req.user clears after 1-2 minutes using passport.js - node.js

Question

I am having an issue with my app with the req.user persisting. After a successful login/serializeUser etc, I can see the req.user in the saved, and the application works as desired for about 1-2 minutes. After that, the req.user clears to undefined. I'm using currently using react and calling a method to the server to confirm there is a req.user on componentDidMount. I have no idea why and I'm pretty new to this.
In my server.js:
app.use(bodyParser.json())
// Sessions
app.use(
express-session({
secret: 'feedmeseymour',
cookie: { maxAge: 60000 },
store: new MongoStore({ mongooseConnection: dbConnection }),
resave: false,
saveUninitialized: false
})
)
// MIDDLEWARE
app.use(morgan('dev'))
app.use(
bodyParser.urlencoded({
extended: false
})
)
app.use(bodyParser.json())
app.use(express.static('public'));
app.use(cors());
app.use(bodyParser.urlencoded({extended: true}));
app.use(bodyParser.json());
// Passport
app.use(passport.initialize())
app.use(passport.session())
My login route:
router.post(
'/',
function (req, res, next) {
console.log('Received login information. Username: ' + req.body.username)
const {errors, isValid } = validateLoginInput(req.body);
if (!isValid) {
return res.status(400).json(errors);
}
next()
},
passport.authenticate('local', {failWithError: true }),
function (req, res, next) {
console.log('req.user in the backend: ' + req.user);
var userInfo = req.user
res.send(userInfo);
},
function (err, req, res, next) {
res.status(401).send({ success: false, message: err })
}
)
passport.serializeUser/deserialize methods:
passport.serializeUser((user, done) => {
console.log('*** serializeUser called, user: ')
console.log(user) // the whole raw user object!
console.log('---------')
done(null, { _id: user._id })
})
// user object attaches to the request as req.user
passport.deserializeUser((id, done) => {
console.log('DeserializeUser called')
User.findOne(
{ _id: id },
'username',
(err, user) => {
console.log('*** Deserialize user, user:')
console.log(user)
console.log('--------------')
done(null, user)
}
)
})
called on componentDidMount:
getUser() {
axios.get('/users').then(response => {
if (response.data.user) {
this.setUser(true, response.data.username, response.data.super);
}
else {
console.log('no user is logged in')
this.setUser(false, null, false);
}
})
}
Which calls this route in the back:
router.get('/', (req, res, next) => {
console.log('req.user:');
console.log(req.user);
console.log('------------');
console.log('req.session:');
console.log(req.session);
console.log('------------');
if (req.user) {
User.findOne({ _id: req.user._id }, (err, user) => {
if (err) {
console.log('logged user retrieval error: ', err)
} else if (user) {
console.log('found user from _id: ' + user);
res.json({ user: req.user, super: user.super })
}
})
} else {
res.json({ user: null })
}
})
req.user exists in the back for about 1-2 minutes and then it goes to undefined. I am storing the user in a store in mongodb, and I can see the session still exists there too.
the req.user is saved with information. In a minute, this will change to undefined:
req.user:
{ _id: 5b7ded93525742053a6dd155, username: 'admin' }
------------
req.session:
Session {
cookie:
{ path: '/',
_expires: 2018-09-09T07:10:22.902Z,
originalMaxAge: 60000,
httpOnly: true },
passport: { user: { _id: '5b7ded93525742053a6dd155' } } }
------------

Answer 1

cookie: { maxAge: 60000 }
That's 60.000 milliseconds, or 60 seconds. Exactly the 1 minute you're describing.

Answer 2

Try storing the user in the session object of the request. This way it works for me.