Discussion on: User Authentication with Next.js

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could you please clarify why you use micro package ?,
and are api/login and api/profile backend files ?
I've read its description and I didn't understand the main idea?

Juan Olvera • Mar 11 '19 • Edited

Hey Mustafa!

Let's clarify some points before the explanation.

The application in the example is built as a monorepo and it's meant to be deployed at Now.

The files that are in the api/ folder compose the backend. The files inside the www/ folder are the frontend, in this case, the Next.js application.

In the backend, every file it's a single function and works as an API endpoint. They are serverless lambdas, you can think of them as a route in an Express.js application, but this is an oversimplification.

So, the Micro package contains utilities that make it easier to deploy this kind of applications.

For example, if I need to parse JSON, with Express.js I'd have to include the entire library, setup middlewares, and so on. With Micro we can use a function from the package and pass the request as a parameter, e.g.,

// example.js

const { json } = require('micro');

const fn = (req, res) => json(req);

modules.export = fn;

so, if we save this code into a file called example.js we can deploy it to Now along with a now.json file and get a functional endpoint that we can call with fetch or axios.

You can clone the example repo and deploy it following its instructions. Once you see it working, take a look at the code, at the logs in Now and you will get a better idea of how it works.

Ping me on Twitter at @_jolvera if you have more questions and we can chat about it.

I hope this helps!