Keep your docs secure from competitors and hackers — and only give access to the authorized people who need it. Visitor authentication in GitBook keeps your docs protected.

March 20, 2025 - Visitor authentication allows you to publish your content while requiring authentication from any visitors who want to view it. When enabled, GitBook lets your authentication provider handle who has access to the content.

Used to authenticate and authorize AzureAD users to GitBook Spaces with the Visitor Authenticator Feature.

May 23, 2024 - When someone directly accesses your space without the necessary token, GitBook uses the fallback URL to redirect the visitor to a custom URL so that you can authenticate them.

Now, in GitBook, close the integrations modal and click on the Manage site button. Navigate to Audience, select Visitor Authentication, and choose Auth0 as the backend. and click Update audience. Go to the site's screen and click Publish.

April 23, 2026 - GitBook gives you built-in URLs ... such as a header link on your site. When a visitor opens the login URL, GitBook redirects them to the authentication backend configured for that site....

When someone directly accesses your space without the necessary token, GitBook uses the fallback URL to redirect the visitor to a custom URL so that you can authenticate them.

March 25, 2025 - So, entering the least permissive scope is the best security recommendation. ... Now, in GitBook, close the integrations modal and click on the Manage site button. Navigate to Audience, select Visitor Authentication, and choose OIDC as the backend.

December 13, 2024 - Now, in GitBook, close the integrations modal and click on the Manage site button. Navigate to Audience, select Visitor Authentication, and choose Auth0 as the backend. and click Update audience. Go to the site's screen and click Publish.

June 3, 2026 - To setup a custom authentication system for your GitBook site, follow these key steps: ... Implement a backend that prompts users to login and authenticate them. ... Create a JWT token and sign it with your site’s private key.

April 10, 2025 - To setup a custom authentication system for your GitBook site, follow these key steps: ... Implement a backend that prompts users to login and authenticate them. ... Create a JWT token and sign it with your site’s private key.

Minimalist NodeJS application for "Visitor Authentication" - GitbookIO/example-visitor-authentication

December 5, 2025 - When a user signs in to your authenticated docs, GitBook stores a visitor token in their browser cookies under the key gitbook-visitor-token.

October 11, 2023 - Now that we have our configuration completed, we can run and test the Visitor Authentication flow. If you try to visit your published GitBook site direclty, you'll be met with a 401 screen—But if we go through the Visitor Authentication flow, we'll be able to access the site without a problem.

Minimalist NodeJS application for "Visitor Authentication" - GitbookIO/example-visitor-authentication

Implement Visitor Authentication using NodeImplement Visitor Authentication using Next.js and ClerkImplement Visitor Authentication using Node and Auth0Implement Visitor Authentication using Node and OktaImplement Visitor Authentication using Node and Azure AD

So in your case, providing your book is private (private GitHub repo), an access key is a solution, but you cannot easily control the set of people using it; ie: you can only control the set you are giving the token to. So that means you have to provide your own front-end, with user account management, in order to give access to the book. But GitBook itself does not have such mechanism.

December 17, 2025 - GitBook will generate a visitor signing key — you won’t need it for Auth0, but it’s good to keep track of.