Session-jwt

This library helps you manage user sessions via jwt.

How does it work?

The library generates two tokens (jwt and refreshToken).
The jwt is a token with a close expiry date.
The refreshToken does not expire, it is used to get a new jwt when it expires.

Installation

npm install session-jwt

Settings

const session = require('session-jwt');

session.settings(process.env.YOUR_SECRET_ENV_VAR);

You must also add cookie-parser if you want the library to automatically obtain/add tokens to express requests/responses (more on this later).

const session = require('session-jwt');
const cookieParser = require("cookie-parser");

session.settings(process.env.YOUR_SECRET_ENV_VAR);

Optional Settings

As you saw from the code above you need to call the settings() method to set the jwt secret, but you can set other things like jwtHeaderKeyName (jwt position in header)

jwtHeaderKeyName is by default "jwt"

Usage

Create session

With cookie

When you want to create new session you can use the newSessionInCookies method

app.get("/login", async(req, res) => {
    let { jwt, refreshToken } = await session.newSessionInCookies({ "user": "ale" }, res, "user");

    res.send({ jwt });
});

The first parameter is an object of data you want to save in token. The second parameter is the Express response object, this is used to set the refreshToken cookie

This method returns the jwt and refreshToken through promise

Without cookie

If you don't want to use cookie you can use the newSession method

app.get("/login", async(req, res) => {
    let { jwt, refreshToken } = await session.newSession({ "user": "ale" }, "user");

    res.status(200).json({ jwt, refreshToken });
});

In this case nothing is saved in cookie

ensureAuth

To be sure a user has a valid jwt to access an endpoint you must use ensureAuth in your Express router.

app.get("/user", session.ensureAuth, (req, res) => {ù
	//there is a valid jwt
    //You can access req.session to get data saved in jwt
    res.send("kk");
});

Doing so will automatically block all requests that do not have a valid jwt. Remember that the jwt must be in the position of the header described in the settings

You can access req.session to get data saved in jwt*

Refresh token

When the jwt expires you have to create a new one through the refreshToken

With cookie

If your refreshToken is in cookies named refresh, or if you created the session using the newSessionInCookies method you can use this method

app.get("/refresh", async(req, res) => {
    try {
        const jwt = await session.refreshFromCookie(req);
        res.status(200).json({ jwt });
    } catch (err) {
    	//if refreshToken is invalid, the user must log in
        res.redirect(301, "/login");
        res.end();
    }
});

This method returns a valid jwt or false (if refreshCookie is invalid)

Without cookie

If you are managing the refreshCookie on your own you must use this method

app.get("/refresh", async(req, res) => {
    try {
        const refreshToken = req.body.refreshToken;
        const jwt = await session.refresh(refreshToken);
        res.status(200).json({ jwt });
    } catch (err) {
        //if refreshToken is invalid, the user must log in
        res.redirect(301, "/login");
        res.end();
    }
});