Passport.js provides a comprehensive authentication middleware for Node.js applications with support for over 500 authentication strategies. As the creator of CoreUI with extensive Node.js experience since 2014, I’ve implemented Passport.js in numerous production applications for flexible authentication solutions. The most straightforward approach uses the local strategy for username/password authentication combined with session management. This pattern provides robust authentication while maintaining the flexibility to add additional strategies like OAuth, SAML, or custom authentication methods.