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jadenScali merged 3 commits into from
Sep 7, 2026
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Dev 1 #89

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2d55184
Iron session cookie secret failure moved to deploy time
jadenScali Sep 2, 2026
3776135
Create dynamic user-profile cookie for new dev envs
jadenScali Sep 7, 2026
803050b
Update readme documenting dev:all
jadenScali Sep 7, 2026
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93 changes: 76 additions & 17 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -124,23 +124,26 @@ DEV_EMAIL=your.email@mail.utoronto.ca
DEV_ROLE=PROFESSOR # or STUDENT
```

> **The `DEV_*` variables must never be set in production.** The auth route falls back to `DEV_UTORID` whenever the Shibboleth header is missing, so setting them on the server would allow unauthenticated logins.

| Variable | Required | Description |
| ----------------------------------- | :------: | --------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `POSTGRES_USER` / `PASSWORD` / `DB` | Yes | Postgres credentials |
| `REDIS_PASSWORD` | Yes | Passed to the Redis container as `--requirepass` |
| `SESSION_SECRET` | Yes | Key for iron-session cookie encryption. Changing it logs everyone out. |
| `PROFESSOR_WHITELIST` | Yes | UTORids granted the PROFESSOR role on login. Everyone else is a STUDENT. |
| `ADMIN_WHITELIST` | Yes | UTORids granted `/dashboard` access. Empty means nobody can administer. |
| `CRON_SECRET` | Yes | Bearer token for the cleanup-sessions cron endpoint |
| `DATABASE_URL` | Dev | Only in `.env.local`; Compose derives it otherwise |
| `REDIS_URL` | Dev | Only in `.env.local`; Compose derives it otherwise |
| `DEV_UTORID` | Dev | Fake UTORid injected when Shibboleth is not present |
| `DEV_NAME` | Dev | Display name for the fake dev user |
| `DEV_EMAIL` | Dev | Email for the fake dev user; defaults to `<utorid>@mail.utoronto.ca` |
| `DEV_ROLE` | Dev | `PROFESSOR` or `STUDENT` — overrides whitelist lookup |
| `SOCKET_IO_USE_REDIS` | No | Set to `"false"` to disable the Socket.IO Redis adapter. Enabled otherwise. |
> **The `DEV_*` variables are ignored in production.** The auth route only reads them when `NODE_ENV !== "production"`; a production request arriving without a Shibboleth header is rejected with a 401 rather than falling back to `DEV_UTORID`. Keep them out of production environments regardless — `docker-compose.override.yml` is the only place they belong.

| Variable | Required | Description |
| ------------------------------------------- | :------: | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `POSTGRES_USER` / `PASSWORD` / `DB` | Yes | Postgres credentials |
| `REDIS_PASSWORD` | Yes | Passed to the Redis container as `--requirepass` |
| `SESSION_SECRET` | Yes | Key for iron-session cookie encryption. Changing it logs everyone out. |
| `PROFESSOR_WHITELIST` | Yes | UTORids granted the PROFESSOR role on login. Everyone else is a STUDENT. |
| `ADMIN_WHITELIST` | Yes | UTORids granted `/dashboard` access. Empty means nobody can administer. |
| `CRON_SECRET` | Yes | Bearer token for the cleanup-sessions cron endpoint |
| `DATABASE_URL` | Dev | Only in `.env.local`; Compose derives it otherwise |
| `REDIS_URL` | Dev | Only in `.env.local`; Compose derives it otherwise |
| `DEV_UTORID` | Dev | Fake UTORid injected when Shibboleth is not present |
| `DEV_NAME` | Dev | Display name for the fake dev user |
| `DEV_EMAIL` | Dev | Email for the fake dev user; defaults to `<utorid>@mail.utoronto.ca` |
| `DEV_ROLE` | Dev | `PROFESSOR` or `STUDENT` — overrides whitelist lookup |
| `DEV_PROF_*` / `DEV_TA_*` / `DEV_STUDENT_*` | Dev | Per-persona `UTORID` / `NAME` / `ROLE` / `EMAIL` for `pnpm dev:all`. Each falls back to a default with a startup warning. |
| `SESSION_COOKIE_NAME` | No | Set per instance by `pnpm dev:all`. Ignored in production. |
| `NEXT_DIST_DIR` | No | Set per instance by `pnpm dev:all` so concurrent dev servers don't share `.next`. |
| `SOCKET_IO_USE_REDIS` | No | Set to `"false"` to disable the Socket.IO Redis adapter. Enabled otherwise. |

Whitelists are read once at startup and cached, so restart the app after changing them.

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -191,6 +194,62 @@ pnpm dev

Open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000). The app auto-reloads on changes.

### Testing multi-user flows: `pnpm dev:all`

A single dev server can only ever be one user — identity comes from `DEV_UTORID` /
`DEV_NAME` / `DEV_ROLE`, which are process-global. To test a student asking a question
while a professor answers it, run three instances at once:

```bash
pnpm dev:all
```

| Persona | URL | Cookie |
| --------- | --------------------- | --------------------- |
| `PROF` | http://localhost:3000 | `askeasy-dev-prof` |
| `TA` | http://localhost:3001 | `askeasy-dev-ta` |
| `STUDENT` | http://localhost:3002 | `askeasy-dev-student` |

Open all three in tabs of the same window. Each instance gets its own session cookie
name, so they don't clobber each other — browser cookies are keyed by host and ignore
the port, meaning a single shared name would make every tab become whoever logged in
last. All three share one Postgres and one Redis, which is what lets events broadcast
between them.

Configure each persona in `.env` (all optional — anything missing falls back to a
default and prints a warning at startup):

```bash
DEV_PROF_UTORID=devprof
DEV_PROF_NAME=Dev Professor
DEV_PROF_ROLE=PROFESSOR

DEV_TA_UTORID=devta
DEV_TA_NAME=Dev TA
DEV_TA_ROLE=TA

DEV_STUDENT_UTORID=devstudent
DEV_STUDENT_NAME=Dev Student
DEV_STUDENT_ROLE=STUDENT
```

Notes:

- `DEV_ROLE` overrides the whitelist lookup, so the PROF persona does **not** need to be
in `PROFESSOR_WHITELIST`. It **does** need to be in `ADMIN_WHITELIST` for `/dashboard`
access, and whitelists are cached at startup — restart after editing.
- Leave `SOCKET_IO_USE_REDIS` unset. With the adapter disabled, events don't cross
instances: a question asked in one tab won't appear in the others until you refresh.
- Each instance runs its own Next compiler against its own build dir (`.next-prof`,
`.next-ta`, `.next-student`), so expect roughly 3× the memory and CPU of `pnpm dev`.
- Instances start one at a time rather than all at once. Next rewrites `next-env.d.ts`
during startup and each instance wants its own build dir in it, so concurrent
startups interleave those writes and corrupt the file — which then breaks
`pnpm typecheck` and the pre-commit hook. Startup therefore takes about three
times as long as `pnpm dev`.
- `pnpm dev` is unaffected and still uses the `ask_easy_session` cookie, so switching
between the two modes won't log you out of either.

### Switching branches

`git checkout` only updates tracked files. The Prisma client (`src/generated/`) and `node_modules/` are gitignored, so they keep whatever the previous branch left behind. Run this after switching to any branch that touches `prisma/schema.prisma` or `package.json`:
Expand Down
2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion docker-compose.yml
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Expand Up @@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ services:
environment:
- DATABASE_URL=postgresql://${POSTGRES_USER:-postgres}:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD:-postgres}@postgres:5432/${POSTGRES_DB:-ask_easy}
- REDIS_URL=redis://:${REDIS_PASSWORD:-changeme}@redis:6379
- SESSION_SECRET=${SESSION_SECRET}
- SESSION_SECRET=${SESSION_SECRET:?required in prod.env}
- PROFESSOR_WHITELIST=${PROFESSOR_WHITELIST}
- ADMIN_WHITELIST=${ADMIN_WHITELIST}
# DEV_* live in docker-compose.override.yml so production never sees them.
Expand Down
2 changes: 2 additions & 0 deletions eslint.config.mjs
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Expand Up @@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ const eslintConfig = defineConfig([
globalIgnores([
// Default ignores of eslint-config-next:
".next/**",
// Per-instance build dirs created by `pnpm dev:all`
".next-*/**",
"out/**",
"build/**",
"next-env.d.ts",
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3 changes: 3 additions & 0 deletions next.config.ts
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Expand Up @@ -11,6 +11,9 @@ const scriptSrc = isProd

const nextConfig: NextConfig = {
output: "standalone",
// `pnpm dev:all` gives each instance its own build dir so three concurrent
// dev servers from one checkout don't fight over `.next`. Unset otherwise.
distDir: process.env.NEXT_DIST_DIR || ".next",
serverExternalPackages: ["socket.io", "ioredis", "@socket.io/redis-adapter"],
async headers() {
return [
Expand Down
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions package.json
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Expand Up @@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
"prisma:generate": "prisma generate",
"typecheck": "tsc --noEmit",
"dev": "cross-env NODE_ENV=development tsx watch src/server.ts",
"dev:all": "tsx scripts/dev-all.ts",
"build": "next build",
"start": "tsx src/server.ts",
"lint": "eslint . --report-unused-disable-directives --max-warnings 3",
Expand Down
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