Giphy.com Login and Signup

The authentication flow for Giphy.com. Login, signup, magic links, password recovery, email verification, two-factor auth. The pages you hit before you get to the GIFs.

What I Built

The frontend is React with TypeScript and Styled Components, talking to a Django backend. Standard stack, but the styling was anything but standard. Giphy’s brand is loud - bright colors, animations everywhere, playful typography. Making an auth flow feel fun without being annoying took some iteration.

The Email Template Problem

When I arrived, email templates were scattered. Login emails here, recovery emails there, verification emails somewhere else. Different styles, different structures, no consistency.

I consolidated everything into a templating system with reusable components. Header, footer, button styles, typography - define once, use everywhere. Built a custom Django template tag to make it work with the backend’s email pipeline. Now one change updates every email.

Still Running

The auth flow I built is still in production. That was years ago. It’s satisfying when code survives contact with real users and real scale.

Stack

• React + TypeScript
• Styled Components
• Django backend integration
• Custom email templating system