I’ve created a login system in NestJS based on the documentation, but I have a question regarding the authorization approach. According to the documentation, after logging in, the user receives a token that needs to be sent to the API every time for authorization.
My question is: is this really the correct approach? Would it not be better to use HttpOnly cookies to store the token? How should this be implemented in the context of NestJS?
AuthService:
import { Injectable, UnauthorizedException } from '@nestjs/common';
import { UsersService } from '../users/users.service';
import { JwtService } from '@nestjs/jwt';
@Injectable()
export class AuthService {
constructor(
private usersService: UsersService,
private jwtService: JwtService
) {}
async signIn(
username: string,
pass: string,
): Promise<{ access_token: string }> {
const user = await this.usersService.findOne(username);
if (user?.password !== pass) {
throw new UnauthorizedException();
}
const payload = { sub: user.userId, username: user.username };
return {
access_token: await this.jwtService.signAsync(payload),
};
}
}
Auth Controller
import {
Body,
Controller,
Get,
HttpCode,
HttpStatus,
Post,
Request,
UseGuards
} from '@nestjs/common';
import { AuthService } from './auth.service';
import { AuthGuard } from './auth.guard';
@Controller('auth')
export class AuthController {
constructor(private authService: AuthService) {}
@HttpCode(HttpStatus.OK)
@Post('login')
signIn(@Body() signInDto: Record<string, any>) {
return this.authService.signIn(signInDto.username, signInDto.password);
}
@UseGuards(AuthGuard)
@Get('profile')
getProfile(@Request() req) {
return req.user;
}
}
Auth Guard
import {
CanActivate,
ExecutionContext,
Injectable,
UnauthorizedException,
} from '@nestjs/common';
import { JwtService } from '@nestjs/jwt';
import { jwtConstants } from './constants';
import { Request } from 'express';
@Injectable()
export class AuthGuard implements CanActivate {
constructor(private jwtService: JwtService) {}
async canActivate(context: ExecutionContext): Promise<boolean> {
const request = context.switchToHttp().getRequest();
const token = this.extractTokenFromHeader(request);
if (!token) {
throw new UnauthorizedException();
}
try {
const payload = await this.jwtService.verifyAsync(
token,
{
secret: jwtConstants.secret
}
);
request['user'] = payload;
} catch {
throw new UnauthorizedException();
}
return true;
}
private extractTokenFromHeader(request: Request): string | undefined {
const [type, token] = request.headers.authorization?.split(' ') ?? [];
return type === 'Bearer' ? token : undefined;
}
}
Which approach do you think will be better? Should I follow what’s in the documentation and store the token in React, sending it whenever needed, or use HttpOnly cookies?