Install Auth SDK

Installation

Install the Wristband Auth SDK using your preferred package manager CLI:

npm install @wristband/express-auth

yarn add @wristband/express-auth

pnpm add @wristband/express-auth

Configuration

Prerequisites

Before you can configure the SDK, you'll need to make sure you have the following values:

• WRISTBAND_APPLICATION_VANITY_DOMAIN
• WRISTBAND_CLIENT_ID
• WRISTBAND_CLIENT_SECRET

If you went through the Set Up a Wristband Application guide, you should have been presented with these three values after the application was provisioned. If you don't have the above values on hand, you can retrieve them from the Wristband dashboard by following the steps in this guide.

Configure The SDK

Create an instance of WristbandAuth in the source root directory of your Express project (e.g.src/wristband.ts). Update the AuthConfig properties with the values for your application.

⚙️

Disabling Secure Cookies in Local Development

By default, WristbandAuth creates secure cookies (for tracking login state), meaning they are only sent over HTTPS connections. Most browsers make an exception for localhost and allow secure cookies to be sent over HTTP (e.g., http://localhost). However, some browsers, such as Safari, enforce stricter rules and never send secure cookies over HTTP, even for localhost.

If you need to disable the secure cookies for local development, set dangerouslyDisableSecureCookies: true in AuthConfig. However, be sure to re-enable secure cookies before deploying to production.

// src/wristband.ts

import { createWristbandAuth } from '@wristband/express-auth';

const authConfig = {
  clientId: '<WRISTBAND_CLIENT_ID>',
  clientSecret: '<WRISTBAND_CLIENT_SECRET>',
  wristbandApplicationVanityDomain: '<WRISTBAND_APPLICATION_VANITY_DOMAIN>',
};

export const wristbandAuth = createWristbandAuth(authConfig);

// src/wristband.ts

import { createWristbandAuth } from '@wristband/express-auth';

const authConfig = {
  clientId: '<WRISTBAND_CLIENT_ID>',
  clientSecret: '<WRISTBAND_CLIENT_SECRET>',
  wristbandApplicationVanityDomain: '<WRISTBAND_APPLICATION_VANITY_DOMAIN>',
  dangerouslyDisableSecureCookies: true,
};

export const wristbandAuth = createWristbandAuth(authConfig);

Add Auth Middleware

You’ll also need to create an auth middleware to verify that incoming requests have a valid session. You can do this using the wristbandAuth.createRequireSessionAuth() method. Later, you'll use this middleware to protect API routes that require authentication.

After adding the auth middleware, the file should look like the following:

// src/wristband.ts

import { createWristbandAuth } from '@wristband/express-auth';

const authConfig = {
  clientId: '<WRISTBAND_CLIENT_ID>',
  clientSecret: '<WRISTBAND_CLIENT_SECRET>',
  wristbandApplicationVanityDomain: '<WRISTBAND_APPLICATION_VANITY_DOMAIN>',
};

export const wristbandAuth = createWristbandAuth(authConfig);

export const requireWristbandAuth = wristbandAuth.createRequireSessionAuth();