Automated Token Refreshes

[thehabes]

The app is able to refresh its expired token when it is restarted. We want the app to refresh its token on a route when it detects it is expired, without having to restart the app.

[thehabes]

See https://github.com/CenterForDigitalHumanities/TinyNode/pull/95/files for inspiration

[thehabes]

@claude we need the automated token refreshes here. Take a look at the code changes from this PR for TinyNode https://github.com/CenterForDigitalHumanities/TinyNode/pull/95/files? TinyPen is essentially a copy of TinyNode so we should need roughly the same changes here to accomplish this task.

Branch from main and perform the code changes, then open a draft pull request targeting the main branch.

[claude]

Claude finished @thehabes's task —— View job • claude/issue-18-20251110-2030 • Create PR ➔

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Automated token refresh implementation complete

Todo List

• Review current TinyPen token management (tokens.js)
• Review current route handlers
• Examine TinyNode PR #95 to understand the implementation
• Update tokens.js to make token refresh awaitable
• Add token refresh checks to all route handlers
• Verify changes
• Commit and push changes
• Provide PR creation link

Changes Summary

I've successfully implemented automated token refresh in TinyPen. The application now refreshes expired tokens automatically on any route without requiring a restart.

Key Changes:

1. tokens.js (lines 11-91):

   • Made generateNewAccessToken() properly async with error handling and return values
   • Made updateExpiredToken() async and awaitable
   • Added concurrent refresh protection using a shared promise to prevent multiple simultaneous token refreshes
   • Improved error handling and logging

2. app.js (line 18):

   • Updated to await token refresh on startup

3. All route handlers (create.js, query.js, update.js, overwrite.js, delete.js):

   • Imported updateExpiredToken from tokens.js
   • Added await updateExpiredToken() at the start of each route handler
   • Ensures tokens are checked and refreshed before every RERUM API call

How it works:

• Before each API request to RERUM, the route handler calls updateExpiredToken()
• If the token is expired, it automatically fetches a new one using the refresh token
• Multiple concurrent requests won't trigger multiple refresh attempts (protected by shared promise)
• The new token is saved to both process.env.ACCESS_TOKEN and the .env file
• All subsequent requests use the refreshed token

Next Steps

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