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Overview

To safeguard your Auth API against automated attacks from scripts and bots, you can implement Cloudflare’s Turnstile. Turnstile offers CAPTCHA-like protection without user friction, as it doesn’t require solving puzzles.

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Integration Benefits

  1. Selective Protection: Auth integrates Turnstile specifically for all signup methods.
  2. API Accessibility: Other API endpoints remain accessible for legitimate programmatic use.
  3. Bot Deterrence: Manual verification during signup discourages unwanted bot activity.

This approach balances security with usability, ensuring robust protection where it matters most.

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Guide

1

Create a widget on Cloudflare

Sign up on Cloudflare if you haven’t already.

Go to your account -> Turnstile -> Add Widget. Then:

  • Set a descriptive name
  • In the domain, enter your frontend’s domain
  • Set widget mode as “managed”

Then click on “create” and write down the site key and the secret key.

2

Enable Turnstile integration on auth

Start by adding the following configuration to your Nhost project:

[auth.signUp.turnstile]
secretKey = 'turnstileSecretKey'

Replace turnstileSecretKey with the secret key from the first step.

3

Integrate turnstile into your sign up form

To integrate turnstile into your sign up form you can refer to Cloudfare’s documentation. Just keep in mind a few things:

  • You don’t need to do any verification of the response, just pass it to the Auth service on the /signup/... request in the header x-cf-turnstile-response.
  • The “server side verification” is done by the auth service and will return a forbidden status error if the header is not present or if the check didn’t pass.
  • You will need to use the site key from step 1 to configure turnstile in your form
4

Pass turnstile's response to the signup request

To pass the response as a header change your request to include the header. For instance:

await signUpEmailPassword(
   email,
   password,
   {
     displayName,
   },
   {
     headers: {
       'x-cf-turnstile-response': turnstileResponse,
     },
   },
 );

In the following PR you can see the changes that were needed in our very own dashboard to integrate turnstile.

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