diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a1b827e..c7d5cfc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -167,6 +167,20 @@ auth = Adapter(..., deliver=deliver)
 An `async def` callback works too; under FastAPI it runs on the application's event loop. A
 delivery error answers the request with 502 `delivery_failed`.
 
+### Magic links
+
+The auth API signs a user in from a magic link only on the device that asked for it. On
+`GET /magic-link/verify/{token}` the adapter forwards that device's pre-auth token when it has
+one: the client's own bearer token in bearer transport, or the pre-auth cookie in cookie
+transport if it verifies. Without one it sends none, and never answers 401, because the API
+falls back to the client address and user agent the adapter forwards.
+
+Opened anywhere else, the link answers 409 `confirmation_required`, with `requestedFrom`
+(`deviceClass`, `requestedAt`) describing the request, and is not consumed. Once the user
+approves it, `POST /magic-link/verify/{token}/confirm` consumes it. The requesting attempt's
+first `GET /magic-link/check` after that issues the session; later checks answer
+`{ "message": "Success" }` with no tokens, and the adapter then leaves the cookies as they are.
+
 ### The admin console
 
 The adapter can serve the Seamless admin dashboard from your API, proxied from the auth API, so it
diff --git a/src/seamless_auth/_adapter.py b/src/seamless_auth/_adapter.py
index c32806a..1c3a9f4 100644
--- a/src/seamless_auth/_adapter.py
+++ b/src/seamless_auth/_adapter.py
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@
 # token and never presents one that expires in flight.
 PROXY_REUSE = 45.0
 
+# The auth API consumes a magic link on the device that requested it, which it
+# recognises by that flow's pre-auth token. The token is optional: without it the
+# API asks for confirmation instead, so its absence is never a 401 here.
+_MAGIC_LINK_VERIFY = ("GET", "/magic-link/verify/{token}")
+
 _COOKIE_NAME = re.compile(r"^[!#$%&'*+\-.^_`|~0-9A-Za-z]+$")
 _COOKIE_DOMAIN = re.compile(r"^[A-Za-z0-9.\-]+$")
 _TOKEN = re.compile(r"^[!#$%&'*+\-.^_`|~0-9A-Za-z]+$")
@@ -428,6 +433,16 @@ def _credential_for(
             return _error(401, f"Invalid or expired {name} cookie")
         return _error(401, f'Missing required cookie "{name}"')
 
+    def _optional_pre_auth(self, headers: Headers, bearer: bool) -> str | None:
+        if bearer:
+            token = _bearer_token(headers)
+        else:
+            name = self._config.cookie_name("preAuth")
+            token = str_claim(
+                read_cookie(self._config, headers, name, cookie_kind("preAuth")), "token"
+            )
+        return f"Bearer {token}" if token else None
+
     def _verify_session(self, session: Claims, typ: str) -> str:
         """Checks the token in a session response: signed by the auth API, of the
         expected type, and belonging to the subject the body names. Returns the
@@ -458,10 +473,15 @@ def _manifest_route(
         if body is not None and not _is_explicit_json(request.headers.get("content-type")):
             return _error(415, "unsupported_media_type")
 
-        credential = self._credential_for(request.headers, forwarded, route.credential, bearer)
-        if isinstance(credential, _Reply):
-            return credential
-        authorization, cookies = credential
+        authorization: str | None
+        cookies: list[CookieWrite]
+        if (route.method, route.path) == _MAGIC_LINK_VERIFY:
+            authorization, cookies = self._optional_pre_auth(request.headers, bearer), []
+        else:
+            credential = self._credential_for(request.headers, forwarded, route.credential, bearer)
+            if isinstance(credential, _Reply):
+                return credential
+            authorization, cookies = credential
 
         external = route.delivery and self._deliver is not None
         try:
diff --git a/src/seamless_auth/manifest.json b/src/seamless_auth/manifest.json
index 8971c13..936bc31 100644
--- a/src/seamless_auth/manifest.json
+++ b/src/seamless_auth/manifest.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "schemaVersion": 1,
-  "apiVersion": "0.17.0",
+  "apiVersion": "0.18.0",
   "session": {
     "subject": "sub",
     "token": "token",
@@ -98,6 +98,7 @@
     { "method": "POST", "path": "/magic-link", "credential": "preAuth", "delivery": true },
     { "method": "GET", "path": "/magic-link/check", "credential": "preAuth", "issues": "session" },
     { "method": "GET", "path": "/magic-link/verify/{token}", "credential": "none" },
+    { "method": "POST", "path": "/magic-link/verify/{token}/confirm", "credential": "none" },
     {
       "method": "POST",
       "path": "/oauth/{providerId}/callback",
diff --git a/tests/test_magic_link.py b/tests/test_magic_link.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbebbfc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_magic_link.py
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+from conftest import FakeApi, call, pre_auth, raw_cookie, respond
+
+VERIFY = "/magic-link/verify/abc"
+
+
+def test_verify_forwards_the_client_bearer(api: FakeApi) -> None:
+    api.on("GET", VERIFY, respond(200, {"message": "Success"}))
+
+    r = call(
+        api.adapter(),
+        "GET",
+        VERIFY,
+        headers={"x-seamless-auth-transport": "bearer", "authorization": "Bearer pre-auth"},
+    )
+
+    assert r.status == 200, r.text
+    assert api.calls_to("GET", VERIFY)[0].headers["authorization"] == "Bearer pre-auth"
+
+
+def test_verify_forwards_a_valid_pre_auth_cookie_as_bearer(api: FakeApi) -> None:
+    api.on("GET", VERIFY, respond(200, {"message": "Success"}))
+
+    r = call(api.adapter(), "GET", VERIFY, cookie=pre_auth())
+
+    assert r.status == 200, r.text
+    assert api.calls_to("GET", VERIFY)[0].headers["authorization"] == "Bearer pre-auth"
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("cookie", "headers"),
+    [
+        (None, None),
+        ("seamless-ephemeral=not-a-signed-cookie", None),
+        (raw_cookie("seamless-ephemeral", "access", {"sub": "u1", "token": "t"}), None),
+        (None, {"x-seamless-auth-transport": "bearer"}),
+    ],
+    ids=["no cookie", "altered cookie", "wrong kind", "bearer without token"],
+)
+def test_verify_without_a_usable_pre_auth_sends_no_authorization(
+    api: FakeApi, cookie: str | None, headers: dict[str, str] | None
+) -> None:
+    api.on("GET", VERIFY, respond(200, {"message": "Success"}))
+
+    r = call(api.adapter(), "GET", VERIFY, cookie=cookie, headers=headers)
+
+    assert r.status == 200, r.text
+    calls = api.calls_to("GET", VERIFY)
+    assert len(calls) == 1
+    assert "authorization" not in calls[0].headers
+
+
+def test_confirmation_required_passes_through(api: FakeApi) -> None:
+    body = {
+        "error": "confirmation_required",
+        "message": "Confirm this sign-in",
+        "requestedFrom": {"deviceClass": "desktop", "requestedAt": "2026-10-16T12:00:00.000Z"},
+    }
+    api.on("GET", VERIFY, respond(409, body))
+
+    r = call(api.adapter(), "GET", VERIFY)
+
+    assert r.status == 409
+    assert r.body == body
+
+
+def test_confirm_is_proxied_without_a_credential(api: FakeApi) -> None:
+    api.on("POST", f"{VERIFY}/confirm", respond(200, {"message": "Success"}))
+
+    r = call(api.adapter(), "POST", f"{VERIFY}/confirm")
+
+    assert r.status == 200, r.text
+    assert r.body == {"message": "Success"}
+    calls = api.calls_to("POST", f"{VERIFY}/confirm")
+    assert len(calls) == 1
+    assert "authorization" not in calls[0].headers
+
+
+def test_a_check_without_tokens_sets_no_cookies(api: FakeApi) -> None:
+    api.on("GET", "/magic-link/check", respond(200, {"message": "Success"}))
+
+    r = call(api.adapter(), "GET", "/magic-link/check", cookie=pre_auth())
+
+    assert r.status == 200, r.text
+    assert r.body == {"message": "Success"}
+    assert not r.cookies