Payload.authenticate method

jeffreyartslast year

11

io.use((socket, next) => {
  const auth = payload.authenticate(payload, socket.data, next)
})

• 

  vpjmlast year

  I am also very interested by this post. I hope someone will take the time to write a comprehensive response so that we can finally clear up any doubts about authentication on payload

  

  .

• 

  notchrlast year

  @703162911241273394

  Where are you calling .authenticate() ? Before or after the payload initialization?

• 

  jeffreyartslast year

  I believe it was in the config.onInit method of a plugin

• 

  notchrlast year

  Are you able to check it out? Happy to help troubleshoot

  
  
  

  The authenticate method should happen after payload is initialized

• 

  jeffreyartslast year

  Well, I have refactored the code many times and currently got rid of it entirely (for now).

  
  

  Nonetheless, I don't think I am following your argument. How I understand it, is that socketIO implements the payload.authenticate(payload, socket.data, next) method as [a function that gets executed for every incoming connection](

  https://socket.io/docs/v4/middlewares/

  ). How is the position of this declaration relevant for the operation of the middleware function?

  
  
  

  I think that if I'd understand that, I might also be able to figure out why I can't share sessions between socketIO & express (since that is also being handled via middleware)

• 

  notchrlast year

  I'm going by the warning on that page

  
  
  

  Payload must be initialized before the payload.authenticate middleware can be used. This is done by calling payload.init() prior to adding the middleware.

  
  
  

    await payload.init({
      secret: 'PAYLOAD_SECRET_KEY',
      express: app,
    })
  
    const router = express.Router()
  
    // Note: Payload must be initialized before the `payload.authenticate` middleware can be used
    router.use(payload.authenticate) 

• 

  jeffreyartslast year

  https://socket.io/docs/v4/middlewares/#compatibility-with-express-middleware
  

  This is also relevant information; Should try this once.

  
  
  

  io.engine.use((req, res, next) => {
    const isHandshake = req._query.sid === undefined;
    if (isHandshake) {
      payload.authenticate(req, res, next);
    } else {
      next();
    }
  })

• 

  notchrlast year

  Shouldnt next be called in both conditions?

• 

  jeffreyartslast year

  What do you mean? next()

  is

  being called in both conditions. Payload.authenticate calls that method interenally

  
  
  

  Just made an important/relevant discovery. The authentication process doesn't work how I thought it did. I thought it was done via the "Authentication" header, but in fact it occurs via cookies. I'm not familiar with that process, so I would need to dive into it a but further before jumping to conclusions. But surely this misunderstanding from my part will be at the core of a lot of other concepts around authentication and sessions that I couldn't put my finger on

  
  
  

  ### A summary of insights

  
  
  

  - payload.authenticate does not have to be included manually, despite [this documentation](

  https://payloadcms.com/docs/authentication/using-middleware

  ) says it is mandatory to do.

  
  

  - Payload uses cookies that are not accessible by JS to manage authentication. These cookies are not sent by default but should be added manually in the front-end application

  
  

  - Whenever you ended up in a crashing Webpack loop you're fucked. While it can help to remove the

  node_modules/.cache

  directory, it is in no way a guaranteed solution.

  
  
  

  ------------

  
  
  

  This topic has become a true mess 😅, so I will mark it as solved since it no longer has a clear question that requires a clear answer 🙂

• 

  ritsu0455last year

  Have you tried 3.0? It's a

  lot

  better here. 0 dependency to some HTTP interface, you can call

  payload.authenticate

  even within a script.

• 

  jeffreyartslast year

  I have not, but good to hear that this method has become more accessible