diff --git a/packages/auth-js/src/index.ts b/packages/auth-js/src/index.ts
index 16d2efdc4..0a60ce11b 100644
--- a/packages/auth-js/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/auth-js/src/index.ts
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 import type { AuthConfig as AuthConfigCore } from '@auth/core'
-import { Auth } from '@auth/core'
+import { Auth, createActionURL } from '@auth/core'
 import type { AdapterUser } from '@auth/core/adapters'
 import type { JWT } from '@auth/core/jwt'
 import type { Session } from '@auth/core/types'
 import type { Context, MiddlewareHandler } from 'hono'
 import { env } from 'hono/adapter'
 import { HTTPException } from 'hono/http-exception'
-import { setEnvDefaults as coreSetEnvDefaults } from '@auth/core'
+import { setEnvDefaults } from '@auth/core'
 
 declare module 'hono' {
   interface ContextVariableMap {
@@ -32,54 +32,46 @@ export interface AuthConfig extends Omit<AuthConfigCore, 'raw'> {}
 
 export type ConfigHandler = (c: Context) => AuthConfig
 
-export function setEnvDefaults(env: AuthEnv, config: AuthConfig) {
-  config.secret ??= env.AUTH_SECRET
-  coreSetEnvDefaults(env, config)
-}
-
-
-export async function getAuthUser(c: Context): Promise<AuthUser | null> {
+export async function getAuthUser(c: Context) {
+  const ctxEnv = env(c)
   const config = c.get('authConfig')
-  const ctxEnv = env(c) as AuthEnv
-  setEnvDefaults(ctxEnv, config)
-  const authReq = c.req.raw
-  const origin = new URL(authReq.url).origin
-  const request = new Request(`${origin}${config.basePath}/session`, {
-    headers: { cookie: c.req.header('cookie') ?? '' },
-  })
+  const req = c.req.raw
+
+  const url = createActionURL('session', new URL(req.url).protocol, req.headers, ctxEnv, config)
 
   let authUser: AuthUser = {} as AuthUser
 
-  const response = (await Auth(request, {
-    ...config,
-    callbacks: {
-      ...config.callbacks,
-      async session(...args) {
-        authUser = args[0]
-        const session = (await config.callbacks?.session?.(...args)) ?? args[0].session
-        const user = args[0].user ?? args[0].token
-        return { user, ...session } satisfies Session
+  const response = await Auth(
+    new Request(url, { headers: { cookie: req.headers.get('cookie') ?? '' } }),
+    {
+      ...config,
+      callbacks: {
+        ...config.callbacks,
+        async session(...args) {
+          authUser = args[0]
+          const session = (await config.callbacks?.session?.(...args)) ?? args[0].session
+          const user = args[0].user ?? args[0].token
+          return { user, ...session } satisfies Session
+        },
       },
-    },
-  })) as Response
+    }
+  )
 
   const session = (await response.json()) as Session | null
 
   return session?.user ? authUser : null
 }
 
+/**
+ * A utility middleware to verify the session of the incoming request by getAuthUser under the hood.
+ * If unauthorized, it will throw a 401 Unauthorized error.
+ */
 export function verifyAuth(): MiddlewareHandler {
   return async (c, next) => {
-    const authUser = await getAuthUser(c)
+    const authUser = c.get('authUser') ?? (await getAuthUser(c))
     const isAuth = !!authUser?.token || !!authUser?.user
-    if (!isAuth) {
-      const res = new Response('Unauthorized', {
-        status: 401,
-      })
-      throw new HTTPException(401, { res })
-    }
+    if (!isAuth) throw new HTTPException(401, { message: 'Unauthorized' })
     c.set('authUser', authUser)
-
     await next()
   }
 }
@@ -87,6 +79,8 @@ export function verifyAuth(): MiddlewareHandler {
 export function initAuthConfig(cb: ConfigHandler): MiddlewareHandler {
   return async (c, next) => {
     const config = cb(c)
+    const ctxEnv = env(c) as AuthEnv
+    setEnvDefaults(ctxEnv, config)
     c.set('authConfig', config)
     await next()
   }
@@ -95,14 +89,6 @@ export function initAuthConfig(cb: ConfigHandler): MiddlewareHandler {
 export function authHandler(): MiddlewareHandler {
   return async (c) => {
     const config = c.get('authConfig')
-    const ctxEnv = env(c) as AuthEnv
-
-    setEnvDefaults(ctxEnv, config)
-
-    if (!config.secret || config.secret.length === 0) {
-      throw new HTTPException(500, { message: 'Missing AUTH_SECRET' })
-    }
-
     const res = await Auth(c.req.raw, config)
     return new Response(res.body, res)
   }
diff --git a/packages/auth-js/test/index.test.ts b/packages/auth-js/test/index.test.ts
index 2c0ed82cb..befbbeae7 100644
--- a/packages/auth-js/test/index.test.ts
+++ b/packages/auth-js/test/index.test.ts
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import { authHandler, verifyAuth, initAuthConfig } from '../src'
 global.crypto = webcrypto
 
 describe('Config', () => {
-  it('Should return 500 if AUTH_SECRET is missing', async () => {
+  test('Should return 500 if AUTH_SECRET is missing', async () => {
     globalThis.process.env = { AUTH_SECRET: '' }
     const app = new Hono()
 
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ describe('Config', () => {
       '/*',
       initAuthConfig(() => {
         return {
+          basePath: "/api/auth",
           providers: [],
         }
       })
@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ describe('Config', () => {
     const req = new Request('http://localhost/api/auth/signin')
     const res = await app.request(req)
     expect(res.status).toBe(500)
-    expect(await res.text()).toBe('Missing AUTH_SECRET')
+    expect(await res.text()).include("There is a problem with the server configuration.")
   })
 
   it('Should return 200 auth initial config is correct', async () => {