Refactor #87: Moved optional authentication logic into a dedicated mi…

backend/src/middleware/optionalAuthenticateUser.js

@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+// middleware/optionalAuthenticateUser.js
+import jwt from "jsonwebtoken";
+
+const optionalAuthenticateUser = (req, res, next) => {
+  try {
+    const token = req.cookies?.token;
+    if (token) {
+      const decoded = jwt.verify(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET);
+      req.user = decoded;
+    }
+  } catch (error) {
+    // Ignore verification errors (expired, invalid) for optional auth
+  }
+  next();
+};
+
+export default optionalAuthenticateUser;

backend/src/server.js

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 // Middleware
 import rateLimiter from "./middleware/rateLimiter.js";
+import optionalAuthenticateUser from "./middleware/optionalAuthenticateUser.js";
 
 // ==================== CONFIGURATION ====================
 dotenv.config();
@@ -48,19 +49,7 @@
 app.use(express.json());
 app.use(cookieParser());
 
-// Optional auth to populate req.user for rateLimiter
-const optionalAuthenticateUser = (req, res, next) => {
-  try {
-    const token = req.cookies?.token;
-    if (token) {
-      const decoded = jwt.verify(token, process.env.JWT_SECRET);
-      req.user = decoded;
-    }
-  } catch (error) {
-    // Ignore verification errors (expired, invalid) for optional auth
-  }
-  next();
-};
+
 
 // Rate limiting and optional auth applied only to API routes
 app.use("/api", rateLimiter);
@@ -75,7 +64,7 @@
   res.status(200).json({
     status: "OK",
     message: "Server is running",
     timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
   });
 });