Lovable auth

JWT Token Expires Silently Causing Unexpected Logout

Users experience sudden logout after being idle or when making requests. API calls start failing with 401 Unauthorized. The JWT token has expired but the app didn't refresh it before it became invalid.

By default, Supabase tokens expire after 1 hour. Without proper refresh token handling, expired tokens cause failures silently rather than triggering re-authentication flow.

Error Messages You Might See

401 Unauthorized JWT expired Invalid or expired token auth/invalid-api-key
401 UnauthorizedJWT expiredInvalid or expired tokenauth/invalid-api-key

Common Causes

  1. autoRefreshToken not enabled in Supabase client config
  2. No error handling for expired token (401 response)
  3. Refresh token also expired or missing
  4. App doesn't check token expiration before making requests
  5. Network request fails during token refresh

How to Fix It

Enable automatic token refresh and add auth state listener:

const { data: { session } } = await supabase.auth.getSession();

supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((event, session) => {
  if (event === 'TOKEN_REFRESHED') {
    console.log('Token refreshed');
  } else if (event === 'SIGNED_OUT') {
    // Redirect to login
  }
});

Real developers can help you.

Dor Yaloz Dor Yaloz SW engineer with 6+ years of experience, I worked with React/Node/Python did projects with React+Capacitor.js for ios Supabase expert Kingsley Omage Kingsley Omage Fullstack software engineer passionate about AI Agents, blockchain, LLMs. Matthew Butler Matthew Butler Systems Development Engineer @ Amazon Web Services MFox MFox Full-stack professional senior engineer (15+years). Extensive experience in software development, qa, and IP networking. ISHANTDEEP SINGH ISHANTDEEP SINGH Senior Software Engineer with 7+ years of experience in React, JavaScript, TypeScript, Next.js, and Node.js. I’ve also worked as a tech lead for startups, owning end-to-end technical execution including architecture, development, scaling, and delivery. I bring a strong mix of hands-on coding, product thinking, and technical leadership, and I’m comfortable building products from scratch as well as improving and scaling existing systems. Bastien Labelle Bastien Labelle Full stack dev w/ 20+ years of experience legrab legrab I'll fill this later Stanislav Prigodich Stanislav Prigodich 15+ years building iOS and web apps at startups and enterprise companies. I want to use that experience to help builders ship real products - when something breaks, I'm here to fix it. rayush33 rayush33 JavaScript (React.js, React Native, Node.js) Developer with demonstrated industry experience of 4+ years, actively looking for opportunities to hone my skills as well as help small-scale business owners with solutions to technical problems Taufan Taufan I’m a product-focused engineer and tech leader who builds scalable systems and turns ideas into production-ready platforms. Over the past years, I’ve worked across startups and fast-moving teams, leading backend architecture, improving system reliability, and shipping products used by thousands of users. My strength is not just writing code — but connecting product vision, technical execution, and business impact.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long are JWT tokens valid?

By default 1 hour for access tokens. Refresh tokens last 30 days. Configure in Supabase > Authentication > Providers > General.

Should I manually refresh tokens?

No, enable autoRefreshToken in client config and Supabase handles it automatically before expiry.

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