axios-auth-refresh
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Axios plugin which makes it very easy to automatically refresh the authorization tokens of your clients
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# axios-auth-refresh
Library that helps you implement automatic refresh of authorization
via axios [interceptors](https://github.com/axios/axios#interceptors).
You can easily intercept the original request when it fails, refresh the authorization and continue with the original request,
without any user interaction.
What happens when the request fails due to authorization is all up to you.
You can either run a refresh call for a new authorization token or run a custom logic.
The plugin stalls additional requests that have come in while waiting for a new authorization token
and resolves them when a new token is available.
## Installation
Using [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/get-npm) or [yarn](https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install):
```bash
npm install axios-auth-refresh --save
# or
yarn add axios-auth-refresh
```
## Syntax
```typescript
createAuthRefresh(
axios: AxiosInstance,
refreshAuthLogic: (failedRequest: any) => Promise<any>,
options: AxiosAuthRefreshOptions = {}
): number;
```
#### Parameters
- `axios` - an instance of Axios
- `refreshAuthLogic` - a Function used for refreshing authorization (**must return a promise**).
Accepts exactly one parameter, which is the `failedRequest` returned by the original call.
- `options` - object with settings for interceptor (See [available options](#available-options))
#### Returns
Interceptor `id` in case you want to reject it manually.
## Usage
In order to activate the interceptors, you need to import a function from `axios-auth-refresh`
and call it with the **axios instance** you want the interceptors for,
as well as the **refresh authorization function** where you need to write the logic for refreshing the authorization.
The interceptors will then be bound onto the axios instance, and the specified logic will be run whenever a [401 (Unauthorized)](https://httpstatuses.com/401) status code
is returned from a server (or any other status code you provide in options). All the new requests created while the refreshAuthLogic has been processing will be bound onto the
Promise returned from the refreshAuthLogic function. This means that the requests will be resolved when a new access token has been fetched or when the refreshing logic failed.
```javascript
import axios from 'axios';
import { createAuthRefresh } from 'axios-auth-refresh';
// Function that will be called to refresh authorization
const refreshAuthLogic = (failedRequest) =>
axios.post('https://www.example.com/auth/token/refresh').then((tokenRefreshResponse) => {
localStorage.setItem('token', tokenRefreshResponse.data.token);
failedRequest.response.config.headers['Authorization'] = 'Bearer ' + tokenRefreshResponse.data.token;
return Promise.resolve();
});
// Instantiate the interceptor
createAuthRefresh(axios, refreshAuthLogic);
// Make a call. If it returns a 401 error, the refreshAuthLogic will be run,
// and the request retried with the new token
axios.get('https://www.example.com/restricted/area').then(/* ... */).catch(/* ... */);
```
#### Skipping the interceptor
There's a possibility to skip the logic of the interceptor for specific calls.
To do this, you need to pass the `skipAuthRefresh` option to the request config for each request you don't want to intercept.
```javascript
axios.get('https://www.example.com/', { skipAuthRefresh: true });
```
If you're using TypeScript you can import the custom request config interface from `axios-auth-refresh`.
```typescript
import { AxiosAuthRefreshRequestConfig } from 'axios-auth-refresh';
```
#### Request interceptor
Since this plugin automatically stalls additional requests while refreshing the token,
it is a good idea to **wrap your request logic in a function**,
to make sure the stalled requests are using the newly fetched data (like token).
Example of sending the tokens:
```javascript
// Obtain the fresh token each time the function is called
function getAccessToken() {
return localStorage.getItem('token');
}
// Use interceptor to inject the token to requests
axios.interceptors.request.use((request) => {
request.headers['Authorization'] = `Bearer ${getAccessToken()}`;
return request;
});
```
## Available options
#### Status codes to intercept
You can specify multiple status codes that you want the interceptor to run for.
```javascript
{
statusCodes: [401, 403], // default: [ 401 ]
}
```
#### Customize intercept logic
You can provide a custom function to determine whether a failed request should trigger a refresh.
When `shouldRefresh` is configured, the `statusCodes` logic is ignored.
```javascript
{
shouldRefresh: (error) =>
error?.response?.data?.business_error_code === 100385,
}
```
#### Retry instance for stalled requests
You can specify the instance which will be used for retrying the stalled requests.
Default value is `undefined` and the instance passed to `createAuthRefresh` function is used.
```javascript
{
retryInstance: someAxiosInstance, // default: undefined
}
```
#### `onRetry` callback before sending the stalled requests
You can specify the `onRetry` callback which will be called before each
stalled request is called with the request configuration object.
```javascript
{
onRetry: (requestConfig) => ({ ...requestConfig, baseURL: '' }), // default: undefined
}
```
#### Deduplicate refresh calls
By default (`deduplicateRefresh: true`), the interceptor ensures that only one refresh call runs at a time.
While the refresh is in progress, the axios instance is paused — any new requests are queued and
resolved automatically once the refresh completes.
This is the recommended behavior for most applications. If you need every failed request to independently
trigger its own refresh cycle, you can disable it:
```javascript
{
deduplicateRefresh: false, // default: true
}
```
When disabled, you must mark your refresh calls with [`skipAuthRefresh`](#skipping-the-interceptor)
to avoid interceptor loops.
#### Intercept on network error
Some CORS APIs may not return CORS response headers when an HTTP 401 Unauthorized response is returned.
In this scenario, the browser won't be able to read the response headers to determine the response status code.
To intercept _any_ network error, enable the `interceptNetworkError` option.
CAUTION: This should be used as a last resort. If this is used to work around an API that doesn't support CORS
with an HTTP 401 response, your retry logic can test for network connectivity attempting refresh authentication.
```javascript
{
interceptNetworkError: true, // default: undefined
}
```
## Examples
The [`examples/`](./examples) folder contains runnable examples that double as end-to-end tests:
- **basic-refresh** — Core 401 → refresh → retry flow
- **skip-auth-refresh** — `skipAuthRefresh` flag skips interception
- **pause-instance** — `deduplicateRefresh` with concurrent requests
- **custom-status-codes** — `statusCodes` + `shouldRefresh` callback
- **on-retry-callback** — `onRetry` config mutation before retry
- **network-error** — `interceptNetworkError` for CORS scenarios
Run them all:
```bash
npm run examples
```
---
### Other usages of the library
This library has also been used for:
- Automatic request throttling by [@amcsi](https://github.com/amcsi)
- OTP challenges with Google2FA by [@LeoniePhiline](https://github.com/LeoniePhiline)
have you used it for something else? Create a PR with your use case to share it.
---
#### Want to help?
Check out [contribution guide](CONTRIBUTING.md) or my [patreon page!](https://www.patreon.com/dawidzbinski)