README
cookie-session
Simple cookie-based session middleware.
A user session can be stored in two main ways with cookies: on the server or on the client. This module stores the session data on the client within a cookie, while a module like xprezzo-session stores only a session identifier on the client within a cookie and stores the session data on the server, typically in a database.
The following points can help you choose which to use:
cookie-session
does not require any database / resources on the server side, though the total session data cannot exceed the browser's max cookie size.cookie-session
can simplify certain load-balanced scenarios.cookie-session
can be used to store a "light" session and include an identifier to look up a database-backed secondary store to reduce database lookups.
Philosophy of Xprezzo
Problems faced:
- Too many requires which creates problem when project grow
- The dependencies update are slow
- Test cases of difficult to design
How Xprezzo try to tackle those problems:
- Useful internal libraries/packages are exposed
- Merge small libraries into a larger one.
- Provide easy to use test framework
Install
This is a Node.js module available through the
npm registry. Installation is done using the
npm install
command:
$ npm install xprezzo-cookie-session
API
var cookieSession = require('xprezzo-cookie-session')
var xprezzo = require('xprezzo')
var app = xprezzo()
app.use(cookieSession({
name: 'session',
keys: [/* secret keys */],
// Cookie Options
maxAge: 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000 // 24 hours
}))
cookieSession(options)
Create a new cookie session middleware with the provided options. This middleware
will attach the property session
to req
, which provides an object representing
the loaded session. This session is either a new session if no valid session was
provided in the request, or a loaded session from the request.
The middleware will automatically add a Set-Cookie
header to the response if the
contents of req.session
were altered. Note that no Set-Cookie
header will be
in the response (and thus no session created for a specific user) unless there are
contents in the session, so be sure to add something to req.session
as soon as
you have identifying information to store for the session.
Options
Cookie session accepts these properties in the options object.
name
The name of the cookie to set, defaults to session
.
keys
The list of keys to use to sign & verify cookie values, or a configured
Keygrip
instance. Set cookies are always
signed with keys[0]
, while the other keys are valid for verification, allowing
for key rotation. If a Keygrip
instance is provided, it can be used to
change signature parameters like the algorithm of the signature.
secret
A string which will be used as single key if keys
is not provided.
Cookie Options
Other options are passed to cookies.get()
and cookies.set()
allowing you
to control security, domain, path, and signing among other settings.
The options can also contain any of the following (for the full list, see cookies module documentation:
maxAge
: a number representing the milliseconds fromDate.now()
for expiryexpires
: aDate
object indicating the cookie's expiration date (expires at the end of session by default).path
: a string indicating the path of the cookie (/
by default).domain
: a string indicating the domain of the cookie (no default).sameSite
: a boolean or string indicating whether the cookie is a "same site" cookie (false
by default). This can be set to'strict'
,'lax'
,'none'
, ortrue
(which maps to'strict'
).secure
: a boolean indicating whether the cookie is only to be sent over HTTPS (false
by default for HTTP,true
by default for HTTPS). If this is set totrue
and Node.js is not directly over a TLS connection, be sure to read how to setup Express behind proxies or the cookie may not ever set correctly.httpOnly
: a boolean indicating whether the cookie is only to be sent over HTTP(S), and not made available to client JavaScript (true
by default).signed
: a boolean indicating whether the cookie is to be signed (true
by default).overwrite
: a boolean indicating whether to overwrite previously set cookies of the same name (true
by default).
req.session
Represents the session for the given request.
.isChanged
Is true
if the session has been changed during the request.
.isNew
Is true
if the session is new.
.isPopulated
Determine if the session has been populated with data or is empty.
req.sessionOptions
Represents the session options for the current request. These options are a shallow clone of what was provided at middleware construction and can be altered to change cookie setting behavior on a per-request basis.
Destroying a session
To destroy a session simply set it to null
:
req.session = null
Saving a session
Since the entire contents of the session is kept in a client-side cookie, the
session is "saved" by writing a cookie out in a Set-Cookie
response header.
This is done automatically if there has been a change made to the session when
the Node.js response headers are being written to the client and the session
was not destroyed.
Examples
Simple view counter example
var cookieSession = require('xprezzo-cookie-session')
var xprezzo = require('xprezzo')
var app = xprezzo()
app.set('trust proxy', 1) // trust first proxy
app.use(cookieSession({
name: 'session',
keys: ['key1', 'key2']
}))
app.get('/', function (req, res, next) {
// Update views
req.session.views = (req.session.views || 0) + 1
// Write response
res.end(req.session.views + ' views')
})
app.listen(3000)
Per-user sticky max age
var cookieSession = require('xprezzo-cookie-session')
var xprezzo = require('xprezzo')
var app = xprezzo()
app.set('trust proxy', 1) // trust first proxy
app.use(cookieSession({
name: 'session',
keys: ['key1', 'key2']
}))
// This allows you to set req.session.maxAge to let certain sessions
// have a different value than the default.
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
req.sessionOptions.maxAge = req.session.maxAge || req.sessionOptions.maxAge
next()
})
// ... your logic here ...
Extending the session expiration
This module does not send a Set-Cookie
header if the contents of the session
have not changed. This means that to extend the expiration of a session in the
user's browser (in response to user activity, for example) some kind of
modification to the session needs be made.
var cookieSession = require('xprezzo-cookie-session')
var xprezzo = require('xprezzo')
var app = xprezzo()
app.use(cookieSession({
name: 'session',
keys: ['key1', 'key2']
}))
// Update a value in the cookie so that the set-cookie will be sent.
// Only changes every minute so that it's not sent with every request.
app.use(function (req, res, next) {
req.session.nowInMinutes = Math.floor(Date.now() / 60e3)
next()
})
// ... your logic here ...
Using a custom signature algorithm
This example shows creating a custom Keygrip
instance as the keys
option
to provide keys and additional signature configuration.
var cookieSession = require('xprezzo-cookie-session')
var xprezzo = require('xprezzo')
var Keygrip = require('keygrip')
var app = xprezzo()
app.use(cookieSession({
name: 'session',
keys: new Keygrip(['key1', 'key2'], 'SHA384', 'base64')
}))
// ... your logic here ...
Usage Limitations
Max Cookie Size
Because the entire session object is encoded and stored in a cookie, it is possible to exceed the maxium cookie size limits on different browsers. The RFC6265 specification recommends that a browser SHOULD allow
At least 4096 bytes per cookie (as measured by the sum of the length of the cookie's name, value, and attributes)
In practice this limit differs slightly across browsers. See a list of browser limits here. As a rule of thumb don't exceed 4093 bytes per domain.
If your session object is large enough to exceed a browser limit when encoded, in most cases the browser will refuse to store the cookie. This will cause the following requests from the browser to either a) not have any session information or b) use old session information that was small enough to not exceed the cookie limit.
If you find your session object is hitting these limits, it is best to consider if data in your session should be loaded from a database on the server instead of transmitted to/from the browser with every request. Or move to an alternative session strategy
People
Xprezzo and related projects are maintained by Ben Ajenoui and sponsored by SEO Hero.