucia Auth documentation were invaluable resources that provided clear guidance without unnecessary complexity. I highly recommend them if you’re considering this path.

Building your own authentication isn’t as scary as it’s often made out to be, provided you approach it with the right mindset and resources. It’s about carefully implementing well-established patterns, not creating new cryptographic algorithms or security protocols.

What about you? Have you considered building your own authentication system? Or do you prefer to stick with established providers? There’s no universally right answer—it depends entirely on your specific needs, resources, and risk tolerance.

Whatever you choose, I hope this walkthrough has demystified authentication a bit and shown that with careful implementation, rolling your own auth can be a viable and even advantageous option for the right project.

Rolling Your Own Authentication in Go: Simpler Than You Think