How to structure authenticated routes when using Devise?

Question

In my question How to have root view when user is not logged in rails? max answered that we can use authenticated to make routes available only when someone is

Answer 1

If you want to limit access to subjects you should do it on the controller layer - not in the routes. Using before_action :authenticate_user! will give a 401 Unauthorized response and redirect to the sign in.

class ApplicationController
  # secure by default
  before_action :authenticate_user!, unless: :devise_controller?
end

class SubjectsController < ApplicationController
  # whitelist actions that should not require authentication
  skip_before_action :authenticate_user!, only: [:show, :index]
  # ...
end

---

Rails.application.routes.draw do
  devise_for :users

  resources :subjects do 
    resources :students
  end

  root "home#index"
end

Using the authenticated and unauthenticated route helpers are useful when you want the have different responses for the same route for authenticated and unauthenticated users but is not how you should structure your application.

If you simply use authenticated in your routes unauthenticated users will get a 404 Not Found response instead of being prompted to sign in. Which is not helpful.

Also resources :students, only: [:get] does not generate any routes at all. The onlyoption is for limiting the actions (show, index, edit, update ...) not the HTTP method. Use rake routes to see the routes in your app.