mini-starter/_bmad/bmm/testarch/knowledge/auth-session.md

Auth Session Utility

Principle

Persist authentication tokens to disk and reuse across test runs. Support multiple user identifiers, ephemeral authentication, and worker-specific accounts for parallel execution. Fetch tokens once, use everywhere. Works for both API-only tests and browser tests.

Rationale

Playwright's built-in authentication works but has limitations:

• Re-authenticates for every test run (slow)
• Single user per project setup
• No token expiration handling
• Manual session management
• Complex setup for multi-user scenarios

The auth-session utility provides:

• Token persistence: Authenticate once, reuse across runs
• Multi-user support: Different user identifiers in same test suite
• Ephemeral auth: On-the-fly user authentication without disk persistence
• Worker-specific accounts: Parallel execution with isolated user accounts
• Automatic token management: Checks validity, renews if expired
• Flexible provider pattern: Adapt to any auth system (OAuth2, JWT, custom)
• API-first design: Get tokens for API tests without browser overhead

Pattern Examples

Example 1: Basic Auth Session Setup

Context: Configure global authentication that persists across test runs.

Implementation:

// Step 1: Configure in global-setup.ts
import { authStorageInit, setAuthProvider, configureAuthSession, authGlobalInit } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';
import myCustomProvider from './auth/custom-auth-provider';

async function globalSetup() {
  // Ensure storage directories exist
  authStorageInit();

  // Configure storage path
  configureAuthSession({
    authStoragePath: process.cwd() + '/playwright/auth-sessions',
    debug: true,
  });

  // Set custom provider (HOW to authenticate)
  setAuthProvider(myCustomProvider);

  // Optional: pre-fetch token for default user
  await authGlobalInit();
}

export default globalSetup;

// Step 2: Create auth fixture
import { test as base } from '@playwright/test';
import { createAuthFixtures, setAuthProvider } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';
import myCustomProvider from './custom-auth-provider';

// Register provider early
setAuthProvider(myCustomProvider);

export const test = base.extend(createAuthFixtures());

// Step 3: Use in tests
test('authenticated request', async ({ authToken, request }) => {
  const response = await request.get('/api/protected', {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${authToken}` },
  });

  expect(response.ok()).toBeTruthy();
});

Key Points:

• Global setup runs once before all tests
• Token fetched once, reused across all tests
• Custom provider defines your auth mechanism
• Order matters: configure, then setProvider, then init

Example 2: Multi-User Authentication

Context: Testing with different user roles (admin, regular user, guest) in same test suite.

Implementation:

import { test } from '../support/auth/auth-fixture';

// Option 1: Per-test user override
test('admin actions', async ({ authToken, authOptions }) => {
  // Override default user
  authOptions.userIdentifier = 'admin';

  const { authToken: adminToken } = await test.step('Get admin token', async () => {
    return { authToken }; // Re-fetches with new identifier
  });

  // Use admin token
  const response = await request.get('/api/admin/users', {
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${adminToken}` },
  });
});

// Option 2: Parallel execution with different users
test.describe.parallel('multi-user tests', () => {
  test('user 1 actions', async ({ authToken }) => {
    // Uses default user (e.g., 'user1')
  });

  test('user 2 actions', async ({ authToken, authOptions }) => {
    authOptions.userIdentifier = 'user2';
    // Uses different token for user2
  });
});

Key Points:

• Override authOptions.userIdentifier per test
• Tokens cached separately per user identifier
• Parallel tests isolated with different users
• Worker-specific accounts possible

Example 3: Ephemeral User Authentication

Context: Create temporary test users that don't persist to disk (e.g., testing user creation flow).

Implementation:

import { applyUserCookiesToBrowserContext } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';
import { createTestUser } from '../utils/user-factory';

test('ephemeral user test', async ({ context, page }) => {
  // Create temporary user (not persisted)
  const ephemeralUser = await createTestUser({
    role: 'admin',
    permissions: ['delete-users'],
  });

  // Apply auth directly to browser context
  await applyUserCookiesToBrowserContext(context, ephemeralUser);

  // Page now authenticated as ephemeral user
  await page.goto('/admin/users');

  await expect(page.getByTestId('delete-user-btn')).toBeVisible();

  // User and token cleaned up after test
});

Key Points:

• No disk persistence (ephemeral)
• Apply cookies directly to context
• Useful for testing user lifecycle
• Clean up automatic when test ends

Example 4: Testing Multiple Users in Single Test

Context: Testing interactions between users (messaging, sharing, collaboration features).

Implementation:

test('user interaction', async ({ browser }) => {
  // User 1 context
  const user1Context = await browser.newContext({
    storageState: './auth-sessions/local/user1/storage-state.json',
  });
  const user1Page = await user1Context.newPage();

  // User 2 context
  const user2Context = await browser.newContext({
    storageState: './auth-sessions/local/user2/storage-state.json',
  });
  const user2Page = await user2Context.newPage();

  // User 1 sends message
  await user1Page.goto('/messages');
  await user1Page.fill('#message', 'Hello from user 1');
  await user1Page.click('#send');

  // User 2 receives message
  await user2Page.goto('/messages');
  await expect(user2Page.getByText('Hello from user 1')).toBeVisible();

  // Cleanup
  await user1Context.close();
  await user2Context.close();
});

Key Points:

• Each user has separate browser context
• Reference storage state files directly
• Test real-time interactions
• Clean up contexts after test

Example 5: Worker-Specific Accounts (Parallel Testing)

Context: Running tests in parallel with isolated user accounts per worker to avoid conflicts.

Implementation:

// playwright.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  workers: 4, // 4 parallel workers
  use: {
    // Each worker uses different user
    storageState: async ({}, use, testInfo) => {
      const workerIndex = testInfo.workerIndex;
      const userIdentifier = `worker-${workerIndex}`;

      await use(`./auth-sessions/local/${userIdentifier}/storage-state.json`);
    },
  },
});

// Tests run in parallel, each worker with its own user
test('parallel test 1', async ({ page }) => {
  // Worker 0 uses worker-0 account
  await page.goto('/dashboard');
});

test('parallel test 2', async ({ page }) => {
  // Worker 1 uses worker-1 account
  await page.goto('/dashboard');
});

Key Points:

• Each worker has isolated user account
• No conflicts in parallel execution
• Token management automatic per worker
• Scales to any number of workers

Example 6: Pure API Authentication (No Browser)

Context: Get auth tokens for API-only tests using auth-session disk persistence.

Implementation:

// Step 1: Create API-only auth provider (no browser needed)
// playwright/support/api-auth-provider.ts
import { type AuthProvider } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';

const apiAuthProvider: AuthProvider = {
  getEnvironment: (options) => options.environment || 'local',
  getUserIdentifier: (options) => options.userIdentifier || 'api-user',

  extractToken: (storageState) => {
    // Token stored in localStorage format for disk persistence
    const tokenEntry = storageState.origins?.[0]?.localStorage?.find(
      (item) => item.name === 'auth_token'
    );
    return tokenEntry?.value;
  },

  isTokenExpired: (storageState) => {
    const expiryEntry = storageState.origins?.[0]?.localStorage?.find(
      (item) => item.name === 'token_expiry'
    );
    if (!expiryEntry) return true;
    return Date.now() > parseInt(expiryEntry.value, 10);
  },

  manageAuthToken: async (request, options) => {
    const email = process.env.TEST_USER_EMAIL;
    const password = process.env.TEST_USER_PASSWORD;

    if (!email || !password) {
      throw new Error('TEST_USER_EMAIL and TEST_USER_PASSWORD must be set');
    }

    // Pure API login - no browser!
    const response = await request.post('/api/auth/login', {
      data: { email, password },
    });

    if (!response.ok()) {
      throw new Error(`Auth failed: ${response.status()}`);
    }

    const { token, expiresIn } = await response.json();
    const expiryTime = Date.now() + expiresIn * 1000;

    // Return storage state format for disk persistence
    return {
      cookies: [],
      origins: [
        {
          origin: process.env.API_BASE_URL || 'http://localhost:3000',
          localStorage: [
            { name: 'auth_token', value: token },
            { name: 'token_expiry', value: String(expiryTime) },
          ],
        },
      ],
    };
  },
};

export default apiAuthProvider;

// Step 2: Create auth fixture
// playwright/support/fixtures.ts
import { test as base } from '@playwright/test';
import { createAuthFixtures, setAuthProvider } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';
import apiAuthProvider from './api-auth-provider';

setAuthProvider(apiAuthProvider);

export const test = base.extend(createAuthFixtures());

// Step 3: Use in tests - token persisted to disk!
// tests/api/authenticated-api.spec.ts
import { test } from '../support/fixtures';
import { expect } from '@playwright/test';

test('should access protected endpoint', async ({ authToken, apiRequest }) => {
  // authToken is automatically loaded from disk or fetched if expired
  const { status, body } = await apiRequest({
    method: 'GET',
    path: '/api/me',
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${authToken}` },
  });

  expect(status).toBe(200);
});

test('should create resource with auth', async ({ authToken, apiRequest }) => {
  const { status, body } = await apiRequest({
    method: 'POST',
    path: '/api/orders',
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${authToken}` },
    body: { items: [{ productId: 'prod-1', quantity: 2 }] },
  });

  expect(status).toBe(201);
  expect(body.id).toBeDefined();
});

Key Points:

• Token persisted to disk (not in-memory) - survives test reruns
• Provider fetches token once, reuses until expired
• Pure API authentication - no browser context needed
• authToken fixture handles disk read/write automatically
• Environment variables validated with clear error message

Example 7: Service-to-Service Authentication

Context: Test microservice authentication patterns (API keys, service tokens) with proper environment validation.

Implementation:

// tests/api/service-auth.spec.ts
import { test as base, expect } from '@playwright/test';
import { test as apiFixture } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/api-request/fixtures';
import { mergeTests } from '@playwright/test';

// Validate environment variables at module load
const SERVICE_API_KEY = process.env.SERVICE_API_KEY;
const INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL = process.env.INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL;

if (!SERVICE_API_KEY) {
  throw new Error('SERVICE_API_KEY environment variable is required');
}
if (!INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL) {
  throw new Error('INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL environment variable is required');
}

const test = mergeTests(base, apiFixture);

test.describe('Service-to-Service Auth', () => {
  test('should authenticate with API key', async ({ apiRequest }) => {
    const { status, body } = await apiRequest({
      method: 'GET',
      path: '/internal/health',
      baseUrl: INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL,
      headers: { 'X-API-Key': SERVICE_API_KEY },
    });

    expect(status).toBe(200);
    expect(body.status).toBe('healthy');
  });

  test('should reject invalid API key', async ({ apiRequest }) => {
    const { status, body } = await apiRequest({
      method: 'GET',
      path: '/internal/health',
      baseUrl: INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL,
      headers: { 'X-API-Key': 'invalid-key' },
    });

    expect(status).toBe(401);
    expect(body.code).toBe('INVALID_API_KEY');
  });

  test('should call downstream service with propagated auth', async ({ apiRequest }) => {
    const { status, body } = await apiRequest({
      method: 'POST',
      path: '/internal/aggregate-data',
      baseUrl: INTERNAL_SERVICE_URL,
      headers: {
        'X-API-Key': SERVICE_API_KEY,
        'X-Request-ID': `test-${Date.now()}`,
      },
      body: { sources: ['users', 'orders', 'inventory'] },
    });

    expect(status).toBe(200);
    expect(body.aggregatedFrom).toHaveLength(3);
  });
});

Key Points:

• Environment variables validated at module load with clear errors
• API key authentication (simpler than OAuth - no disk persistence needed)
• Test internal/service endpoints
• Validate auth rejection scenarios
• Correlation ID for request tracing

Note: API keys are typically static secrets that don't expire, so disk persistence (auth-session) isn't needed. For rotating service tokens, use the auth-session provider pattern from Example 6.

Custom Auth Provider Pattern

Context: Adapt auth-session to your authentication system (OAuth2, JWT, SAML, custom).

Minimal provider structure:

import { type AuthProvider } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';

const myCustomProvider: AuthProvider = {
  getEnvironment: (options) => options.environment || 'local',

  getUserIdentifier: (options) => options.userIdentifier || 'default-user',

  extractToken: (storageState) => {
    // Extract token from your storage format
    return storageState.cookies.find((c) => c.name === 'auth_token')?.value;
  },

  extractCookies: (tokenData) => {
    // Convert token to cookies for browser context
    return [
      {
        name: 'auth_token',
        value: tokenData,
        domain: 'example.com',
        path: '/',
        httpOnly: true,
        secure: true,
      },
    ];
  },

  isTokenExpired: (storageState) => {
    // Check if token is expired
    const expiresAt = storageState.cookies.find((c) => c.name === 'expires_at');
    return Date.now() > parseInt(expiresAt?.value || '0');
  },

  manageAuthToken: async (request, options) => {
    // Main token acquisition logic
    // Return storage state with cookies/localStorage
  },
};

export default myCustomProvider;

Integration with API Request

import { test } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/fixtures';

test('authenticated API call', async ({ apiRequest, authToken }) => {
  const { status, body } = await apiRequest({
    method: 'GET',
    path: '/api/protected',
    headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${authToken}` },
  });

  expect(status).toBe(200);
});

Related Fragments

• api-testing-patterns.md - Pure API testing patterns (no browser)
• overview.md - Installation and fixture composition
• api-request.md - Authenticated API requests
• fixtures-composition.md - Merging auth with other utilities

Anti-Patterns

❌ Calling setAuthProvider after globalSetup:

async function globalSetup() {
  configureAuthSession(...)
  await authGlobalInit()  // Provider not set yet!
  setAuthProvider(provider)  // Too late
}

✅ Register provider before init:

async function globalSetup() {
  authStorageInit()
  configureAuthSession(...)
  setAuthProvider(provider)  // First
  await authGlobalInit()     // Then init
}

❌ Hardcoding storage paths:

const storageState = './auth-sessions/local/user1/storage-state.json'; // Brittle

✅ Use helper functions:

import { getTokenFilePath } from '@seontechnologies/playwright-utils/auth-session';

const tokenPath = getTokenFilePath({
  environment: 'local',
  userIdentifier: 'user1',
  tokenFileName: 'storage-state.json',
});