http-cookie-manager

This npm module parses a cookie string from either a request or a plain string and provides formatting for setting the Set-Cookie headers.

Installation

npm install http-cookie-manager

Usage

In order to start using http-cookie, we first need to parse a cookie string, thus retrieving a CookieManager, from which we can add more cookies, modify cookies and format the Set-Cookie headers:

const parser = require('http-cookie-manager')
let manager

// Parse from an http.IncomingMessage
manager = parser.parseWith(request)

// Parse from a string
manager = parser.parseFrom('number=five;sheathe=dagger')

Both parseWith and parseFrom returns a CookieManager containing all cookies from the cookie string that was parsed. If the cookie string is empty (or in the request's case not defined at all), the CookieManager will contain no cookies.

Adding Cookies

Adding a cookie uses the setCookieBy and setCookie methods on the CookieManager accordingly:

let cookie = manager.setCookieBy('name', 'value')
let cookie = manager.setCookie(new Cookie('name', 'value'))

Both methods return the newly added cookie for chaining.

Cookie Methods

By calling methods on a Cookie, you are changing the resulting Set-Cookie header. The methods are fully chainable, and will always return the Cookie back for further calls.

setExpires (date)

The expiration of the cookie. Whatsoever the timezone you might create the cookie with, it will be converted to GMT+0 to conform with the http cookie standards. Enter null to toggle off.

cookie.setExpires(new Date())

setMaxAge (number)

Sets the max age of the cookie. The number is the number of seconds the cookie will exist until deleted. Enter null to toggle off.

cookie.setMaxAge(200)

setDomain (domain)

The domain for the cookie to reside on. Enter null to toggle off.

cookie.setDomain('example.com')

setPath (path)

The path for the cookie to reside on. Enter null to toggle off.

cookie.setPath('/')

setSecure (state)

Whether to send as secure or not. Enter false to toggle off.

cookie.setSecure(true)

setHttpOnly (state)

Whether to send as HttpOnly or not. Enter false to toggle off.

cookie.setHttpOnly(true)

setSameSite (sameSite)

One of two strings: strict or lax. Set to null to toggle off.

// Not case sensitive (case insensitive)
cookie.setSameSite('laX')
cookie.setSameSite('sTriCt')

Accessing Cookies

You can access a cookie by sending in its name:

let cookie = manager.getCookieBy('name')

If the cookie does not exist, null will be returned instead.

Removing Cookies

According to the HTTP specification, cookies cannot be deleted from the server. There is however a way around this. By utilizing the setMaxAge, you can make it reach that max age directly:

manager.getCookieBy('cookieToDelete').setMaxAge(0)

Set-Cookie Header

You can send the modified cookies back to the client by utilizing the setHeaders (response) method available on the CookieManager. This will set the Set-Cookie header to include all the modified cookies.

manager.setHeaders(response)

If you would rather retrieve the array that contains all the correctly formatted Set-Cookie header strings, you can call createHeaders.

manager.createHeaders()

Full Example

const parser = require('http-cookie-manager')

// Let us assume these are actually set
let request
let response

let manager = parser.parseFrom(request)

if (manager.getCookieBy('_sessid') === null)
	manager.setCookieBy('_sessid', 'totally-random-string').setHttpOnly(true)

manager.setHeaders(response)

// The new cookie (if added) will now be sent back to the client
response.end()