Add Session Middleware

To manage the user's authenticated state, you'll need to add Wristband's session middleware to your application. This middleware attaches a request.state.session object to each incoming request, which stores information about the authenticated user. The session data is securely stored in an encrypted cookie, and on subsequent requests, the middleware automatically decrypts the cookie and restores the session state.

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Built-in CSRF Protection

Wristband's session middleware automatically provides CSRF protection using the synchronizer token pattern.

Configure Session Middleware

To enable session management, add the Wristband SDK’s SessionMiddleware to your FastAPI application. You'll need to provide a secret (at least 32 characters long) as the secret_key value. You can generate a secure secret using 1Password's password generator.

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Disabling Secure Session Cookies in Local Development

By default, session cookies are marked as secure, 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 flag for local development, set secure=False in SessionMiddleware. However, be sure to restore secure=True in production to protect session data.

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Cross-Domain Session Middleware Configuration

If your frontend and backend are hosted on different domains, you must configure SessionMiddleware to explicitly set the csrf_cookie_domain. For example, if you have a React frontend hosted at dashboard.yourapp.com and your FastAPI backend is hosted at api.yourapp.com, you must set csrf_cookie_domain="yourapp.com" to ensure the CSRF cookie is accessible across both domains.

# src/main.py
from fastapi import FastAPI
from wristband.fastapi_auth import SessionMiddleware

def create_app() -> FastAPI:
    app = FastAPI()
    
    # Enable Wristband's session middlware on all routes.
    app.add_middleware(SessionMiddleware, secret_key="<your-generated-secret>")

    # Your other application setup...

# src/main.py
from fastapi import FastAPI
from wristband.fastapi_auth import SessionMiddleware

def create_app() -> FastAPI:
    app = FastAPI()
    
    # Enable Wristband's session middlware on all routes.
    app.add_middleware(SessionMiddleware, secret_key="<your-generated-secret>", secure=False)

    # Your other application setup...

# src/main.py
from fastapi import FastAPI
from wristband.fastapi_auth import SessionMiddleware

def create_app() -> FastAPI:
    app = FastAPI()
    
    # Enable Wristband's session middlware on all routes.
    app.add_middleware(SessionMiddleware, secret_key="<your-generated-secret>", csrf_cookie_domain="<your-application-root-domain>")

    # Your other application setup...