Protecting backend API routes

Learning Highlights

• 0:45

  Understanding why backend API protection is critical for security, ensuring only authenticated users with valid credentials can access sensitive data and endpoints.

• 4:19

  Learn how middleware validates JWT tokens between frontend and backend, checking authorization headers to prevent unauthorized access and enforce user-specific permissions like subscription plans.

• 6:22

  How to implement bearer token authentication in API requests by adding authorization headers, with Vibe Coding Academy demonstrating the complete flow from token generation to validation.

• 8:25

  The key to testing protected endpoints with Postman involves verifying that API calls return 401 unauthorized errors without tokens and succeed with valid bearer tokens from authenticated sessions.