Creating a Passwordless Login System

Demo application for the March 2026 Forward JS presentation on passwordless logins:

• Email OTP to establish account identity
• Passkeys (WebAuthn) to authenticate without shared secrets

Links:

• Live demo: Passwordless Login Demo
• Source code: Passwordless Login Demo on Github
• Presentation: Creating a Passwordless User System

Why this exists

Passwords are a shared-secret liability. Even hashed password databases become breach targets, and users still end up juggling weak passwords or password managers.

This project demonstrates a simpler model:

1. User signs up with username + email.
2. App verifies ownership via email one-time code.
3. User registers a passkey.
4. Future logins use passkeys by default (with OTP fallback paths available in the demo).

Passkeys are effectively SSH-style public/private key auth in the browser. Private keys remain on user devices and are scoped to your relying party (rpId).

Stack

• TanStack Start + Router
• React + TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui
• SimpleWebAuthn (@simplewebauthn/browser and @simplewebauthn/server)
• SQLite + Drizzle ORM

Run locally

Install sqlite:

# MacOS
brew install sqlite

# Linux
sudo apt-get install sqlite3

# Windows
choco install sqlite

Run app

pnpm install
pnpm db:init
pnpm dev

The app runs on http://localhost:3100.

Test

pnpm test
pnpm test:e2e

Important demo caveats

This repository is intended for learning and live demos.

• Do not deploy unmodified to production.
• Production hardening is intentionally incomplete (for example: rate limiting).
• Email delivery is simplified for demo flow verification.

Author

Ben Houston, Sponsored by Land of Assets