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Route Guards

Route guards allow you to protect routes by running logic before navigation occurs. Common use cases include authentication, authorization, data validation, and redirects.

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Overview

TanStack Router provides the beforeLoad hook that runs before a route is loaded. Use it to:
  • Check authentication status
  • Verify user permissions
  • Validate required context
  • Redirect users to appropriate pages
  • Perform side effects before rendering

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Authentication Guards

Protect routes that require authentication:

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File-Based Routing

src/routes/_auth.tsx
import { createFileRoute, redirect } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { Outlet } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth')({
  beforeLoad: async ({ context, location }) => {
    // Check if user is authenticated
    if (!context.auth.isAuthenticated) {
      // Redirect to login with return URL
      throw redirect({
        to: '/login',
        search: {
          redirect: location.href,
        },
      })
    }
  },
  component: AuthLayout,
})

function AuthLayout() {
  return (
    <div>
      <h1>Authenticated Area</h1>
      <Outlet />
    </div>
  )
}
All child routes inherit the guard:
src/routes/_auth/dashboard.tsx
import { createFileRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth/dashboard')({
  component: () => <div>Dashboard - Auth required!</div>,
})

​
Code-Based Routing

import { createRoute, redirect } from '@tanstack/react-router'

const authLayoutRoute = createRoute({
  getParentRoute: () => rootRoute,
  id: '_auth',
  beforeLoad: ({ context, location }) => {
    if (!context.auth.isAuthenticated) {
      throw redirect({
        to: '/login',
        search: { redirect: location.href },
      })
    }
  },
  component: AuthLayout,
})

const dashboardRoute = createRoute({
  getParentRoute: () => authLayoutRoute,
  path: '/dashboard',
  component: Dashboard,
})

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Setting Up Auth Context

Provide authentication state to all routes via router context:
src/main.tsx
import { createRouter, RouterProvider } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { useAuth } from './auth'

function App() {
  const auth = useAuth()
  
  const router = createRouter({
    routeTree,
    context: {
      auth,
    },
  })
  
  return <RouterProvider router={router} />
}
src/auth.tsx
import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'

export interface AuthContext {
  isAuthenticated: boolean
  user: User | null
  login: (email: string, password: string) => Promise<void>
  logout: () => Promise<void>
}

export function useAuth(): AuthContext {
  const [user, setUser] = useState<User | null>(null)
  
  useEffect(() => {
    // Check session on mount
    checkSession().then(setUser)
  }, [])
  
  return {
    isAuthenticated: !!user,
    user,
    login: async (email, password) => {
      const user = await loginUser(email, password)
      setUser(user)
    },
    logout: async () => {
      await logoutUser()
      setUser(null)
    },
  }
}
Type the router context: 
declare module '@tanstack/react-router' {
  interface Register {
    router: typeof router
  }
  
  interface RouterContext {
    auth: AuthContext
  }
}

​
Authorization Guards

Check user permissions and roles:
src/routes/_auth/admin.tsx
import { createFileRoute, redirect } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth/admin')({
  beforeLoad: ({ context }) => {
    const { auth } = context
    
    // Check authentication
    if (!auth.isAuthenticated) {
      throw redirect({ to: '/login' })
    }
    
    // Check authorization
    if (!auth.user?.roles.includes('admin')) {
      throw redirect({
        to: '/',
        // Optionally show error message
        search: { error: 'Insufficient permissions' },
      })
    }
  },
  component: AdminPanel,
})

​
Multiple Guard Conditions

Combine multiple checks: 
export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth/workspace/$workspaceId')({
  beforeLoad: async ({ context, params }) => {
    const { auth } = context
    
    // 1. Check authentication
    if (!auth.isAuthenticated) {
      throw redirect({ to: '/login' })
    }
    
    // 2. Verify workspace access
    const hasAccess = await checkWorkspaceAccess(
      auth.user.id,
      params.workspaceId,
    )
    
    if (!hasAccess) {
      throw redirect({
        to: '/workspaces',
        search: { error: 'Workspace not found or access denied' },
      })
    }
    
    // 3. Load workspace data
    const workspace = await fetchWorkspace(params.workspaceId)
    
    // Return data to pass to route context
    return { workspace }
  },
  component: WorkspaceView,
})

​
Login Route with Redirect

Capture and redirect after successful login:
src/routes/login.tsx
import { createFileRoute, redirect, useNavigate } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { useAuth } from '../auth'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/login')({
  validateSearch: (search: Record<string, unknown>) => {
    return {
      redirect: (search.redirect as string) || '/',
    }
  },
  beforeLoad: ({ context, search }) => {
    // If already logged in, redirect
    if (context.auth.isAuthenticated) {
      throw redirect({ to: search.redirect })
    }
  },
  component: LoginPage,
})

function LoginPage() {
  const auth = useAuth()
  const navigate = useNavigate()
  const { redirect } = Route.useSearch()
  
  const handleLogin = async (email: string, password: string) => {
    await auth.login(email, password)
    // Redirect to original destination
    navigate({ to: redirect })
  }
  
  return (
    <form onSubmit={(e) => {
      e.preventDefault()
      const formData = new FormData(e.currentTarget)
      handleLogin(
        formData.get('email') as string,
        formData.get('password') as string,
      )
    }}>
      <input name="email" type="email" required />
      <input name="password" type="password" required />
      <button type="submit">Login</button>
    </form>
  )
}

​
Preloading with Guards

Guards also run during preloading: 
import { Link } from '@tanstack/react-router'

// This will trigger beforeLoad when hovering
<Link to="/dashboard" preload="intent">
  Dashboard
</Link>
Guards run during preload, but redirects are only executed during actual navigation.

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Conditional Rendering vs Guards

Use guards for navigation control, not just UI: 
// ❌ Wrong: User can still access via direct URL
function Dashboard() {
  const { auth } = useRouteContext()
  
  if (!auth.isAuthenticated) {
    return <div>Please log in</div>
  }
  
  return <div>Dashboard</div>
}

// ✅ Correct: Navigation is blocked
export const Route = createFileRoute('/dashboard')({
  beforeLoad: ({ context }) => {
    if (!context.auth.isAuthenticated) {
      throw redirect({ to: '/login' })
    }
  },
  component: Dashboard,
})

​
Async Guards

Perform async operations in guards: 
export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth/organization/$orgId')({
  beforeLoad: async ({ context, params }) => {
    // Async permission check
    const hasPermission = await checkOrgPermission(
      context.auth.user.id,
      params.orgId,
    )
    
    if (!hasPermission) {
      throw redirect({ to: '/organizations' })
    }
    
    // Optionally load and return data
    const organization = await fetchOrganization(params.orgId)
    return { organization }
  },
})

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Error Handling in Guards

Handle errors gracefully: 
export const Route = createFileRoute('/protected')({
  beforeLoad: async ({ context }) => {
    try {
      // Verify session with backend
      await verifySession(context.auth.sessionToken)
    } catch (error) {
      // Session expired or invalid
      context.auth.logout()
      throw redirect({
        to: '/login',
        search: { error: 'Session expired' },
      })
    }
  },
})

​
Composing Guards

Reuse guard logic:
utils/guards.ts
import { redirect } from '@tanstack/react-router'

export function requireAuth({ context, location }: any) {
  if (!context.auth.isAuthenticated) {
    throw redirect({
      to: '/login',
      search: { redirect: location.href },
    })
  }
}

export function requireRole(role: string) {
  return ({ context }: any) => {
    requireAuth({ context })
    
    if (!context.auth.user?.roles.includes(role)) {
      throw redirect({ to: '/' })
    }
  }
}
Use in routes: 
import { requireAuth, requireRole } from '../utils/guards'

export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth/admin')({
  beforeLoad: requireRole('admin'),
  component: AdminPanel,
})

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Best Practices

Use Redirects

Always throw redirect() instead of returning JSX from guards

Validate Async

Perform server-side validation, don’t trust client state alone

Context Over Props

Use router context for auth state, not prop drilling

Guard Hierarchies

Place guards on layout routes to protect all children
Security: Route guards are client-side only. Always validate permissions on your backend API as well.

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Complete Example

Here’s a full authentication setup:
src/routes/__root.tsx
import { createRootRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'
import { AuthProvider } from '../auth'

export const Route = createRootRoute({
  component: () => (
    <AuthProvider>
      <Outlet />
    </AuthProvider>
  ),
})
src/routes/_auth.tsx
export const Route = createFileRoute('/_auth')({
  beforeLoad: ({ context, location }) => {
    if (!context.auth.isAuthenticated) {
      throw redirect({
        to: '/login',
        search: { redirect: location.href },
      })
    }
  },
  component: AuthLayout,
})

​
Next Steps

Error Boundaries

Handle errors in protected routes

SSR

Server-side rendering with authentication

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