Create a React app with Auth0, Cloud Firestore, and Tailwind

About this guide

This development guide walks you through everything you need to do to build a high-quality React app integrated with Auth0, Cloud Firestore, and Tailwind. Check out the tasks below to get started. To save time, you can also use our boilerplate, which gives you a complete React codebase with all of these tasks done for you. Okay, let's dive in!

Tasks

• Setup your React appGet the code

  Setup a React app using npx create-react-app and routing using React Router. There are many ways you can structure your app, but a common setup is to have an App component that defines top-level routes, with each route component imported from the /pages directory. The rest of your components should be located in your /components directory. You can then run your app locally with the npm run start command.

• Setup a Node (Express.js) serverGet the code

  This stack requires server logic, so we'll be setting up a Node (Express.js) server that we can query from our React front-end. We suggest defining your Express.js routes in a file located at /api/index.js and then creating a file for each route handler in the/api directory. Next make sure all requests to /api/* get routed to your Express server port by defining a proxy in your package.json. Lastly, run your server with the node api command in a new terminal window.

• Extend the Auth0 libraryGet the code

  Create a file that wraps the auth0-js library and abstracts away the storage and retrieval of the user's access token. Auth functions, such as auth0.signupAndAuthorize() and auth0.client.login(), should store the access token in memory or local storage after executing. Add a function called getCurrentUser() that fetches the current user by passing the stored access token to auth0.client.userInfo(). Our auth logic in subsequent tasks can call this function to get the current user.

• Create an Auth0 AuthProvider and useAuth hookGet the code

  Create an AuthProvider component that fetches the current user from Auth0, subscribes to changes, stores the user in state, and then makes all this data available to child components using Context.Provider. Make sure to update your App component so that AuthProvider wraps all your pages. You'll then create a useAuth hook that reads the user with useContext and returns its value. This will enable any component to call useAuthto get the current user and re-render when it changes.

• ‍Protect pages with an Auth0 requireAuth HOCGet the code

  Create a requireAuth higher order component for pages that should only be viewable by authenticated users. It should call your useAuth hook internally to get the current user, show a loading indicator while waiting on the response, and then either render the page or redirect to /signin depending on whether the user is authenticated.

• ‍Merge extra user data from Cloud FirestoreGet the code

  Update the useAuth React hook to automatically fetch extra user data from the Cloud Firestore users collection and merge it into the returned user object. This makes it easy to access extra user data (think username, subscription plan, etc) without needing to manage extra queries and loading states. Make sure to return an undefined user object while the query is pending so that the user isn't considered logged in until all data is ready.

• Build your authentication UIGet the code

  Create an authentication UI using Tailwind elements and Auth0 functions. You'll want routes for user sign-up, sign-in, forgot password, and change password. Make sure you properly validate inputs and display any errors returned by Auth0. You may also want to use a library, such as React Hook Form, for managing form state.

• Link user to analytics sessionGet the code

  You can connect Google Analytics sessions to the current authenticated user with the User ID feature. This allows you to see what your users are doing across sessions and devices. You'll need to update your useAuth hook to set the user_id property whenever the user changes.

• Enable Auth0 email and password updatingGet the code

  To allow users to update their email and password you'll need to setup an API endpoint. Create an Express.js route at /api/auth-user that uses the auth0 library and calls Auth0.ManagementClient.updateUser() to change this info. Make sure that Auth0.ManagementClient is instantiated with the credentials for a "Machine to Machine" app, instead of your client-side app credentials. You can then create an updateUser function in the Auth0 wrapper you previously setup that makes a request to this endpoint.

• ‍Create an Auth0 callback pageGet the code

  In order to support social login via OAuth you'll need to setup an Auth0 callback page and specify it's path as the redirectUri value when calling auth0.popup.authorize(). This page should use the auth0-js library and call auth0.popup.callback() on load. This is what enables your app to get the authentication results after the OAuth flow has completed.

• ‍Get Auth0 working with Cloud FirestoreGet the code

  In order to make authenticated requests to Cloud Firestore you'll need to setup an API route that generates a custom Firebase token. Create an Express.js route at /api/firebase-token that is passed the current Auth0 user's uid and returns a custom Firebase token with firebase.auth().createCustomToken(uid). Right after login you'll want to make a request to this API route and pass the retrieved token to signInWithCustomToken(auth, token). This ensures that your Firestore rules will be able to read the user'suid in order to dictate what queries the current user can make.

• Create Cloud Firestore query hooksGet the code

  Create React hooks that wrap your Cloud Firestore queries, such as useUser, useItem, and useItemsByUser. These hooks should subscribe to data using onSnapshot and return a query status of "success", "loading", or "error". The React Query library makes it especially easy to setup these hooks and have components re-render when data changes.

• Add Firestore rulesGet the code

  Be sure to specify your Firestore security rules so that your Firestore database is secure. For example, if you have a users collection you might ensure that the authenticated user can only update a doc if userDoc.uid matches their uid. If you have an items collection you might ensure that they can only update and fetch items where itemDoc.owner matches their uid. You'll also generally want to specify an array of fields that are writeable, as you wouldn't want a user to be able to change userDoc.planId without actually upgrading their plan.

• Build a data-driven UIGet the code

  Create a data-driven UI using Tailwind elements that reads/writes data to Cloud Firestore. The specifics will depend on the type of app you're building, but we generally recommend having a useItemsByOwner hook that fetches "items" in Cloud Firestore that are owned by the current user. You can then create a component for displaying that data in a simple list or table if more columns are needed. Finally, you'll want create a flow for creating and updating items utilizing Tailwind modal and form components.

• Install and configure TailwindGet the code

  Install Tailwind and add a tailwind.config.js file by following the Tailwind guide for Create React App.

• Ensure Tailwind link components hook into React RouterGet the code

  Make all Tailwind link elements hook into React Router by using the Link component from react-router-dom.

• Create a persistent layoutGet the code

  Add any components that you'd like displayed across all pages (such asNavbar and Footer) to your App component. If you need multiple persistent layouts you can instead have each page define its own layout. In that case, create multiple layout components (such as LandingPageLayout and AdminLayout) and wrap the contents of each page.

• ‍Finish your app UI with TailwindGet the code

  Build out the rest of your UI using Tailwind elements and composing them into high-level page sections, such as HeroSection and AccountSettings. Use theming and dynamic classes for styling your components and overriding default element styles.

Get the code

You can get the code for this guide with our React, Auth0, Cloud Firestore, and Tailwind Boilerplate. You'll get a complete React codebase with Auth0, Cloud Firestore, and Tailwind integration, all the tasks listed above done for you, and a responsive multi-page template. It should save you about two weeks of development time.

Get the boilerplate