My app is logging out after Registration, when it shouldn't, any ideas as to why?

Hi team.

So I am very confused about all of this.

I have a registration form that creates the user, and then is meant to log in the user and redirect to the dashboard, however, it continuously redirects to the login page.

It looks as if the session is dying between requests.

In /Illuminate/Auth/Middleware/Authenticatable.php I have added some debugging for;

public function handle($request, Closure $next, ...$guards)
    {
        \Log::info(auth()->check());
        \Log::info($request->route()->getName());
        \Log::info(print_r(session()->all(), true));
        $this->authenticate($request, $guards);

        return $next($request);
    }

which shows me the following

[2025-03-04 23:58:06] local.INFO:   
[2025-03-04 23:58:06] local.INFO: dashboard  
[2025-03-04 23:58:06] local.INFO: Array
(
    [_token] => AvOb9Cd4IMSYw0ZNWrMBYyPqYhTAo6tC6qEyZKgo
    [_flash] => Array
        (
            [old] => Array
                (
                )

            [new] => Array
                (
                )

        )

    [relationsLookup] => Array
        (
        )

    [url] => Array
        (
            [intended] => https://xxxxxx/dashboard
        )

)

Here is my routes file

Route::middleware('guest')->name('clients.')->domain(config('app.domain'))->group(function () {
    Route::redirect('register', 'welcome')->name('register');
    Route::get('welcome', [RegisteredUserController::class, 'welcome'])->name('welcome');
    Route::post('register', [RegisteredUserController::class, 'store']);

    Route::get('login', [AuthenticatedSessionController::class, 'create'])->name('login');
    Route::post('login', [AuthenticatedSessionController::class, 'store'])->name('login.store');

    Route::get('forgot-password', [PasswordResetLinkController::class, 'create'])->name('password.request');
    Route::post('forgot-password', [PasswordResetLinkController::class, 'store'])->name('password.email');

    Route::get('reset-password/{token}', [NewPasswordController::class, 'create'])->name('password.reset');
    Route::post('reset-password', [NewPasswordController::class, 'store'])->name('password.store');
});

here is my web.php routes file

Route::get('/dashboard', function () {
    $properties = auth()
        ->user()
        ->properties;

    $config = [
        'properties' => PropertyDetailsResource::collection($properties)->resolve(),
    ];

    return Inertia::render('Dashboard', $config);
})->middleware(['auth.client:clients', 'verified'])->name('dashboard');

auth.clients middleware

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Illuminate\Auth\Middleware\Authenticate as Middleware;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class AuthenticateClient extends Middleware
{
    /**
     * Get the path the user should be redirected to when they are not authenticated.
     *
     * @param Request $request
     *
     * @return null|string
     */
    protected function redirectTo($request)
    {
        if (!$request->expectsJson()) {
            return route('clients.login');
        }
    }
}

here is my register controller

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

namespace App\Auth\Controllers;

use App\Clients\Client;
use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Auth\Events\Registered;
use Illuminate\Http\RedirectResponse;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Auth;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Hash;
use Illuminate\Validation\Rules;
use Illuminate\Validation\ValidationException;
use Inertia\Inertia;
use Inertia\Response;

class RegisteredUserController extends Controller
{
    public function welcome(): Response
    {
        return Inertia::render('Auth/Welcome');
    }

    /**
     * Handle an incoming registration request.
     *
     * @throws ValidationException
     */
    public function store(Request $request): RedirectResponse
    {
        $exists = 'We can\'t create an account for this email right now. Please contact us.';
        $validator = \Validator::make($request->all(), [
            'first_name' => 'required|string|max:255',
            'last_name' => 'required|string|max:255',
            'email' => 'required|string|lowercase|email|max:255|unique:'.Client::class,
            'password' => ['required', 'confirmed', Rules\Password::defaults()],
            'utm_source' => 'nullable|string|max:255',
        ], [
            'email.unique' => $exists,
        ]);

        if ($validator->stopOnFirstFailure()->fails()) {
            $errors = $validator->errors();
            $email = $errors->get('email');
            if (in_array($exists, $email)) {
                // send the password reset email if the email already exists
                \Password::broker('clients')->sendResetLink(['email' => $request->email]);
            }

            return redirect()->back()->withErrors($validator)->withInput();
        }

        // create the empty fact find
        $factFindId = \DB::table('fact_finds')->insertGetId([
            'created_at' => now(),
            'updated_at' => now(),
        ]);

        $user = Client::create([
            'first_name' => $request->first_name,
            'last_name' => $request->last_name,
            'email' => $request->email,
            'password' => Hash::make($request->password),
            'fact_find_id' => $factFindId,
            'created_by' => 'client',
            'utm_source' => $request->input('utm_source'),
        ]);

        event(new Registered($user));

        Auth::guard('clients')->login($user);
        session()->put('test', $user->id);
        \Log::info(print_r(session()->all(), true));

        return redirect(route('dashboard'));
    }
}

The log at this point

[2025-03-04 23:58:06] local.INFO: Array
(
    [login_clients_[xxxxx]] => 7350
    [test] => 7350
)
  

I really can't see what is happening and where things are going wrong.

Any ideas?

I should also note we are using Nova for an admin area, which uses a different guard.