Authentication Emails

Authentication ties directly into the Email functionality that Payload provides. This allows you to send emails to users for verification, password resets, and more. While Payload provides default email templates for these actions, you can customize them to fit your brand.

Email Verification

Email Verification forces users to prove they have access to the email address they can authenticate. This will help to reduce spam accounts and ensure that users are who they say they are.

To enable Email Verification, use the auth.verify property on your Collection Config:

1import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
4  // ...
5  auth: {
6    verify: true 
7  },
8}

The following options are available:

Option	Description
`generateEmailHTML`	Allows for overriding the HTML within emails that are sent to users indicating how to validate their account. More details.
`generateEmailSubject`	Allows for overriding the subject of the email that is sent to users indicating how to validate their account. More details.

generateEmailHTML

Function that accepts one argument, containing { req, token, user }, that allows for overriding the HTML within emails that are sent to users indicating how to validate their account. The function should return a string that supports HTML, which can optionally be a full HTML email.

1import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
4  // ...
5  auth: {
6    verify: {
7      generateEmailHTML: ({ req, token, user }) => {
8        // Use the token provided to allow your user to verify their account
9        const url = `https://yourfrontend.com/verify?token=${token}`
10
11        return `Hey ${user.email}, verify your email by clicking here: ${url}`
12      },
13    },
14  },
15}

generateEmailSubject

Similarly to the above generateEmailHTML, you can also customize the subject of the email. The function argument are the same but you can only return a string - not HTML.

1import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
4  // ...
5  auth: {
6    verify: {
7      generateEmailSubject: ({ req, user }) => {
8        return `Hey ${user.email}, reset your password!`;
9      }
10    }
11  }
12}

Forgot Password

You can customize how the Forgot Password workflow operates with the following options on the auth.forgotPassword property:

1import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
4  // ...
5  auth: {
6    forgotPassword: { 
7      // ...
8    },
9  },
10}

The following options are available:

Option	Description
`expiration`	Configure how long password reset tokens remain valid, specified in milliseconds.
`generateEmailHTML`	Allows for overriding the HTML within emails that are sent to users attempting to reset their password. More details.
`generateEmailSubject`	Allows for overriding the subject of the email that is sent to users attempting to reset their password. More details.

generateEmailHTML

This function allows for overriding the HTML within emails that are sent to users attempting to reset their password. The function should return a string that supports HTML, which can be a full HTML email.

1import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
// ...
auth: {
  forgotPassword: {
    generateEmailHTML: ({ req, token, user }) => {
      // Use the token provided to allow your user to reset their password
      const resetPasswordURL = `https://yourfrontend.com/reset-password?token=${token}`
10
      return `
        <!doctype html>
        <html>
          <body>
            <h1>Here is my custom email template!</h1>
            <p>Hello, ${user.email}!</p>
            <p>Click below to reset your password.</p>
            <p>
              <a href="${resetPasswordURL}">${resetPasswordURL}</a>
            </p>
          </body>
        </html>
      `
    },
  },
},
27}

The following arguments are passed to the generateEmailHTML function:

Argument	Description
`req`	The request object.
`token`	The token that is generated for the user to reset their password.
`user`	The user document that is attempting to reset their password.

generateEmailSubject

Similarly to the above generateEmailHTML, you can also customize the subject of the email. The function argument are the same but you can only return a string - not HTML.

1import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'
2
3export const Customers: CollectionConfig = {
4  // ...
5  auth: {
6    forgotPassword: {
7      generateEmailSubject: ({ req, user }) => {
8        return `Hey ${user.email}, reset your password!`;
9      }
10    }
11  }
12}

The following arguments are passed to the generateEmailSubject function:

Argument	Description
`req`	The request object.
`user`	The user document that is attempting to reset their password.

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Authentication Emails

Email Verification

generateEmailHTML

generateEmailSubject

Forgot Password

generateEmailHTML

generateEmailSubject

JWT Strategy