What is Authentication?

• Authentication is the process of verifying a user’s identity before giving access to restricted parts of an application (e.g., dashboard).
• Laravel provides built-in helpers like Auth, Hash, and Session that make it easy to implement custom authentication without packages.

Steps in Authentication Flow

1. Register User → Store in users table with hashed password.
2. Login User → Verify email & password, then store user info in session.
3. Access Dashboard → Check if user is authenticated.
4. Logout → Destroy session and redirect to login page.

Database Setup

Make sure you have a users table.

Run migration:

php artisan migrate

Creating a Controller

You can create a controller using Artisan:

php artisan make:controller AuthController

Auth Controller (app\Http\Controllers\AuthController.php)

namespace App\Http\Controllers;

use App\Models\User;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash;

class AuthController extends Controller
{
    public function showRegisterForm()
    {
        return view('auth.register');
    }

    public function register(Request $request)
    {
        $request->validate([
            'name'     => 'required|string|max:255',
            'email'    => 'required|email|unique:users',
            'password' => 'required|min:6|confirmed',
        ]);

        User::create([
            'name'     => $request->name,
            'email'    => $request->email,
            'password' => Hash::make($request->password),
        ]);

        return redirect()->route('login')->with('success', 'Registration successful!');
    }
     public function showLoginForm()
    {
        return view('auth.login');
    }


    public function login(Request $request)
    {
        $credentials = $request->validate([
            'email'    => 'required|email',
            'password' => 'required',
        ]);

        if (Auth::attempt($credentials)) {
            $request->session()->regenerate();
            return redirect()->route('dashboard');
        }

        return back()->withErrors([
            'email' => 'Invalid credentials',
        ]);
    }

    public function logout(Request $request)
    {
        Auth::logout();
        $request->session()->invalidate();
        $request->session()->regenerateToken();
        return redirect()->route('login');
    }
    public function index()
    {
        return view('dashboard');
    }
}

Routes Setup

use App\Http\Controllers\AuthController;

Route::get('/register', [AuthController::class, 'showRegisterForm'])->name('register');
Route::post('/register', [AuthController::class, 'register']);

Route::get('/login', [AuthController::class, 'showLoginForm'])->name('login');
Route::post('/login', [AuthController::class, 'login']);
Route::post('/logout', [AuthController::class, 'logout'])->name('logout');

Route::get('/dashboard', [AuthController::class, 'index'])->middleware('auth')->name('dashboard');

Views

Register View (resources/views/auth/register.blade.php)

<form action="{{ route('register') }}" method="POST">
    @csrf
    <input type="text" name="name" placeholder="Name" required>
    <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" required>
    <input type="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" required>
    <input type="password" name="password_confirmation" placeholder="Confirm Password" required>
    <button type="submit">Register</button>
</form>

Login View (resources/views/auth/login.blade.php)

<form action="{{ route('login') }}" method="POST">
    @csrf
    <input type="email" name="email" placeholder="Email" required>
    <input type="password" name="password" placeholder="Password" required>
    <button type="submit">Login</button>
</form>

Dashboard View (resources/views/dashboard.blade.php)

<h1>Welcome, {{ auth()->user()->name }}</h1>
<form action="{{ route('logout') }}" method="POST">
    @csrf
    <button type="submit">Logout</button>
</form>

Output register:

Output login:

Output dashboard: