Registration (HTTPS, Dev)¶

Register a new user using the HTTPS-enabled development environment.

Purpose¶

Create a new user account that can later be verified and used to log in.

Prerequisites¶

Dev environment is running with TLS
Shell variables exported

make dev-up
BASE_URL=https://localhost:8000
TEST_EMAIL='tester+'$(date +%s)'@example.com'
TEST_PASSWORD='SecurePass123!'

Steps¶

1) Register¶

# Quote-safe JSON via heredoc
cat <<JSON >/tmp/register.json
{
  "email": "$TEST_EMAIL",
  "password": "$TEST_PASSWORD",
  "name": "Test User"
}
JSON

curl -sk -X POST "$BASE_URL/api/v1/auth/register" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary @/tmp/register.json | python3 -m json.tool

Expected Response (HTTP 201 Created):

{
  "message": "Registration successful. Please check your email to verify your account."
}

Optional: Inline (no heredoc):

curl -sk -X POST "$BASE_URL/api/v1/auth/register" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d "{\"email\":\"$TEST_EMAIL\",\"password\":\"$TEST_PASSWORD\",\"name\":\"Test User\"}" \
  | python3 -m json.tool

2) Extract verification token from logs¶

In development mode (DEBUG=True), emails are logged to console instead of being sent via AWS SES. Extract the verification token:

# View recent email logs
docker logs dashtam-dev-app --tail 100 2>&1 | grep -A 20 '📧 EMAIL'

You'll see output like:

📧 EMAIL (Development Mode - Not Sent)
================================================================================
From: Dashtam <noreply@dashtam.com>
To: tester+1234567890@example.com
Subject: Verify Your Dashtam Account
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text Body:
Hi Test User,

Thank you for signing up for Dashtam...

To complete your registration, please visit:
https://localhost:3000/verify-email?token=vYaGSkz80Qoi86hR78lPyKt6zIp8LDoj13TiheZzjLk
================================================================================

Extract the token:

# Copy the token from the URL in the logs
export VERIFICATION_TOKEN="vYaGSkz80Qoi86hR78lPyKt6zIp8LDoj13TiheZzjLk"

# Verify it's set
echo "Verification token: $VERIFICATION_TOKEN"

Why this works: The EmailService automatically operates in development mode when DEBUG=True, logging all emails with full content including verification tokens.

Troubleshooting¶

400 Bad Request - "Email already registered":
Use a fresh email address with timestamp: TEST_EMAIL='tester+'$(date +%s)'@example.com'
400 Bad Request - Password validation: Ensure password has:
At least 8 characters
1 uppercase letter (A-Z)
1 lowercase letter (a-z)
1 digit (0-9)
1 special character (!@#$%^&*)
422 Validation Error: Check JSON payload format and required fields (email, password, name)
SSL certificate errors: Use -k flag with curl to accept self-signed dev certificates
Token not appearing in logs:
Ensure dev environment is running: make dev-status
Check logs are streaming: make dev-logs
Verify DEBUG=true in env/.env.dev

Next step: Email Verification - Verify the email address with extracted token
Complete flow: Complete Auth Flow - End-to-end authentication testing
After verification: Login - Authenticate with verified credentials
Architecture: JWT Authentication - Understanding the auth system

Document Information¶

Template: api-flow-template.md Created: 2025-10-15 Last Updated: 2025-10-15