@cleverbrush/auth

Transport-agnostic authentication and authorization for TypeScript. Ships with JWT and cookie schemes, a fluent policy builder, and a typed Principal value object. Designed for @cleverbrush/server but usable in any Node.js context.

Features

• Transport-agnostic — authentication schemes receive a plain AuthenticationContext (headers + cookies + items), not a raw HTTP request.
• Principal<T> — immutable, typed value object exposing .hasRole(), .hasClaim(), .isAuthenticated, and .claims.
• JWT scheme — jwtScheme() supports HS256/HS384/HS512 and RS256/RS384/RS512; configurable issuer, audience, clock tolerance, and role claim.
• Cookie scheme — cookieScheme() with a user-supplied async validate() function (session lookup, signature check, etc.).
• Authorization — PolicyBuilder with .requireRole() / .require(predicate) fluent API; AuthorizationService.authorize() accepts requirements or a named policy.
• requireRole() helper — convenience factory for single-call role requirements.
• Cookie utilities — parseCookies() and serializeCookie() for low-level cookie handling.
• Zero runtime dependencies — uses only Node.js built-in crypto.

Installation

npm install @cleverbrush/auth
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Quick Start

import { jwtScheme, Principal } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

type UserClaims = { sub: string; role: string };

const jwt = jwtScheme<UserClaims>({
    secret: process.env.JWT_SECRET!,
    mapClaims: claims => ({
        sub: claims.sub as string,
        role: claims.role as string
    })
});

// Authenticate a request context (built from HTTP headers)
const result = await jwt.authenticate({
    headers: { authorization: 'Bearer <token>' },
    cookies: {},
    items: new Map()
});

if (result.succeeded) {
    const principal: Principal<UserClaims> = result.principal;
    principal.isAuthenticated; // true
    principal.hasRole('admin'); // boolean
    principal.value.sub;       // string
}
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JWT Authentication

import { jwtScheme, signJwt } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

// Sign a token (for testing or token issuance)
const token = signJwt({ sub: 'user-1', role: 'admin' }, 'my-secret');

// Verify and authenticate
const scheme = jwtScheme({
    secret: 'my-secret',
    algorithms: ['HS256'],          // default
    issuer: 'https://my-app.com',   // optional iss check
    audience: 'my-api',             // optional aud check
    clockTolerance: 5,              // seconds
    roleClaim: 'role',              // default
    mapClaims: c => ({ sub: c.sub as string, role: c.role as string })
});
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Supported algorithms: HS256, HS384, HS512, RS256, RS384, RS512.

Cookie Authentication

import { cookieScheme } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

const cookie = cookieScheme<{ userId: string; role: string }>({
    cookieName: 'session',
    validate: async (cookieValue) => {
        // Look up session from DB, verify signature, etc.
        const session = await sessionStore.get(cookieValue);
        if (!session) return null;
        return { userId: session.userId, role: session.role };
    }
});
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Authorization

Policy Builder

import { PolicyBuilder, requireRole } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

const adminPolicy = new PolicyBuilder()
    .requireRole('admin')
    .require(principal => principal.hasClaim('verified', 'true'))
    .build('admin-only');
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Authorization Service

import { AuthorizationService } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

const policies = new Map([['admin-only', adminPolicy]]);
const authz = new AuthorizationService(policies);

// Check by requirements array
const result = await authz.authorize(principal, [requireRole('admin')]);

// Check by named policy
const result2 = await authz.authorize(principal, 'admin-only');

if (!result.allowed) {
    console.log(result.reason); // 'Not authenticated' | 'Forbidden'
}
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Cookie Utilities

import { parseCookies, serializeCookie } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

// Parse Cookie header
const cookies = parseCookies('session=abc123; theme=dark');
// { session: 'abc123', theme: 'dark' }

// Build Set-Cookie header value
const header = serializeCookie('session', 'abc123', {
    httpOnly: true,
    secure: true,
    sameSite: 'Lax',
    maxAge: 3600
});
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Integration with @cleverbrush/server

import { ServerBuilder } from '@cleverbrush/server';
import { jwtScheme } from '@cleverbrush/auth';

const server = new ServerBuilder();

server
    .useAuthentication({
        defaultScheme: 'jwt',
        schemes: [jwtScheme({ secret: process.env.JWT_SECRET!, mapClaims: c => c })]
    })
    .useAuthorization();

await server.listen(3000);
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License

BSD-3-Clause — see LICENSE.