Secure Web Application Development

I’m ready to move forward with a new web application and the very first milestone is a rock-solid user authentication flow. From account creation and email confirmation to secure session management and password recovery, I need the full sign-up / log-in experience built with current security best practices (hashed passwords, rate-limiting, CSRF protection, etc.).

The remaining screens will be simple placeholders for now, so you can focus on the auth stack, clean code structure, and a deployment-ready setup. I’m comfortable with popular frameworks such as React + Node/Express, Next.js, Django, or Laravel, but I’m open to your recommendations if they speed up delivery and keep the codebase maintainable.

Deliverables
• Source code in a public or private Git repo
• Short README covering environment variables, migration/seed steps, and one-click deploy instructions (Docker or similar)
• Demonstration link on a free tier cloud host so I can click through registration, login, and password reset flows

Acceptance Criteria
• New users can register, receive a verification email, and confirm their account
• Verified users can log in, stay signed in across page refreshes, and log out securely
• Forgotten passwords can be reset via time-limited token links
• Basic responsive UI (it doesn’t have to be pretty, just functional)
• Code passes an automated lint/test suite you provide

Once the authentication layer is solid, I may circle back for extra modules like payment processing or data analytics, so an extensible architecture is important. Looking forward to seeing how you’d tackle this and the stack you’d propose.