Mission 6 of 12 · Updated November 2026

Build an Authenticated Full-Stack Recruitment Platform

Connect your React frontend to your Express API and lock it down. Add signup, login and logout with argon2 password hashing and server-side sessions stored in PostgreSQL, protect your API endpoints, and manage auth state in React with protected routes.

By the end of this mission: “I can build secure login, sessions and permissions across a full-stack React, Express and PostgreSQL app.”

The tech stack for this mission

React logoReactReact Router logoReact RouterNode.js logoNode.jsExpress logoExpressPostgreSQL logoPostgreSQL

What you learn, checkpoint by checkpoint

  1. Checkpoint A

    Hash passwords with argon2 and build signup, login and logout

    • Understand authentication vs authorization
    • Hash and verify passwords with argon2
    • Build signup, login and logout endpoints

  2. Checkpoint B

    Store sessions in PostgreSQL and protect your API endpoints

    • Keep users signed in with sessions and cookies (express-session)
    • Store sessions in PostgreSQL with connect-pg-simple
    • Protect endpoints and check permissions, with secure cookies and secrets

  3. Checkpoint C

    Connect React to the API with auth state and protected routes

    • Connect your React frontend to the Express API with fetch
    • Hold auth state in React and add protected routes with React Router
    • Test the full flow end to end: sign up, log in, act, log out

AI companion mode · AI as Reviewer

You write the code · AI reviews it

Companion suggests refactors and reviews PRs. You write the code; AI catches what you miss. You decide what to accept.

What proves you’re done

Authenticated full-stack platform + auth-flow explanation + walkthrough

Every mission ships something real you can show. If you can’t explain it, you can’t submit it.

Deliberately left out of this mission

OAuth · Advanced role-based access control · JWT as a second auth system

Depth is set on purpose: you master what this mission needs, not everything at once. The advanced material lives in optional self-study after Mission 12.

Free · no card needed

Reading is not building.

This mission is part of the paid 12-week programme - but the way we teach is free to try. The free trial puts you inside Sigmo, the learning portal our students use daily, with the 6 Projects in 6 Days precourse: real projects, real code, published to your own GitHub.

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Mission 5

Build a Recruitment API with Express & PostgreSQL

Mission 7

Test, Review & Deploy the Recruitment Platform

Ready for the real thing?

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