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Next.js 13 and next-auth issues with useSession and SessionProvider

Next.js 13 and next-auth issues with useSession and SessionProvider

Matthew C.

—

The Problem

When using NextAuth in a Next.js 13+ application that uses the recommended app router, you may encounter the following error:

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Error: [next-auth]: `useSession` must be wrapped in a <SessionProvider />

You may also encounter this related error:

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Error: React Context is unavailable in Server Components

The Solution

Make sure that your Next.js layout, which is a UI shared between multiple routes, is wrapped with SessionProvider. For example, in your src/app/layout.tsx file:

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export default async function RootLayout({
  children,
}: Readonly<{
  children: React.ReactNode;
}>) {
  const session = await getServerSession();

  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body className={inter.className}>
        <SessionProviderClientComponent session={session}>
          <main>
            <NavMenu />
            {children}
          </main>
        </SessionProviderClientComponent>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

The 'useSession' must be wrapped in a <SessionProvider /> error occurs if you try to use the useSession hook to access session information where the NextAuth session object is not available. The SessionProvider uses React Context to share the session object between components, which can be accessed using the useSession hook.

The React Context is unavailable in Server Components error occurs when you try to use the SessionProvider component in a server component.

The getServerSession method is used to get the session object as the RootLayout component is a server component that’s rendered on the server.

The SessionProviderClientComponent is the SessionProvider returned from a client component:

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"use client";

import { Session } from "next-auth";
import { SessionProvider } from "next-auth/react";

export default function SessionProviderClientComponent({
  children,
  session,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode;
  session: Session | null;
}) {
  return <SessionProvider session={session}>{children}</SessionProvider>;
}

The SessionProvider needs to be used in a client component as it uses React Context. The "use client" directive is added to the top of the file to make the component a client component.

If you are using the App Router, try to avoid using the SessionProvider and use getServerSession instead to get access to the session object as using SessionProvider should be unnecessary in most cases. However, using the SessionProvider can be useful if you are migrating from the older pages router.

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