node-weixin-auth

0.6.3 verified Sat Apr 25 auth: no javascript

WeChat server authentication module for node-weixin-api and node-weixin-express. Version 0.6.3 provides token acquisition, automatic token refresh with configurable GAP, server IP retrieval, and message signature verification. It is part of the node-weixin ecosystem and requires node-weixin-settings for configuration persistence. Compared to other WeChat SDKs, it offers manual and automatic tokenization with a time gap to reduce expiration failures. The package has a moderate release cadence and is primarily used in Chinese development communities.

Common errors

error Cannot read property 'access_token' of undefined ↓

cause tokenize callback called with error but code accesses json.access_token without check.

fix

Check if (!error && json) before using json.access_token.

error nodeWeixinAuth is not a function ↓

cause Importing incorrectly, e.g., import nodeWeixinAuth from 'node-weixin-auth' when require is expected or module has no default export.

fix

Use const nodeWeixinAuth = require('node-weixin-auth');.

error TypeError: settings.get is not a function ↓

cause The settings object must be a node-weixin-settings instance, not a plain object.

fix

Create settings with require('node-weixin-settings') and configure it.

Warnings

breaking The callback signature for determine may differ from tokenize; ensure you pass a function with no arguments. ↓

fix Use determine(settings, app, function() { ... }) without parameters in the callback.

gotcha The TIME_GAP property must be set before calling determine; otherwise default 500 seconds is used. ↓

fix Set nodeWeixinAuth.TIME_GAP = <desired seconds> before calling determine.

gotcha The ack method expects a data object from extract; ensure you call nodeWeixinAuth.extract(req.query) on GET request query parameters. ↓

fix Parse query string with extract before passing to ack.

gotcha If settings are not properly configured, tokenize may throw an error without clear message; validate app object has non-empty id and secret. ↓

fix Check that app.id, app.secret, and app.token are set to valid WeChat credentials.

Install

npm install node-weixin-auth

yarn add node-weixin-auth

pnpm add node-weixin-auth

Imports

nodeWeixinAuth
wrong
```
const nodeWeixinAuth = require('node-weixin-auth')
```
correct
```
import nodeWeixinAuth from 'node-weixin-auth'
```
The package uses CommonJS and has no default export; require is standard. ES import works if module resolution supports default fallback.
tokenize
```
nodeWeixinAuth.tokenize(settings, app, callback)
```
Manually fetches an access token from WeChat API.

determine

wrong

nodeWeixinAuth.determine(settings, app, callback)

correct

nodeWeixinAuth.determine(settings, app, function) { ... })

Automatically tokenizes API requests, refreshing token if needed.

Quickstart

Initializes WeChat auth with app credentials, manually fetches a token, and sets up automatic token refresh.

const nodeWeixinAuth = require('node-weixin-auth');
const settings = require('node-weixin-settings');

const app = {
  id: process.env.WECHAT_APP_ID || '',
  secret: process.env.WECHAT_APP_SECRET || '',
  token: process.env.WECHAT_TOKEN || ''
};

// Optional: set time gap for token refresh
nodeWeixinAuth.TIME_GAP = 60;

// Manually get access token
nodeWeixinAuth.tokenize(settings, app, (error, json) => {
  if (!error) {
    console.log('Access Token:', json.access_token);
  }
});

// Automatically handle token for subsequent requests
nodeWeixinAuth.determine(settings, app, () => {
  console.log('Token is ready. You can now make API calls.');
});