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Product10 August 2026·3 min read

How to add step-up authentication to your Next.js app with Paycux AuthKit

The best signal that a feature is right is not that people ask for it.

Paycux engineering

The best signal that a feature is right is not that people ask for it. It is that people describe their problem in the shape of it before you have built anything.

This piece walks through how we think about it at Paycux, what we have changed our minds about, and where the sharp edges are.

How step-up works in AuthKit

How step-up works in AuthKit is where this gets concrete. Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

What you'll need

Consider what you'll need. Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Defaults are the product. Most people will never open the settings screen, which means the behaviour you chose for them is the behaviour they will experience forever.

  • Choose defaults as carefully as features
  • Settle the name before you ship the thing
  • Ship the smallest honest version
  • Say plainly what the feature does not do

Step 1: Scaffold the app

Step 1: Scaffold the app is where this gets concrete. Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Step 2: Wire up basic authentication

Consider step 2: wire up basic authentication. Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Ship the smallest version that is honest about its limits.

Step 3: Build a protected dashboard

That brings us to step 3: build a protected dashboard. Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Step 4: Read auth_time

Step 4: Read auth_time deserves its own treatment. Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Naming is design work. If the team argues about what to call something, the disagreement is usually about what it is, and shipping before that is settled means shipping the confusion to customers.

Step 5: Gate a sensitive action

Step 5: Gate a sensitive action is where this gets concrete. Ship the smallest version that is honest about its limits. A feature that does one thing completely beats one that does five things with an asterisk on each.

Ship the smallest version that is honest about its limits. A feature that does one thing completely beats one that does five things with an asterisk on each.

Where this leaves us

The pattern repeats across every system we have looked at: the hard part is not the mechanism, it is keeping the mechanism honest as the surrounding assumptions change.

If you are working through the same problem and want to compare notes, the docs cover the mechanics and the console shows the behaviour on your own data.

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