Next.js authMiddleware requires an 'afterAuth' function to redirect to user page, after Google social login

TL;DR

Community resolution: add an explicit afterAuth handler that returns NextResponse.next() for public routes (or the desired redirect); several engineers confirmed this makes Next 14 + tRPC + Clerk behave. The original reporter later closed the issue after their login flow changed and library updates.

Steps

1. Community resolution: add an explicit afterAuth handler that returns NextResponse.next() for public routes (or the desired redirect); several engineers confirmed this makes Next 14 + tRPC + Clerk behave. The original reporter later closed the issue after their login flow changed and library updates. Lesson: do not assume the default post-OAuth redirect - wire afterAuth explicitly.

When to use

You are seeing this: After Google social login, the user is not redirected to the app page unless authMiddleware has a custom afterAuth function. Use this skill when you run into "Next.js authMiddleware requires an 'afterAuth' function to redirect to user page, after Google social login".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

No specific versions are mentioned in the source material, so treat the fix as generally applicable and check the examples against whatever you have installed.

Why this happens

The original report does not dig into a root cause. It documents the symptom and the fix that resolved it.

In gh:clerk/javascript#1477 (https://github.com/clerk/javascript/issues/1477), the question was: After Google social login, the user is not redirected to the app page unless authMiddleware has a custom afterAuth function. The verified resolution: Community resolution: add an explicit afterAuth handler that returns NextResponse.next() for public routes (or the desired redirect); several engineers confirmed this makes Next 14 + tRPC + Clerk behave. The original reporter later closed the issue after their login flow changed and library updates.