How can I implement JWT authentication with refresh tokens in Node.js using Express?

How can I implement JWT authentication with refresh tokens in Node.js using Express?

To implement JWT authentication with refresh tokens in Node.js using Express, you can follow these steps: 1. Set up your Express server. 2. Install necessary packages like jsonwebtoken and bcrypt. 3. Create user registration and login routes. 4. Generate a JWT upon successful login. 5. Implement a refresh token mechanism to issue new JWTs without requiring the user to log in again.

What packages do I need to install for this?

You will need to install the following packages: express, jsonwebtoken, bcrypt, and optionally dotenv for environment variable management. You can install them using npm: npm install express jsonwebtoken bcrypt dotenv.

Can you show me a code example for generating a JWT?

Sure! Here's a simple example:

const jwt = require('jsonwebtoken');

const user = { id: 1, username: 'example' }; // Example user object
const token = jwt.sign(user, 'your_secret_key', { expiresIn: '1h' });
console.log(token);

This code generates a JWT for the user with an expiration time of 1 hour.

How do I handle token expiration and refresh tokens?

To handle token expiration, you can check the token's validity on each request. If the token is expired, you can use a refresh token to issue a new JWT. Store the refresh token securely, and create an endpoint to accept the refresh token and return a new JWT.