Preserve target route post-auth

Users may bookmark specific pages of your app, but their session might be expired. They need to be redirected to the page they asked for after authentication. That means your app needs to preserve the user’s original destination.

You will capture the user’s original destination, carry it through the OAuth flow safely, and redirect back after login. You will prevent open-redirect attacks by validating and signing the return URL.

Two safe patterns

Use either state embedding (short paths only) or a signed return_to cookie. Avoid passing raw URLs in query strings without validation.

1. Capture the intended destination

   When an unauthenticated user requests a protected route, capture its path.

   Node.js

   Express.js

   app.get('/login', (req, res) => {
     const nextPath = typeof req.query.next === 'string' ? req.query.next : '/'
     // Only allow internal paths
     const safe = nextPath.startsWith('/') && !nextPath.startsWith('//') ? nextPath : '/'
     res.cookie('sk_return_to', safe, { httpOnly: true, secure: true, sameSite: 'lax', path: '/' })
     // build authorization URL next
   })

   Python

   Flask

   @app.route('/login')
   def login():
       next_path = request.args.get('next', '/')
       safe = next_path if next_path.startswith('/') and not next_path.startswith('//') else '/'
       resp = make_response()
       resp.set_cookie('sk_return_to', safe, httponly=True, secure=True, samesite='Lax', path='/')
       return resp

   Go

   Gin

   func login(c *gin.Context) {
     nextPath := c.Query("next")
     if nextPath == "" || !strings.HasPrefix(nextPath, "/") || strings.HasPrefix(nextPath, "//") {
       nextPath = "/"
     }
     cookie := &http.Cookie{Name: "sk_return_to", Value: nextPath, HttpOnly: true, Secure: true, Path: "/"}
     http.SetCookie(c.Writer, cookie)
   }

   Java

   Spring

   @GetMapping("/login")
   public void login(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
     String nextPath = Optional.ofNullable(request.getParameter("next")).orElse("/");
     boolean safe = nextPath.startsWith("/") && !nextPath.startsWith("//");
     Cookie cookie = new Cookie("sk_return_to", safe ? nextPath : "/");
     cookie.setHttpOnly(true); cookie.setSecure(true); cookie.setPath("/");
     response.addCookie(cookie);
   }

   Reading cookies in Express

   If you access req.cookies in Node.js, enable cookie parsing middleware (for example, cookie-parser) early in your server setup.

2. Build the authorization URL

   Generate the authorization URL as in the quickstart. Optionally include a short hint in state like "n=/billing" after signing or encoding.

   Node.js

   Express.js

   const redirectUri = 'https://your-app.com/auth/callback'
   const options = { scopes: ['openid','profile','email','offline_access'] }
   const authorizationUrl = scalekit.getAuthorizationUrl(redirectUri, options)
   res.redirect(authorizationUrl)

   Python

   Flask

   redirect_uri = 'https://your-app.com/auth/callback'
   options = AuthorizationUrlOptions(scopes=['openid','profile','email','offline_access'])
   authorization_url = scalekit_client.get_authorization_url(redirect_uri, options)
   return redirect(authorization_url)

   Go

   Gin

   redirectUri := "https://your-app.com/auth/callback"
   options := scalekitClient.AuthorizationUrlOptions{Scopes: []string{"openid","profile","email","offline_access"}}
   authorizationURL, _ := scalekitClient.GetAuthorizationUrl(redirectUri, options)
   c.Redirect(http.StatusFound, authorizationURL.String())

   Java

   Spring

   String redirectUri = "https://your-app.com/auth/callback";
   AuthorizationUrlOptions options = new AuthorizationUrlOptions();
   options.setScopes(Arrays.asList("openid","profile","email","offline_access"));
   URL authorizationUrl = scalekitClient.authentication().getAuthorizationUrl(redirectUri, options);
   return new RedirectView(authorizationUrl.toString());

3. After callback, redirect safely

   After exchanging the code and creating a session, read sk_return_to. Validate and normalize the path. Default to /dashboard or /.

   Node.js

   Express.js

   app.get('/auth/callback', async (req, res) => {
     // ... exchange code ...
     const raw = req.cookies.sk_return_to || '/'
     const safe = raw.startsWith('/') && !raw.startsWith('//') ? raw : '/'
     res.clearCookie('sk_return_to', { path: '/' })
     res.redirect(safe || '/dashboard')
   })

   Python

   Flask

   def callback():
       # ... exchange code ...
       raw = request.cookies.get('sk_return_to', '/')
       safe = raw if raw.startswith('/') and not raw.startswith('//') else '/'
       resp = redirect(safe or '/dashboard')
       resp.delete_cookie('sk_return_to', path='/')
       return resp

   Go

   Gin

   func callback(c *gin.Context) {
     // ... exchange code ...
     raw, _ := c.Cookie("sk_return_to")
     if raw == "" || !strings.HasPrefix(raw, "/") || strings.HasPrefix(raw, "//") {
       raw = "/"
     }
     http.SetCookie(c.Writer, &http.Cookie{Name: "sk_return_to", Value: "", MaxAge: -1, Path: "/"})
     c.Redirect(http.StatusFound, raw)
   }

   Java

   Spring

   public RedirectView callback(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) {
     // ... exchange code ...
     String raw = getCookie(request, "sk_return_to").orElse("/");
     boolean ok = raw.startsWith("/") && !raw.startsWith("//");
     Cookie clear = new Cookie("sk_return_to", ""); clear.setPath("/"); clear.setMaxAge(0);
     response.addCookie(clear);
     return new RedirectView(ok ? raw : "/dashboard");
   }

4. Sign return_to values Optional

   If you pass return_to via query string or store longer values, compute an HMAC and verify it before redirecting. Reject unsigned or invalid pairs.

   Node.js

   HMAC signing

   import crypto from 'crypto'
   function sign(value, secret) {
     const mac = crypto.createHmac('sha256', secret).update(value).digest('base64url')
     return `${value}|${mac}`
   }
   function verify(signed, secret) {
     const [v, mac] = signed.split('|')
     const good = crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(mac), Buffer.from(sign(v, secret).split('|')[1]))
     return good ? v : null
   }

   Python

   HMAC signing

   import hmac, hashlib, base64
   def sign(value: str, secret: bytes) -> str:
       mac = hmac.new(secret, value.encode(), hashlib.sha256).digest()
       return f"{value}|{base64.urlsafe_b64encode(mac).decode().rstrip('=')}"
   def verify(signed: str, secret: bytes) -> str | None:
       try:
           value, mac = signed.split('|', 1)
           expected = sign(value, secret).split('|', 1)[1]
           if hmac.compare_digest(mac, expected):
               return value
       except Exception:
           pass
       return None

   Go

   HMAC signing

   import (
     "crypto/hmac"
     "crypto/sha256"
     "encoding/base64"
   )
   func sign(value string, secret []byte) string {
     mac := hmac.New(sha256.New, secret)
     mac.Write([]byte(value))
     sum := mac.Sum(nil)
     return value + "|" + base64.RawURLEncoding.EncodeToString(sum)
   }
   func verify(signed string, secret []byte) *string {
     parts := strings.SplitN(signed, "|", 2)
     if len(parts) != 2 { return nil }
     expected := strings.SplitN(sign(parts[0], secret), "|", 2)[1]
     if hmac.Equal([]byte(parts[1]), []byte(expected)) {
       return &parts[0]
     }
     return nil
   }

   Java

   HMAC signing

   import javax.crypto.Mac;
   import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec;
   import java.util.Base64;
   String sign(String value, byte[] secret) throws Exception {
     Mac mac = Mac.getInstance("HmacSHA256");
     mac.init(new SecretKeySpec(secret, "HmacSHA256"));
     byte[] raw = mac.doFinal(value.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
     String b64 = Base64.getUrlEncoder().withoutPadding().encodeToString(raw);
     return value + "|" + b64;
   }
   String verify(String signed, byte[] secret) throws Exception {
     String[] parts = signed.split("\\|", 2);
     if (parts.length != 2) return null;
     String expected = sign(parts[0], secret).split("\\|", 2)[1];
     return MessageDigest.isEqual(parts[1].getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8), expected.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8)) ? parts[0] : null;
   }

   Limit scope and length

   Allowlist a small set of internal prefixes (for example, /app, /billing) and cap return_to length (for example, 512 chars). Reject anything else.

Never redirect to external origins

Allow only same-origin paths (e.g., /billing). Do not accept absolute URLs or protocol-relative URLs. This blocks open redirects.