> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.thepublive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> APIs for reader authentication — login, registration, password reset, and email verification

The Reader CMS API lets you build reader-facing authentication flows for your Publive-powered publication. Use these endpoints to handle reader sign-up, login, password recovery, and email verification.

**Base URL:** `https://cms.thepublive.com/publisher/<PUBLISHER_ID>/`

<Info>
  All Reader endpoints are scoped to your publisher via the `publisher_id` path parameter. The publisher is identified by the URL — no additional `Authorization` header is required for public flows such as register and forgot-password.
</Info>

## Endpoints

| Method  | Path                      | Description                                         |
| ------- | ------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| `POST`  | `reader/login/`           | Authenticate a reader and return a session token    |
| `POST`  | `reader/logout/`          | Invalidate the current reader session (client-side) |
| `POST`  | `reader/register/`        | Create a new reader account                         |
| `POST`  | `reader/forgot-password/` | Send a password reset email                         |
| `PATCH` | `reader/reset-password/`  | Set a new password using a reset token              |
| `POST`  | `reader/verify-email/`    | Verify a reader's email address                     |

## Authentication flow

```mermaid theme={null}
sequenceDiagram
    participant Reader
    participant YourFrontend
    participant PubliveCMS

    Reader->>YourFrontend: Submits login form
    YourFrontend->>PubliveCMS: POST /publisher/{publisher_id}/reader/login/
    PubliveCMS-->>YourFrontend: {"status": "ok", "token": "..."}
    YourFrontend-->>Reader: Stores token, grants access
    Reader->>YourFrontend: Logs out
    YourFrontend->>PubliveCMS: POST /publisher/{publisher_id}/reader/logout/
    YourFrontend-->>Reader: Clears stored token
```

## Registration and email verification flow

```mermaid theme={null}
sequenceDiagram
    participant Reader
    participant YourFrontend
    participant PubliveCMS

    Reader->>YourFrontend: Submits registration form
    YourFrontend->>PubliveCMS: POST /publisher/{publisher_id}/reader/register/
    PubliveCMS-->>YourFrontend: {"status": "ok", "message": "verification mail sent"}
    PubliveCMS-->>Reader: Sends verification email with token
    Reader->>YourFrontend: Clicks verification link (email + token)
    YourFrontend->>PubliveCMS: POST /publisher/{publisher_id}/reader/verify-email/
    PubliveCMS-->>YourFrontend: {"status": "ok", "user_verification_successful": true}
```