> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://stytch.com/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Using Stytch's session layer > Sessions provide a way to uniquely identify users on your application and maintain useful state information, such as detecting whether a user is logged in or not, determining access privileges, personalizing experiences, and building user insights. The session lifecycle through authentication to a full session. ## What is a session? A session is a unique identifier for a member's authenticated state within an organization. It ties together the member's identity, authentication factors, and session metadata. Once a member successfully authenticates, Stytch mints a Session object for the member—represented by two tokens: ### Session represented by tokens Represents an authenticated session for a specific member. An opaque token that's verified via API call. A signed token that can be locally verified. *** ## Session management Stytch's SDKs provide a session management layer that abstracts token rotation, session validation, and more: Control your application behavior based on whether a member has an active session. Validate session tokens or JWTs before any action that requires authorization. Hydrate the frontend session state from the backend. Enforce RBAC permissions in your application’s frontend and backend. Encode additional information into your session JWTs using custom claims. Options for cookie configuration options and HttpOnly cookies. ### Session lifecycle Handle sessions during authentication flows that require intermediate steps. Seamlessly switch a member's session between organizations. Session duration and extending the lifetime of a session. Immediately invalidate the session token, effectively logging the member out.