node.js - How to authenticate Supertest requests with Passport?

Question

I'm using Passport.js for authentication (local strategy) and testing with Mocha and Supertest.

How can I create a session and make authenticated requests with Supertest?

Answer 1

As zeMirco points out, the underlying superagent module supports sessions, automatically maintaining cookies for you. However, it is possible to use the superagent.agent() functionality from supertest, through an undocumented feature.

Simply use require('supertest').agent('url') instead of require('supertest')('url'):

var request = require('supertest');
var server = request.agent('http://localhost:3000');

describe('GET /api/getDir', function(){
    it('login', loginUser());
    it('uri that requires user to be logged in', function(done){
    server
        .get('/api/getDir')                       
        .expect(200)
        .end(function(err, res){
            if (err) return done(err);
            console.log(res.body);
            done()
        });
    });
});


function loginUser() {
    return function(done) {
        server
            .post('/login')
            .send({ username: 'admin', password: 'admin' })
            .expect(302)
            .expect('Location', '/')
            .end(onResponse);

        function onResponse(err, res) {
           if (err) return done(err);
           return done();
        }
    };
};