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FLAVIO COPES
flaviocopes.com
2026

Manage Cookies with Express

By Flavio Copes

Learn how to manage cookies in Express with the res.cookie() method, set options like httpOnly, secure, and expires, and clear one with res.clearCookie().

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Use the Response.cookie() method to manipulate your cookies.

Examples:

res.cookie('username', 'Flavio')

This method accepts a third parameter, which contains various options:

res.cookie('username', 'Flavio', { domain: '.flaviocopes.com', path: '/administrator', secure: true })

res.cookie('username', 'Flavio', { expires: new Date(Date.now() + 900000), httpOnly: true })

The most useful parameters you can set are:

ValueDescription
domainThe cookie domain name
expiresSet the cookie expiration date. If missing, or 0, the cookie is a session cookie
httpOnlySet the cookie to be accessible only by the web server. See HttpOnly
maxAgeSet the expiry time relative to the current time, expressed in milliseconds
pathThe cookie path. Defaults to ’/‘
secureMarks the cookie HTTPS only
signedSet the cookie to be signed
sameSiteValue of SameSite

A cookie can be cleared with:

res.clearCookie('username')
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