Node.js + express.js + passport.js : stay authenticated between server restart

Question

I use passport.js to handle auth on my nodejs + express.js application. I setup a LocalStrategy to take users from mongodb

My problems is that users have to

Answer 1

This is probably obvious to experienced node users but it caught me out:

You need to configure the node session - e.g.

app.use(session({secret: "this_is_secret", store: ...}));

before initializing the passport session - e.g.

app.use(passport.initialize());
app.use(passport.session());

If you call passport.session() first it won't work (and it won't warn you). I thought the problem was with the serialize/deserialize user functions and wasted hours.