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Anonymous Sign-In

Learn how to let users try your application without creating an account, and how to convert them to permanent users.

Anonymous sign-in creates a temporary user without requiring any credentials. This is useful for allowing users to try your application before committing to an account.

await nhost.auth.signInAnonymous();

Deanonymization

Anonymous users can be converted to permanent accounts by linking an email address. The deanonymization flow follows the same PKCE pattern as sign-up, using userDeanonymize:

import { generatePKCEPair } from '@nhost/nhost-js/auth';

const { verifier, challenge } = await generatePKCEPair();
localStorage.setItem('nhost_pkce_verifier', verifier);

// Deanonymize with email + password
await nhost.auth.userDeanonymize({
  email: 'joe@example.com',
  password: 'secret-password',
  options: {
    redirectTo: `${window.location.origin}/verify`,
  },
  codeChallenge: challenge,
});

// Or deanonymize with passwordless email (magic link)
await nhost.auth.userDeanonymize({
  email: 'joe@example.com',
  options: {
    redirectTo: `${window.location.origin}/verify`,
  },
  codeChallenge: challenge,
});

After the user verifies their email, the authorization code is exchanged for a session.

Both pathways require PKCE via the codeChallenge parameter when email verification is required.