ory-login-flow

name

ory-login-flow

description

Build login, registration, account recovery, email verification, and account settings pages using Ory Elements. Use whenever the user asks for a login page, sign-in UI, sign-up form, "forgot password" flow, account settings page, or wants to wire Ory's self-service flows into a frontend. Ory Elements is the default rendering layer; only fall back to custom UI nodes if Elements cannot run in the target environment.

Build Auth Pages with Ory Elements

You are building login, registration, recovery, verification, and settings pages using Ory Elements — a prebuilt UI component library that renders Ory's self-service flows.

Default rule: every page in this guide is rendered with Ory Elements. Do not hand-roll forms from flow.ui.nodes unless the user has explicitly opted out after seeing the Ory Elements path. Custom node rendering belongs in the fallback section at the end of this skill.

Why Ory Elements

• One component per flow (<Login>, <Registration>, <Recovery>, <Verification>, <Settings>) covers the entire self-service surface.
• Handles CSRF tokens, error messages, multi-step states, social buttons, passkeys, and MFA prompts automatically.
• New node types and flow capabilities ship with Elements upgrades — no per-app rewrite needed.
• Works in Next.js (App Router and Pages Router) and any React SPA.

Avoid the 404 / 500 / CSRF traps

These pages only work if the surrounding wiring is correct — most "the login page is broken" reports are wiring, not the pages or the plugin. If you have not run ory-auth-setup, do that first; it establishes the four invariants these pages depend on:

• First-party SDK URL — the browser must reach Ory on your own origin (the Ory Tunnel or local gateway, http://localhost:4000 in dev), never https://<slug>.projects.oryapis.com directly, or every form submit fails with a CSRF error.
• Routes match the project config — the /auth/* paths below must match the project's self-service ui_urls and the middleware lists, and you must create an /auth/error page, or Ory's redirects 404.
• Server calls forward cookies — server-side session/flow reads must forward the request cookies (the @ory/nextjs server helpers do this); reusing the browser client on the server 500s.

See the Correctness contract and the App bug vs. plugin bug triage in ory-auth-setup for the full detail.

Before you start

Check the project setup:

1. Identify the framework: Next.js (App Router preferred), React SPA (Vite, CRA, Remix client routes), Vue, or server-rendered. Vue and server-rendered apps drop into the fallback path below.

2. Verify Ory Elements and the SDK are installed. If not:

   For Next.js:

   npm install @ory/elements-react @ory/nextjs @ory/client-fetch
   

   For React SPAs:

   npm install @ory/elements-react @ory/client-fetch
   

3. Verify ORY_SDK_URL or NEXT_PUBLIC_ORY_SDK_URL is configured in the environment.

If Ory is not set up at all, suggest the user run ory-auth-setup first.

Understand Ory self-service flows

Ory uses a self-service flow model. Each auth action (login, registration, recovery, verification, settings) is a "flow" with these stages:

1. Initialize — call the Ory API to create a flow (returns a flow object with UI nodes).
2. Render — display the form. Ory Elements does this for you.
3. Submit — post the user's input back to Ory. Ory Elements wires the form action; in the SPA flow you call updateLoginFlow / updateRegistrationFlow / etc.
4. Handle result — redirect on success, show errors on failure. Ory Elements surfaces errors in-form automatically.

Build the login page

Login — Next.js App Router (preferred)

Create app/auth/login/page.tsx:

import { Login } from "@ory/elements-react/theme"
import { getLoginFlow, OryPageLayout } from "@ory/nextjs/app"

export default async function LoginPage(props: {
  searchParams: Promise<{ flow?: string; return_to?: string }>
}) {
  const searchParams = await props.searchParams
  const flow = await getLoginFlow(searchParams)

  if (!flow) {
    return null
  }

  return (
    <OryPageLayout>
      <Login flow={flow} />
    </OryPageLayout>
  )
}

Login — React SPA

Use the same <Login> component from @ory/elements-react/theme. Initialize the flow via the SDK and pass it in:

import { useEffect, useState } from "react";
import { FrontendApi, Configuration, LoginFlow } from "@ory/client-fetch";
import { Login } from "@ory/elements-react/theme";
import "@ory/elements-react/theme/styles.css";

const ory = new FrontendApi(
  new Configuration({
    basePath: import.meta.env.VITE_ORY_SDK_URL,
    credentials: "include",
  })
);

export function LoginPage() {
  const [flow, setFlow] = useState<LoginFlow | null>(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    const params = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
    const flowId = params.get("flow");

    const load = flowId
      ? ory.getLoginFlow({ id: flowId })
      : ory.createBrowserLoginFlow();

    load.then(setFlow).catch(console.error);
  }, []);

  if (!flow) return <div>Loading…</div>;

  return <Login flow={flow} />;
}

<Login> handles CSRF, error rendering, social buttons, passkeys, and submission for you. Do not unwrap flow.ui.nodes here.

Build the registration page

Registration — Next.js App Router

Create app/auth/registration/page.tsx:

import { Registration } from "@ory/elements-react/theme"
import { getRegistrationFlow, OryPageLayout } from "@ory/nextjs/app"

export default async function RegistrationPage(props: {
  searchParams: Promise<{ flow?: string; return_to?: string }>
}) {
  const searchParams = await props.searchParams
  const flow = await getRegistrationFlow(searchParams)

  if (!flow) {
    return null
  }

  return (
    <OryPageLayout>
      <Registration flow={flow} />
    </OryPageLayout>
  )
}

Registration — React SPA

Mirror the login pattern: initialize with createBrowserRegistrationFlow (or getRegistrationFlow when a flow query param is present) and render <Registration flow={flow} /> from @ory/elements-react/theme.

Build the account recovery page

Recovery — Next.js App Router

Create app/auth/recovery/page.tsx:

import { Recovery } from "@ory/elements-react/theme"
import { getRecoveryFlow, OryPageLayout } from "@ory/nextjs/app"

export default async function RecoveryPage(props: {
  searchParams: Promise<{ flow?: string }>
}) {
  const searchParams = await props.searchParams
  const flow = await getRecoveryFlow(searchParams)

  if (!flow) {
    return null
  }

  return (
    <OryPageLayout>
      <Recovery flow={flow} />
    </OryPageLayout>
  )
}

Recovery — React SPA

Initialize with createBrowserRecoveryFlow and render <Recovery flow={flow} /> from @ory/elements-react/theme.

Build the verification page

Verification — Next.js App Router

Create app/auth/verification/page.tsx:

import { Verification } from "@ory/elements-react/theme"
import { getVerificationFlow, OryPageLayout } from "@ory/nextjs/app"

export default async function VerificationPage(props: {
  searchParams: Promise<{ flow?: string }>
}) {
  const searchParams = await props.searchParams
  const flow = await getVerificationFlow(searchParams)

  if (!flow) {
    return null
  }

  return (
    <OryPageLayout>
      <Verification flow={flow} />
    </OryPageLayout>
  )
}

Verification — React SPA

Initialize with createBrowserVerificationFlow and render <Verification flow={flow} /> from @ory/elements-react/theme.

Build the account settings page

Settings — Next.js App Router

Create app/auth/settings/page.tsx:

import { Settings } from "@ory/elements-react/theme"
import { SessionProvider } from "@ory/elements-react/client"
import { getSettingsFlow, OryPageLayout } from "@ory/nextjs/app"

export default async function SettingsPage(props: {
  searchParams: Promise<{ flow?: string }>
}) {
  const searchParams = await props.searchParams
  const flow = await getSettingsFlow(searchParams)

  if (!flow) {
    return null
  }

  return (
    <OryPageLayout>
      <SessionProvider>
        <Settings flow={flow} />
      </SessionProvider>
    </OryPageLayout>
  )
}

Unlike the other flows, <Settings> must be wrapped in <SessionProvider> from @ory/elements-react/client. Settings renders session-dependent controls (connected social accounts, unlinking, logout of other sessions) that read from the session context; the pre-auth pages (login, registration, recovery, verification) have no session yet and do not need the provider.

Settings — React SPA

Initialize with createBrowserSettingsFlow and render <Settings flow={flow} /> from @ory/elements-react/theme, wrapped in <SessionProvider> from @ory/elements-react/client (the same requirement as the App Router page above — Settings reads session-dependent state). The component handles password changes, profile traits, MFA enrollment, and connected social providers.

Build the error page (do not skip — missing it causes 404s)

Ory redirects the browser to the error UI on any flow error (expired flow, validation failure, misconfiguration). If that route doesn't exist the user hits a 404 or a blank page instead of a readable message, and the failure looks like a plugin bug when it's just a missing page.

Create app/auth/error/page.tsx and render the Elements error view for your installed version (getFlowError from @ory/nextjs/app + the Elements error component). Make sure its path matches the project's error.ui_url (see ory-auth-setup, Step 8). For a React SPA, fetch the error with getFlowError({ id }) from the error query param and display error.error.message.

Add session management

Create a browser utility to check the current session. (For server components, route handlers, and middleware, use the @ory/nextjs server helpers instead — they forward the request cookies. Reusing this browser client on the server has no cookies and will 500/401.)

import { FrontendApi, Configuration, Session } from "@ory/client-fetch";

const sdkUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_ORY_SDK_URL;
if (!sdkUrl) {
  throw new Error("NEXT_PUBLIC_ORY_SDK_URL is not set — see ory-auth-setup Step 4.");
}

// Browser-only client. `credentials: "include"` only sends cookies in the browser,
// and sdkUrl must be your own origin (the tunnel/gateway in dev), not *.oryapis.com.
const ory = new FrontendApi(
  new Configuration({ basePath: sdkUrl, credentials: "include" }),
);

export async function getSession(): Promise<Session | null> {
  try {
    return await ory.toSession();
  } catch {
    return null;
  }
}

export async function logout(): Promise<void> {
  const { logout_url } = await ory.createBrowserLogoutFlow();
  window.location.href = logout_url;
}

Add route protection

Next.js Middleware

Create middleware.ts at the project root:

import { createOryMiddleware } from "@ory/nextjs/middleware";

export const middleware = createOryMiddleware({
  protectedPaths: ["/dashboard", "/settings", "/profile"],
  publicPaths: ["/", "/auth/login", "/auth/registration", "/auth/recovery"],
});

export const config = {
  matcher: ["/((?!_next/static|_next/image|favicon.ico).*)"],
};

React SPA

Wrap protected routes in a ProtectedRoute component that calls ory.toSession() and redirects to /auth/login on failure.

Style and customize

Ory Elements supports theming. Wrap auth pages in <ThemeProvider> from @ory/elements-react/theme and pass a custom theme object. Customizing the theme keeps the Elements rendering — you do not need to drop down to raw nodes to restyle the forms.

import { ThemeProvider } from "@ory/elements-react/theme";

<ThemeProvider theme={{
  // Custom colors, fonts, spacing, radii, dark mode tokens, …
}}>
  <Login flow={flow} />
</ThemeProvider>

For larger design changes, the Ory Elements primitives package exposes the underlying card, button, and input components — use those before falling back to custom node rendering.

Enable MFA and passkeys

These are project-side capabilities: once enabled on the Ory project, the <Login>, <Registration>, and <Settings> components render the second-factor and passkey UI automatically — no page code changes. Configure them with the Ory CLI against your project (ory list projects for the id), the same idiom as ory-social-login. Against the local stack, apply the equivalent keys to the local Kratos config instead (ory-local-dev).

Passkeys

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/passkey/enabled=true' \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/passkey/config/rp/display_name="My App"' \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/passkey/config/rp/id="your-domain.com"' \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/passkey/config/rp/origins=["https://your-domain.com"]'

• rp.id is the domain only — no scheme, no port (example.com, not https://example.com:3000).
• rp.origins must list the exact scheme+host+port the browser uses.
• For local dev, WebAuthn treats localhost as a secure origin: set rp.id="localhost" and rp.origins=["http://localhost:3000"] (match your app URL). Passkeys registered against localhost won't work on the deployed domain and vice-versa.

MFA methods

Enable the second factors you want. Backup codes (lookup_secret) should always be enabled alongside any other method so a user who loses their device can recover.

# TOTP (authenticator app)
ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/totp/enabled=true' \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/totp/config/issuer="My App"'

# Backup codes
ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/lookup_secret/enabled=true'

# Email code as a second factor
ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/methods/code/mfa_enabled=true'

Require the second factor (do not skip)

Enabling a method only lets users enroll — it does not require the second factor. Without this step MFA is opt-in and unenforced. Set the required assurance level to the highest the identity has available:

ory patch identity-config <project-id> \
  --add '/selfservice/flows/settings/required_aal="highest_available"' \
  --add '/session/whoami/required_aal="highest_available"'

With highest_available, toSession() / getServerSession() return an incomplete session (AAL1) until the user clears the second factor, and Elements prompts for it on the next <Login>. Your route protection should treat an AAL1 session on an MFA-enrolled user as unauthenticated.

Test the flow

Don't stop at "the page renders." Run these in order — each one isolates a different failure class:

1. Start the dev server and the Ory tunnel (local dev against Network), or the local stack. Confirm the browser SDK URL is your own origin, not *.oryapis.com.

2. Flow API reachable (isolates Ory from your app):

   curl -i "$NEXT_PUBLIC_ORY_SDK_URL/self-service/login/browser"
   

   Expect 200 and a Set-Cookie: csrf_token... header. If this fails it's the tunnel / Ory config, not your pages.

3. No 404s: visit /auth/login, /auth/registration, /auth/recovery, /auth/verification, /auth/settings, and /auth/error — each returns 200. A 404 means a route/ui_url mismatch.

4. Register at /auth/registration — confirm Elements renders all configured methods (password, social, passkey, etc.).

5. Sign in at /auth/login; confirm a protected route loads, and redirects to login when signed out.

6. Test /auth/recovery with a registered email, /auth/settings for profile changes, and logout.

If a submit fails with a CSRF error, the SDK URL is cross-site (trap #1). If a redirect 404s, a route doesn't match the project config (trap #2). Neither is a plugin bug — see the App bug vs. plugin bug triage in ory-auth-setup.

Writing E2E tests (Playwright)

Automating these flows has three gotchas that cause flaky or wrong-for-the-wrong- reason failures. Get them right up front:

1. Match URLs by pattern, never literally. Ory appends ?flow=<uuid> on every flow redirect, so an exact-string wait never matches.

   await page.waitForURL(/\/auth\/login\?flow=/)   // regex
   await page.waitForURL("**/dashboard**")          // glob — also matches query params
   // wrong: await page.waitForURL("http://localhost:3000/auth/login")
   

2. Use strong, dissimilar credentials. Kratos rejects passwords that are too similar to the identifier or that appear in a breach database — a weak fixture password fails validation, not the flow you meant to test.

   const email = `test-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(36).slice(2)}@example.com`
   const password = "Str0ngP@ssword!123"   // fixed, strong, not in any breach list
   

3. Assert on Ory Elements' own testids, not form-level selectors. Validation messages render inside the auth card, keyed by Kratos UI message id (the 4xxxxxx range is validation errors), not on the flow wrapper.

   page.locator('[data-testid^="ui/message/4"]')  // any validation error
   page.locator('[data-testid="login-auth-card"]').getByText(/credentials|invalid/i)
   // wrong: page.locator('[data-testid="login-flow"]').getByText(...) — errors aren't here
   

These selectors track the installed @ory/elements-react version; if a testid assertion breaks after an Elements upgrade, inspect the rendered DOM before assuming a flow bug.

Fallback: rendering UI nodes by hand

Use this path only when Ory Elements cannot run in the target environment (e.g., a Vue app where the React Elements components are not viable, a server-rendered template engine with no client bundle, or a constrained native shell). Before choosing this path, confirm with the user that mounting an Elements island is not an option.

In that case, iterate flow.ui.nodes and render each node based on node.type (input, text, img, a, script) and node.attributes. Group nodes by node.group (default, password, oidc, webauthn, code, lookup_secret, totp) so each method renders together. Render flow.ui.messages and per-node messages for errors. Submit using flow.ui.action and flow.ui.method. This is significantly more code than <Login flow={flow} /> and must track Ory flow API changes manually.

Next steps

• Add social login providers: use ory-social-login. Elements renders the buttons automatically once providers are configured server-side.
• Add multi-factor authentication and passkeys — see Enable MFA and passkeys above. Once the project is configured, the <Login> and <Settings> components render the second-factor and passkey UI automatically.
• Customize the identity schema for additional profile fields. Elements reads the schema from the flow and renders new fields automatically.
• Set up webhooks for registration events.