Why is req.cookies undefined?

Question

SITUATION:

I am trying to check if my user is authenticated when he makes a request to the server.

I googled a bit and found this:

How to show different page if user is logged in via firebase

So here's my try at implementing this solution using this library:

https://github.com/js-cookie/js-cookie/blob/latest/src/js.cookie.js

---

CODE:

server-side

  var cookies = require("cookie-parser");

  router.get("/", function(req, res, next){


      const { token } = req.cookies;

      console.log('Verifying token', token);


 });

client-side

<script src="/public/js/cookieScript.js"> </script>

<a href="/upload" class = "authIn uploadButton btn btn-success pull-right">UPLOAD</a>

<script>

        const setAppCookie = () => firebase.auth().currentUser &&
            firebase.auth().currentUser.getToken().then(token => {
                Cookies.set('token', token, {
                    domain: window.location.hostname,
                    expire: 1 / 24, // One hour
                    path: '/',
                    secure: true // If served over HTTPS
             });
        });

</script>

Solution 1

Apparently, your code is correct on the server. Hence, the cookie must not be set correctly on the client.

Copy/pasting the solution you found about disabling the secure cookie as you not using SSL:

    const setAppCookie = () => firebase.auth().currentUser &&
                firebase.auth().currentUser.getToken().then(token => {
                    Cookies.set('token', token, {
                        domain: window.location.hostname,
                        expire: 1 / 24, // One hour
                        path: '/',
                        secure: false // <-- false here when served over HTTP
                 });
            });

Solution 2

I think you should paste some more server side code.

You need to use express.cookieParser() before app.router; middleware is run in order, meaning it's never even reaching cookieParser() before your route is executed.

Solution 3

In addition to requiring cookie-parser you should also configure your express app to use it:

var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var cookies = require("cookie-parser");

app.use(cookies());

Solution 4

I found the issue !

My cookie is not served over https (yet).

 const setAppCookie = () => firebase.auth().currentUser &&
            firebase.auth().currentUser.getToken().then(token => {
                Cookies.set('token', token, {
                    domain: window.location.hostname,
                    expire: 1 / 24, // One hour
                    path: '/',
                    secure: true // If served over HTTPS
             });
        });

secure needed to be set to false.

Solution 5

Did you enable cookie-parser middleware ? (https://www.npmjs.com/package/cookie-parser)

View more solutions

Comments

[firemaples]

I've worked on this issue for two days. Thanks for the question and the answer!