codexmachina
registry/nextjs-mysql-better-auth-social

Social network on Next.js 16 (App Router), MySQL 8 and Better Auth

verified 2026-07-15next16.2.9mysql23.22.6postgres3.4.9better-auth1.6.23@neondatabase/serverless1.1.0

Type-checked against the real SDKs, migration applied to a live MySQL 8, connection clients load-tested, then tracked for upstream drift and re-verified when it moves. How we verify

request path
Browserrequest
fetch
Next.js 16 (App Router)routing + proxy
verify
Better Authsession
query
MySQL 8pooled

session validation runs in server components and route handlers, not at the edge

What you're getting

Next.js 16 (App Router)

Next.js 16 App Router — file-based routing, server components, and the Edge proxy (Next 16's renamed middleware).

MySQL 8

MySQL 8 via Drizzle ORM and the mysql2 driver.

Better Auth

Better Auth — self-hosted auth running inside your app against your Postgres (Drizzle adapter).

Social network

Social network — public profiles with @-handles, a directed follow graph, an authored-post feed, and per-post like edges.

Setup

bun add next react react-dom drizzle-orm mysql2 better-auth
DATABASE_URLMySQL connection string (mysql://…)
BETTER_AUTH_SECRETgenerate with `openssl rand -base64 32`
BETTER_AUTH_URLyour app's base URL

Apply the schema with bunx drizzle-kit push

Initialization

Database client

src/lib/db.ts
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";

// ponytail: single module-level pool; the runtime + mysql2's pool handle concurrency,
// so no globalThis singleton dance needed.
const pool = mysql.createPool(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);

export const db = drizzle({ client: pool });
import { boolean, mysqlTable, text, timestamp, varchar } from "drizzle-orm/mysql-core";

export const user = mysqlTable("user", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  name: text("name").notNull(),
  email: varchar("email", { length: 255 }).notNull().unique(),
  emailVerified: boolean("email_verified").notNull().default(false),
  image: text("image"),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
});

export const session = mysqlTable("session", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  expiresAt: timestamp("expires_at").notNull(),
  token: varchar("token", { length: 255 }).notNull().unique(),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull(),
  ipAddress: text("ip_address"),
  userAgent: text("user_agent"),
  userId: varchar("user_id", { length: 255 })
    .notNull()
    .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
});

export const account = mysqlTable("account", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  accountId: text("account_id").notNull(),
  providerId: text("provider_id").notNull(),
  userId: varchar("user_id", { length: 255 })
    .notNull()
    .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
  accessToken: text("access_token"),
  refreshToken: text("refresh_token"),
  idToken: text("id_token"),
  accessTokenExpiresAt: timestamp("access_token_expires_at"),
  refreshTokenExpiresAt: timestamp("refresh_token_expires_at"),
  scope: text("scope"),
  password: text("password"),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull(),
});

export const verification = mysqlTable("verification", {
  id: varchar("id", { length: 255 }).primaryKey(),
  identifier: text("identifier").notNull(),
  value: text("value").notNull(),
  expiresAt: timestamp("expires_at").notNull(),
  createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  updatedAt: timestamp("updated_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
});
// Better Auth instance (self-hosted, Next.js 16 (App Router)).
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { drizzleAdapter } from "better-auth/adapters/drizzle";
// Reuse the SAME postgres-js/Drizzle client the db slice exported in
// src/lib/db.ts — Better Auth shares the pooled `DATABASE_URL` connection.
import { db } from "./db";
import * as authSchema from "@/db/auth-schema";

export const auth = betterAuth({
  // Drizzle adapter over the shared client. The schema is passed HERE (not into
  // drizzle()) — it is the only consumer that needs it, so the db client stays
  // schema-less. ponytail: do NOT enable experimental.joins; it is the one option
  // that would make the adapter reach into db._.fullSchema.
  // ponytail: usePlural stays false (the default) — with it true Better Auth would
  // look for `sessions`/`accounts` and could bind to the analytics/ledger app-type tables.
  database: drizzleAdapter(db, { provider: "mysql", schema: authSchema }),
  // ponytail: email+password is the shortest real auth that works out of
  // the box — add socialProviders / plugins here when the app needs them.
  emailAndPassword: { enabled: true },
  secret: process.env.BETTER_AUTH_SECRET,
  baseURL: process.env.BETTER_AUTH_URL,
});

export type Session = typeof auth.$Infer.Session;
// Mount Better Auth on Next's route layer.
import { toNextJsHandler } from "better-auth/next-js";
import { auth } from "@/lib/auth";

export const { GET, POST } = toNextJsHandler(auth);
// Session-protection proxy for Next.js 16 (App Router) (Next 16 renamed middleware.ts → proxy.ts).
// ponytail: getSessionCookie only checks the cookie EXISTS (no DB hit at
// the Edge runtime) — do the real auth.api.getSession() check inside
// protected Server Components / route handlers. This just bounces
// logged-out users before render.
import { NextResponse, type NextRequest } from "next/server";
import { getSessionCookie } from "better-auth/cookies";

export function proxy(request: NextRequest) {
  const sessionCookie = getSessionCookie(request);
  if (!sessionCookie) {
    return NextResponse.redirect(new URL("/sign-in", request.url));
  }
  return NextResponse.next();
}

export const config = {
  // ponytail: guard the SaaS app surface; widen the matcher per app-type.
  matcher: ["/dashboard/:path*", "/settings/:path*"],
};

Social network schema: profiles, follow graph, posts & likes

Profiles & handles

one public profile per Better Auth user, with a unique @-handle and optional bio/avatar

Follows: the directed user graph

directed follower→following edges with a composite unique that prevents duplicate follows

Posts & the feed

authored feed posts keyed to a Better Auth user, indexed per-author for profile timeline queries

Post likes

post↔user like edges with a composite unique enforcing one like per user per post

src/db/schema.ts
// === file: src/db/schema.ts ===
import { relations } from "drizzle-orm";
import {
  index,
  mysqlTable,
  primaryKey,
  text,
  timestamp,
  unique,
  varchar,
} from "drizzle-orm/mysql-core";
// Better Auth owns identity; we only reference its `user` table by id.
import { user } from "./auth-schema";

/** Public profile, one per Better Auth user. handle is the @-name in the URL. */
export const profiles = mysqlTable(
  "profiles",
  {
    id: varchar("id", { length: 36 }).primaryKey(),
    // Better Auth's user.id is varchar(255) on MySQL — match it, don't recast. One profile per user.
    userId: varchar("user_id", { length: 255 })
      .notNull()
      .unique()
      .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    handle: varchar("handle", { length: 255 }).notNull().unique(),
    bio: text("bio"),
    avatarUrl: text("avatar_url"),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [index("idx_profile_handle").on(t.handle)],
);

/** Directed follow edge: follower -> following. Both ends are Better Auth users. */
export const follows = mysqlTable(
  "follows",
  {
    // Better Auth's user.id is varchar(255) on MySQL — match it, don't recast.
    followerId: varchar("follower_id", { length: 255 })
      .notNull()
      .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    followingId: varchar("following_id", { length: 255 })
      .notNull()
      .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [
    primaryKey({ columns: [t.followerId, t.followingId] }),
    // The edge is the identity — you can't follow the same user twice.
    unique("follows_follower_following_unique").on(
      t.followerId,
      t.followingId,
    ),
    // Drives the "who follows this user" (followers list) query.
    index("idx_follow_following").on(t.followingId),
  ],
);

/** Authored post in the feed. */
export const posts = mysqlTable(
  "posts",
  {
    id: varchar("id", { length: 36 }).primaryKey(),
    // Better Auth's user.id is varchar(255) on MySQL — match it, don't recast.
    authorId: varchar("author_id", { length: 255 })
      .notNull()
      .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    body: text("body").notNull(),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [
    // Drives the per-author profile timeline query.
    index("idx_post_author").on(t.authorId),
  ],
);

/** post <-> user like edge. The composite unique is the like identity. */
export const postLikes = mysqlTable(
  "post_likes",
  {
    postId: varchar("post_id", { length: 36 })
      .notNull()
      .references(() => posts.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    // Better Auth's user.id is varchar(255) on MySQL — match it, don't recast.
    userId: varchar("user_id", { length: 255 })
      .notNull()
      .references(() => user.id, { onDelete: "cascade" }),
    createdAt: timestamp("created_at").notNull().defaultNow(),
  },
  (t) => [
    primaryKey({ columns: [t.postId, t.userId] }),
    // One like per user per post.
    unique("post_likes_post_user_unique").on(t.postId, t.userId),
    index("idx_post_likes_user").on(t.userId),
  ],
);

export const profilesRelations = relations(profiles, ({ one }) => ({
  user: one(user, { fields: [profiles.userId], references: [user.id] }),
}));

export const followsRelations = relations(follows, ({ one }) => ({
  follower: one(user, {
    fields: [follows.followerId],
    references: [user.id],
  }),
  following: one(user, {
    fields: [follows.followingId],
    references: [user.id],
  }),
}));

export const postsRelations = relations(posts, ({ one, many }) => ({
  author: one(user, { fields: [posts.authorId], references: [user.id] }),
  likes: many(postLikes),
}));

export const postLikesRelations = relations(postLikes, ({ one }) => ({
  post: one(posts, {
    fields: [postLikes.postId],
    references: [posts.id],
  }),
  user: one(user, { fields: [postLikes.userId], references: [user.id] }),
}));

Deploy targets

✓ The right DB client for where you deploy: load-tested with concurrent queries against a live database. Edge needs the HTTP driver (no TCP); serverless needs a tiny pool.
src/lib/db.ts
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";

// Serverless: a small pool per short-lived instance — many instances × a big pool exhausts MySQL.
export const pool = mysql.createPool({ uri: process.env.DATABASE_URL!, connectionLimit: 2 });
export const db = drizzle({ client: pool });
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import mysql from "mysql2/promise";

// Long-running process: a real, reused pool (mysql2 manages idle recycling).
export const pool = mysql.createPool({ uri: process.env.DATABASE_URL!, connectionLimit: 10 });
export const db = drizzle({ client: pool });
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/planetscale-serverless";
import { Client } from "@planetscale/database";

// Edge/Workers have NO TCP sockets, so mysql2 cannot run here. PlanetScale's HTTP driver
// speaks MySQL over fetch — the client that works on Workers (the MySQL analog of Neon's HTTP driver).
const client = new Client({ url: process.env.DATABASE_URL! });
export const db = drizzle({ client });

Decisions and compatibility

note

Auth runs in proxy.ts (Next 16's renamed middleware) on the Edge runtime: it gates on the session cookie's presence only — full session validation happens in Server Components and route handlers, not in the proxy.

note

mysql2's pool multiplexes connections; drizzle-orm/mysql2 wraps it. One module-level pool is right for a serverless/edge app — the runtime and the pool handle concurrency.

note

MySQL has no row-level security: multi-tenant isolation is enforced in application code via the forOrg helper (src/lib/tenant.ts), not by the database. See the tenant-scoping section on SaaS pages.

note

Self-hosted: Better Auth owns the user/session/account/verification tables. This stack emits them (db/auth-schema.ts) and hands them to the Drizzle adapter, so app-type schemas can foreign-key `user` directly.

note

Both the follow edge (follower_id + following_id composite PK + unique) and the like edge (post_id + user_id composite PK + unique) carry explicit unique constraints — the constraint is the identity, not just a performance index.

note

Better Auth's user.id is text, not uuid; all four tables match that type on their FK columns rather than recasting, so joins never cross a type boundary.

caveat

MySQL provides no row-level security. On MySQL, multi-tenant isolation is APP-ENFORCED via the forOrg helper (src/lib/tenant.ts), not database-enforced like Postgres RLS. Every org-scoped query MUST go through forOrg — a missed query leaks across tenants. Postgres cells enforce this in the database itself (RLS), so it holds even for a query that forgets to scope.