Better Auth Best Practices

Comprehensive reference for the Better Auth framework. Covers configuration, security hardening, rate limiting, session management, plugins, and production deployment patterns.

Canonical docs: better-auth.com/docs Source: Synthesized from better-auth/skills (official upstream) + Grove production experience.

When to Activate

• Configuring or modifying Better Auth server/client setup
• Auditing auth security (pair with raccoon-audit, turtle-harden)
• Adding or configuring rate limiting
• Setting up session management, cookie caching, or secondary storage
• Adding plugins (2FA, organizations, passkeys, etc.)
• Troubleshooting auth issues on Heartwood or any Better Auth deployment
• Reviewing security posture before production deploy

Pair with: heartwood-auth (Grove-specific integration), spider-weave (auth architecture), turtle-harden (deep security)

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Grove Context: Heartwood

Heartwood is Grove's auth service, powered by Better Auth on Cloudflare Workers.

Component	Detail
Frontend	heartwood.grove.place
API	auth-api.grove.place
Database	Cloudflare D1 (SQLite)
Session cache	Cloudflare KV (SESSION_KV)
Providers	Google OAuth, Magic Links, Passkeys
Cookie domain	.grove.place (cross-subdomain SSO)

Everything in this skill applies directly to Heartwood. The heartwood-auth skill covers Grove-specific integration patterns (client setup, route protection, error codes). This skill covers the framework itself.

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Quick Reference

Environment Variables

Variable	Purpose
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET	Encryption secret (min 32 chars). Generate: openssl rand -base64 32
BETTER_AUTH_URL	Base URL (e.g., https://auth-api.grove.place)
BETTER_AUTH_TRUSTED_ORIGINS	Comma-separated trusted origins

Only define baseURL/secret in config if env vars are NOT set.

File Location

CLI looks for auth.ts in: ./, ./lib, ./utils, or under ./src. Use --config for custom path.

CLI Commands

npx @better-auth/cli@latest migrate    # Apply schema (built-in adapter)
npx @better-auth/cli@latest generate   # Generate schema for Prisma/Drizzle

Re-run after adding/changing plugins.

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Core Configuration

Option	Notes
appName	Display name (used in 2FA issuer, emails)
baseURL	Only if BETTER_AUTH_URL not set
basePath	Default /api/auth. Set / for root
secret	Only if BETTER_AUTH_SECRET not set
database	Required. Connection or adapter instance
secondaryStorage	Redis/KV for sessions & rate limits
emailAndPassword	{ enabled: true } to activate
socialProviders	{ google: { clientId, clientSecret }, ... }
plugins	Array of plugins
trustedOrigins	CSRF whitelist (baseURL auto-trusted)

---

Database

Direct connections: Pass pg.Pool, mysql2 pool, better-sqlite3, or bun:sqlite instance.

ORM adapters: Import from better-auth/adapters/drizzle, better-auth/adapters/prisma, better-auth/adapters/mongodb.

Critical gotcha: Better Auth uses adapter model names, NOT underlying table names. If Prisma model is User mapping to table users, use modelName: "user" (Prisma reference), not "users".

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Rate Limiting

Better Auth has built-in rate limiting — enabled by default in production, disabled in development.

Why This Matters for Grove

Better Auth's rate limiter can replace custom threshold SDKs for auth endpoints. It's battle-tested, configurable per-endpoint, and integrates directly with the auth layer where it matters most.

Default Configuration

import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";

export const auth = betterAuth({
  rateLimit: {
    enabled: true,       // Default: true in production
    window: 10,          // Time window in seconds (default: 10)
    max: 100,            // Max requests per window (default: 100)
  },
});

Storage Options

rateLimit: {
  storage: "secondary-storage", // Best for production
}

Storage	Behavior
"memory"	Fast, resets on restart. Not recommended for serverless.
"database"	Persistent, adds DB load
"secondary-storage"	Uses configured KV/Redis. Default when available.

For Heartwood: Use "secondary-storage" backed by Cloudflare KV.

Per-Endpoint Rules

Better Auth applies stricter defaults to sensitive endpoints:

• /sign-in, /sign-up, /change-password, /change-email: 3 requests per 10 seconds

Override for specific paths:

rateLimit: {
  customRules: {
    "/api/auth/sign-in/email": {
      window: 60,  // 1 minute
      max: 5,      // 5 attempts
    },
    "/api/auth/sign-up/email": {
      window: 60,
      max: 3,      // Very strict for registration
    },
    "/api/auth/some-safe-endpoint": false, // Disable rate limiting
  },
}

Custom Storage

For non-standard backends:

rateLimit: {
  customStorage: {
    get: async (key) => {
      // Return { count: number, expiresAt: number } or null
    },
    set: async (key, data) => {
      // Store the rate limit data
    },
  },
}

Each plugin can optionally define its own rate-limit rules per endpoint.

---

Session Management

Storage Priority

1. If secondaryStorage defined → sessions go there (not DB)
2. Set session.storeSessionInDatabase: true to also persist to DB
3. No database + cookieCache → fully stateless mode

Key Options

session: {
  expiresIn: 60 * 60 * 24 * 7,   // 7 days (default)
  updateAge: 60 * 60 * 24,        // Refresh every 24 hours (default)
  freshAge: 60 * 60 * 24,         // 24 hours for sensitive actions (default)
}

freshAge — defines how recently a user must have authenticated to perform sensitive operations. Use to require re-auth for password changes, viewing sensitive data, etc.

Cookie Cache Strategies

Cache session data in cookies to reduce DB/KV queries:

session: {
  cookieCache: {
    enabled: true,
    maxAge: 60 * 5,        // 5 minutes
    strategy: "compact",   // Options: "compact", "jwt", "jwe"
    version: 1,            // Change to invalidate all sessions
  },
}

Strategy	Description
compact	Base64url + HMAC. Smallest size. Default.
jwt	Standard HS256 JWT. Readable but signed.
jwe	A256CBC-HS512 encrypted. Maximum security.

Gotcha: Custom session fields are NOT cached — they're always re-fetched from storage.

---

Security Configuration

Secret Management

Better Auth looks for secrets in order:

1. options.secret in config
2. BETTER_AUTH_SECRET env var
3. AUTH_SECRET env var

Requirements:

• Rejects default/placeholder secrets in production
• Warns if shorter than 32 characters
• Warns if entropy below 120 bits

CSRF Protection

Multi-layered by default:

1. Origin header validation — Origin/Referer must match trusted origins
2. Fetch metadata — Uses Sec-Fetch-Site, Sec-Fetch-Mode, Sec-Fetch-Dest headers
3. First-login protection — Validates origin even without cookies

advanced: {
  disableCSRFCheck: false,  // KEEP THIS FALSE
}

Trusted Origins

trustedOrigins: [
  "https://app.grove.place",
  "https://*.grove.place",          // Wildcard subdomain
  "exp://192.168.*.*:*/*",          // Custom schemes (Expo)
]

Dynamic computation:

trustedOrigins: async (request) => {
  const tenant = getTenantFromRequest(request);
  return [`https://${tenant}.grove.place`];
}

Validated parameters: callbackURL, redirectTo, errorCallbackURL, newUserCallbackURL, origin, and more. Invalid URLs get 403.

Cookie Security

Defaults are secure:

• secure: true when baseURL uses HTTPS or in production
• sameSite: "lax" (CSRF prevention while allowing navigation)
• httpOnly: true (no JavaScript access)
• __Secure- prefix when secure is enabled

advanced: {
  useSecureCookies: true,
  cookiePrefix: "better-auth",
  defaultCookieAttributes: {
    sameSite: "lax",
  },
  crossSubDomainCookies: {
    enabled: true,
    domain: ".grove.place",  // Note the leading dot
    additionalCookies: ["session_token", "session_data"],
  },
}

Warning: Cross-subdomain cookies expand attack surface. Only enable if you trust all subdomains.

IP-Based Security

advanced: {
  ipAddress: {
    ipAddressHeaders: ["x-forwarded-for", "x-real-ip"],
    ipv6Subnet: 64,            // Group IPv6 by /64
    disableIpTracking: false,  // Keep enabled for rate limiting
  },
  trustedProxyHeaders: true,   // Only if behind a trusted proxy
}

Background Tasks (Timing Attack Prevention)

Sensitive operations should complete in constant time. The handler callback receives a promise that must outlive the response — on serverless platforms, you need the platform's waitUntil to keep it alive.

Cloudflare Workers: Capture ExecutionContext from the fetch handler and close over it:

// In your Worker fetch handler:
export default {
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
    // Create auth with ctx in scope
    const auth = createAuth(env, ctx);
    return auth.handler(request);
  },
};

// In your auth config factory:
function createAuth(env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
  return betterAuth({
    // ...
    advanced: {
      backgroundTasks: {
        handler: (promise) => ctx.waitUntil(promise),
      },
    },
  });
}

Vercel/Next.js: Use the waitUntil export from @vercel/functions:

import { waitUntil } from "@vercel/functions";

advanced: {
  backgroundTasks: {
    handler: (promise) => waitUntil(promise),
  },
}

Ensures email sending doesn't leak information about whether a user exists.

Account Enumeration Prevention

Built-in protections:

1. Consistent response messages — Password reset always returns generic message
2. Dummy operations — When user isn't found, still performs token generation + DB lookups
3. Background email sending — Async to prevent timing differences

---

OAuth / Social Provider Security

PKCE (Automatic)

Better Auth automatically uses PKCE for all OAuth flows:

1. Generates 128-character random code_verifier
2. Creates code_challenge using S256 (SHA-256)
3. Validates code exchange with original verifier

State Parameter

account: {
  storeStateStrategy: "cookie",  // "cookie" (default) or "database"
}

State tokens: 32-character random strings, expire after 10 minutes, contain encrypted callback URLs + PKCE verifier.

Encrypt Stored OAuth Tokens

account: {
  encryptOAuthTokens: true,  // AES-256-GCM
}

Enable if you store OAuth tokens for API access on behalf of users.

---

Email & Password

Email Verification

emailVerification: {
  sendVerificationEmail: async ({ user, url }) => {
    await sendEmail({ to: user.email, subject: "Verify your email", url });
  },
  sendOnSignUp: true,
  requireEmailVerification: true,  // Blocks sign-in until verified
}

Password Reset

emailAndPassword: {
  sendResetPassword: async ({ user, url }) => {
    await sendEmail({ to: user.email, subject: "Reset your password", url });
  },
  password: {
    minLength: 8,   // Default
    maxLength: 128,  // Default
  },
  revokeSessionsOnPasswordReset: true,  // Log out all sessions
}

Security: Reset tokens are 24-character alphanumeric strings, expire after 1 hour, single-use.

Password Hashing

Default: scrypt. For Argon2id, provide custom hash and verify functions.

---

Two-Factor Authentication

Setup

import { twoFactor } from "better-auth/plugins";

// Server
plugins: [
  twoFactor({
    issuer: "Grove",  // Shown in authenticator apps
    totpOptions: { digits: 6, period: 30 },
    backupCodeOptions: { amount: 10, length: 10, storeBackupCodes: "encrypted" },
  }),
]

// Client
plugins: [
  twoFactorClient({
    onTwoFactorRedirect() {
      window.location.href = "/2fa";
    },
  }),
]

Run migrations after adding. The twoFactorEnabled flag only activates after successful TOTP verification.

Sign-In Flow with 2FA

1. User signs in with credentials
2. Response includes twoFactorRedirect: true
3. Session cookie removed temporarily
4. Two-factor cookie set (10-minute expiration)
5. User verifies via TOTP/OTP/backup code
6. Session cookie restored

Trusted Devices

Skip 2FA on subsequent sign-ins:

twoFactor({
  trustDeviceMaxAge: 30 * 24 * 60 * 60,  // 30 days
})

// During verification:
await authClient.twoFactor.verifyTotp({ code, trustDevice: true });

OTP (Email/SMS)

twoFactor({
  otpOptions: {
    sendOTP: async ({ user, otp }) => {
      await sendEmail({ to: user.email, subject: "Your code", text: `Code: ${otp}` });
    },
    period: 5,            // Minutes
    digits: 6,
    allowedAttempts: 5,
    storeOTP: "encrypted",
  },
})

Built-in 2FA Protections

• Rate limiting: 3 requests per 10 seconds on 2FA endpoints
• OTP attempt limiting: configurable max attempts
• Constant-time comparison prevents timing attacks
• TOTP secrets encrypted with symmetric encryption
• Backup codes encrypted by default
• Limitation: 2FA requires credential accounts — social-only accounts can't enable it

---

Organizations Plugin

Multi-tenant organization support:

import { organization } from "better-auth/plugins";

plugins: [
  organization({
    // Limit who can create orgs
    allowUserToCreateOrganization: async (user) => {
      return user.emailVerified;
    },
  }),
]

Key Concepts

• Active organization stored in session — scopes API calls after setActive()
• Default roles: owner (full), admin (management), member (basic)
• Dynamic access control for custom runtime permissions
• Teams group members within organizations
• Invitations expire after 48 hours (configurable), email-specific
• Safety: Last owner cannot be removed or leave

---

Plugins Reference

import { twoFactor, organization } from "better-auth/plugins";

Plugin	Purpose	Scoped Package?
twoFactor	TOTP/OTP/backup codes	No
organization	Teams & multi-tenant	No
passkey	WebAuthn	@better-auth/passkey
magicLink	Passwordless email	No
emailOtp	Email-based OTP	No
username	Username auth	No
phoneNumber	Phone auth	No
admin	User management	No
apiKey	API key auth	No
bearer	Bearer token auth	No
jwt	JWT tokens	No
multiSession	Multiple sessions	No
sso	SAML/OIDC enterprise	@better-auth/sso
oauthProvider	Be an OAuth provider	No
oidcProvider	Be an OIDC provider	No
openAPI	API documentation	No
genericOAuth	Custom OAuth provider	No

Client plugins go in createAuthClient({ plugins: [...] }).

Always run migrations after adding plugins.

---

Client Setup

Import by framework:

Framework	Import
React/Next.js	better-auth/react
Svelte/SvelteKit	better-auth/svelte
Vue/Nuxt	better-auth/vue
Solid	better-auth/solid
Vanilla JS	better-auth/client

Key methods: signUp.email(), signIn.email(), signIn.social(), signOut(), useSession(), getSession(), revokeSession(), revokeSessions().

Type Safety

// Infer types from server config
type Session = typeof auth.$Infer.Session;
type User = typeof auth.$Infer.Session.user;

// For separate client/server projects
createAuthClient<typeof auth>();

---

Hooks

Endpoint Hooks

hooks: {
  before: [
    {
      matcher: (ctx) => ctx.path === "/sign-in/email",
      handler: createAuthMiddleware(async (ctx) => {
        // Access: ctx.path, ctx.context.session, ctx.context.secret
        // Return modified context or void
      }),
    },
  ],
  after: [
    {
      matcher: (ctx) => true,
      handler: createAuthMiddleware(async (ctx) => {
        // Access: ctx.context.returned (response data)
      }),
    },
  ],
}

Database Hooks

databaseHooks: {
  user: {
    create: {
      before: async ({ data }) => { /* add defaults, return false to block */ },
      after: async ({ data }) => { /* audit log, send welcome email */ },
    },
  },
  session: {
    create: {
      after: async ({ data, ctx }) => {
        await auditLog("session.created", {
          userId: data.userId,
          ip: ctx?.request?.headers.get("x-forwarded-for"),
        });
      },
    },
  },
}

Hook context (ctx.context): session, secret, authCookies, password.hash()/verify(), adapter, internalAdapter, generateId(), tables, baseURL.

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Common Gotchas

1. Model vs table name — Config uses ORM model name, not DB table name
2. Plugin schema — Re-run CLI after adding plugins (always!)
3. Secondary storage — Sessions go there by default, not DB
4. Cookie cache — Custom session fields NOT cached, always re-fetched
5. Stateless mode — No DB = session in cookie only, logout on cache expiry
6. Change email flow — Sends to current email first, then new email
7. 2FA + social — 2FA only works on credential accounts, not social-only
8. Last owner — Cannot be removed from or leave an organization
9. Rate limit memory — Memory storage resets on restart, bad for serverless

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Production Security Checklist

• BETTER_AUTH_SECRET set (32+ chars, high entropy)
• BETTER_AUTH_URL uses HTTPS
• trustedOrigins configured for all valid origins
• Rate limiting enabled with appropriate per-endpoint limits
• Rate limit storage set to "secondary-storage" or "database" (not memory)
• CSRF protection enabled (disableCSRFCheck: false)
• Secure cookies enabled (automatic with HTTPS)
• account.encryptOAuthTokens: true if storing tokens
• Background tasks configured for serverless (capture ExecutionContext from fetch handler)
• Audit logging via databaseHooks or hooks
• IP tracking headers configured if behind proxy
• Email verification enabled
• Password reset implemented
• 2FA available for sensitive apps
• Session expiry and refresh intervals reviewed
• Cookie cache strategy chosen (jwe for sensitive session data)
• account.accountLinking reviewed

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Complete Production Config Example

import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { twoFactor, organization } from "better-auth/plugins";

// Factory pattern — ctx comes from the Worker fetch handler
export function createAuth(env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext) {
  return betterAuth({
    appName: "Grove",
    secret: env.BETTER_AUTH_SECRET,
    baseURL: "https://auth-api.grove.place",
    trustedOrigins: [
      "https://heartwood.grove.place",
      "https://*.grove.place",
    ],

    database: d1Adapter(env),
    secondaryStorage: kvAdapter(env),

    // Rate limiting (replaces custom threshold SDK for auth)
    rateLimit: {
      enabled: true,
      storage: "secondary-storage",
      customRules: {
        "/api/auth/sign-in/email": { window: 60, max: 5 },
        "/api/auth/sign-up/email": { window: 60, max: 3 },
        "/api/auth/change-password": { window: 60, max: 3 },
      },
    },

    // Sessions
    session: {
      expiresIn: 60 * 60 * 24 * 7,    // 7 days
      updateAge: 60 * 60 * 24,         // 24 hours
      freshAge: 60 * 60,               // 1 hour for sensitive actions
      cookieCache: {
        enabled: true,
        maxAge: 300,
        strategy: "jwe",
      },
    },

    // OAuth
    account: {
      encryptOAuthTokens: true,
      storeStateStrategy: "cookie",
    },

    // Security
    advanced: {
      useSecureCookies: true,
      crossSubDomainCookies: {
        enabled: true,
        domain: ".grove.place",
      },
      ipAddress: {
        ipAddressHeaders: ["x-forwarded-for"],
        ipv6Subnet: 64,
      },
      backgroundTasks: {
        handler: (promise) => ctx.waitUntil(promise),  // ctx captured from fetch handler
      },
    },

    // Plugins
    plugins: [
      twoFactor({
        issuer: "Grove",
        backupCodeOptions: { storeBackupCodes: "encrypted" },
      }),
      organization(),
    ],

    // Audit hooks
    databaseHooks: {
      session: {
        create: {
          after: async ({ data, ctx: hookCtx }) => {
            console.log(`[audit] session created: user=${data.userId}`);
          },
        },
      },
    },
  });
}

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Resources

• Better Auth Docs
• Options Reference
• LLMs.txt
• GitHub
• Official Skills
• Init Options Source