/catalyst-authentication

Local auth requires plain catalyst serve

Auth works locally only when served through catalyst serve. NEVER use the native dev server (npm run dev, vite, next dev, ng serve, etc.) for auth development — the Catalyst auth middleware, cookie injection, and /__catalyst/sdk/init.js are only available through catalyst serve.

How It Works

1. Identify flow type — Hosted login (redirect to Catalyst login page), embedded login (custom UI), or backend getCurrentUser check.
2. Load references/auth-basics.md — for signup/login flows, ZAID gotcha, hosted vs embedded login, and common auth errors.
3. ZAID warning — ZAID differs between Development and Production. This is the #1 auth issue in production. Always verify the environment.
4. Security Rules — If the query involves controlling who can invoke a function, route to catalyst-functions skill and its references/functions-basics.md Security Rules section. Security Rules has two parameters: (a) methods — which HTTP methods (GET/POST/PUT/DELETE/PATCH) are enabled for the function (removing a method blocks that verb entirely), and (b) authentication — a single binary flag (optional = public, required = authenticated users only) applied function-wide, not per-method. For role-based data access control, route to DataStore Scopes and Permissions (Console → Table → Scopes and Permissions).
5. OAuth / Connections — Load references/connections.md for external API OAuth token management (Zoho or third-party).
6. Third-party auth / social logins — If the query involves Okta, Auth0, Duo, custom IdP, Google/Facebook/LinkedIn/Microsoft login, generateCustomToken, or signinWithJwt, load references/auth-thirdparty.md.

Security Checklist

• ZAID is environment-specific. The Development ZAID is different from the Production ZAID. Social logins (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Microsoft) configured in Development MUST be reconfigured with the Production ZAID and production app domain before going live — using the wrong ZAID causes all social logins to silently fail in production.
• DataStore permissions are separate from function-level auth. Requiring authentication in Security Rules only controls who can call the function. App User table permissions (Console → Table → Scopes and Permissions) separately control which DataStore operations authenticated users can perform.

Triggers

Use this skill for: "authentication", "user management", "login", "signup", getCurrentUser, "ZAID", registerUser, isUserAuthenticated, signOut, "cross-domain logout", "hosted login", "embedded login", "Connections", "OAuth token", getConnector, getAccessToken, "Security Rules", "App User", "credentials include", "auth redirect", "third-party auth", "third-party authentication", "social login", "Google login", "Facebook login", "LinkedIn login", "Microsoft login", signinWithJwt, generateCustomToken, "Okta", "Auth0", "Duo", "custom IdP".

References