How to Add “Remember Me” Login Functionality

Once a user is authenticated, their credentials are typically stored in the session. This means that when the session ends they will be logged out and have to provide their login details again next time they wish to access the application. You can allow users to choose to stay logged in for longer than the session lasts using a cookie with the remember_me firewall option:

  • YAML
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    # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            remember_me:
                secret:   '%kernel.secret%'
                lifetime: 604800 # 1 week in seconds
                path:     /
                # by default, the feature is enabled by checking a
                # checkbox in the login form (see below), uncomment the
                # following line to always enable it.
                #always_remember_me: true
  • XML
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    <!-- config/packages/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/security/security-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <!-- ... -->

        <firewall name="main">
            <!-- ... -->

            <!-- 604800 is 1 week in seconds -->
            <remember-me
                secret="%kernel.secret%"
                lifetime="604800"
                path="/"/>
            <!-- by default, the feature is enabled by checking a checkbox
                 in the login form (see below), add always-remember-me="true"
                 to always enable it. -->
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
  • PHP
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    // config/packages/security.php
$container->loadFromExtension('security', [
    // ...

    'firewalls' => [
        'main' => [
            // ...
            'remember_me' => [
                'secret'   => '%kernel.secret%',
                'lifetime' => 604800, // 1 week in seconds
                'path'     => '/',
                // by default, the feature is enabled by checking a
                // checkbox in the login form (see below), uncomment
                // the following line to always enable it.
                //'always_remember_me' => true,
            ],
        ],
    ],
]);

The remember_me firewall defines the following configuration options:

secret (required)
The value used to encrypt the cookie’s content. It’s common to use the secret value defined in the APP_SECRET environment variable.
name (default value: REMEMBERME)
The name of the cookie used to keep the user logged in. If you enable the remember_me feature in several firewalls of the same application, make sure to choose a different name for the cookie of each firewall. Otherwise, you’ll face lots of security related problems.
lifetime (default value: 31536000)
The number of seconds during which the user will remain logged in. By default users are logged in for one year.
path (default value: /)
The path where the cookie associated with this feature is used. By default the cookie will be applied to the entire website but you can restrict to a specific section (e.g. /forum, /admin).
domain (default value: null)
The domain where the cookie associated with this feature is used. By default cookies use the current domain obtained from $_SERVER.
secure (default value: false)
If true, the cookie associated with this feature is sent to the user through an HTTPS secure connection.
httponly (default value: true)
If true, the cookie associated with this feature is accessible only through the HTTP protocol. This means that the cookie won’t be accessible by scripting languages, such as JavaScript.
samesite (default value: null)
If set to strict, the cookie associated with this feature will not be sent along with cross-site requests, even when following a regular link.
remember_me_parameter (default value: _remember_me)
The name of the form field checked to decide if the “Remember Me” feature should be enabled or not. Keep reading this article to know how to enable this feature conditionally.
always_remember_me (default value: false)
If true, the value of the remember_me_parameter is ignored and the “Remember Me” feature is always enabled, regardless of the desire of the end user.
token_provider (default value: null)
Defines the service id of a token provider to use. If you want to store tokens in the database, see Storing Remember Me Tokens in the Database.
service (default value: null)

Defines the ID of the service used to handle the Remember Me feature. It’s useful if you need to overwrite the current behavior entirely.

New in version 5.1: The service option was introduced in Symfony 5.1.

Forcing the User to Opt-Out of the Remember Me Feature

It’s a good idea to provide the user with the option to use or not use the remember me functionality, as it will not always be appropriate. The usual way of doing this is to add a checkbox to the login form. By giving the checkbox the name _remember_me (or the name you configured using remember_me_parameter), the cookie will automatically be set when the checkbox is checked and the user successfully logs in. So, your specific login form might ultimately look like this:

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{# templates/security/login.html.twig #}
<form method="post">
    {# ... your form fields #}

    <input type="checkbox" id="remember_me" name="_remember_me" checked/>
    <label for="remember_me">Keep me logged in</label>

    {# ... #}
</form>

The user will then automatically be logged in on subsequent visits while the cookie remains valid.

Forcing the User to Re-Authenticate before Accessing certain Resources

When the user returns to your site, they are authenticated automatically based on the information stored in the remember me cookie. This allows the user to access protected resources as if the user had actually authenticated upon visiting the site.

In some cases, however, you may want to force the user to actually re-authenticate before accessing certain resources. For example, you might not allow “remember me” users to change their password. You can do this by leveraging a few special “attributes”:

// src/Controller/AccountController.php
// ...

public function accountInfo()
{
    // allow any authenticated user - we don't care if they just
    // logged in, or are logged in via a remember me cookie
    $this->denyAccessUnlessGranted('IS_AUTHENTICATED_REMEMBERED');

    // ...
}

public function resetPassword()
{
    // require the user to log in during *this* session
    // if they were only logged in via a remember me cookie, they
    // will be redirected to the login page
    $this->denyAccessUnlessGranted('IS_AUTHENTICATED_FULLY');

    // ...
}

Tip

There is also a IS_REMEMBERED attribute that grants only when the user is authenticated via the remember me mechanism.

New in version 5.1: The IS_REMEMBERED attribute was introduced in Symfony 5.1.

Storing Remember Me Tokens in the Database

The token contents, including the hashed version of the user password, are stored by default in cookies. If you prefer to store them in a database, use the DoctrineTokenProvider class provided by the Doctrine Bridge.

First, you need to register DoctrineTokenProvider as a service:

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    # config/services.yaml
services:
    # ...

    Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider: ~
  • XML
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    <!-- config/services.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd">

    <services>
        <service id="Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider"/>
    </services>
</container>
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    // config/services.php
use Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider;

$container->register(DoctrineTokenProvider::class);

Then you need to create a table with the following structure in your database so DoctrineTokenProvider can store the tokens:

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CREATE TABLE `rememberme_token` (
    `series`   char(88)     UNIQUE PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
    `value`    char(88)     NOT NULL,
    `lastUsed` datetime     NOT NULL,
    `class`    varchar(100) NOT NULL,
    `username` varchar(200) NOT NULL
);

Note

If you use DoctrineMigrationsBundle to manage your database migrations, you will need to tell Doctrine to ignore this new rememberme_token table:

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    # config/packages/doctrine.yaml
doctrine:
    dbal:
        schema_filter: ~^(?!rememberme_token)~
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    # config/packages/doctrine.xml
<doctrine:dbal schema-filter="~^(?!rememberme_token)~"/>
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    # config/packages/doctrine.php
$container->loadFromExtension('doctrine', [
    'dbal' => [
        'schema_filter'  => '~^(?!rememberme_token)~',
        // ...
    ],
    // ...
]);

Finally, set the token_provider option of the remember_me config to the service you just created:

  • YAML
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    # config/packages/security.yaml
security:
    # ...

    firewalls:
        main:
            # ...
            remember_me:
                # ...
                token_provider: 'Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider'
  • XML
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    <!-- config/packages/security.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<srv:container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security"
    xmlns:srv="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/security
        https://symfony.com/schema/dic/security/security-1.0.xsd">

    <config>
        <!-- ... -->

        <firewall name="main">
            <!-- ... -->

            <remember-me
                token-provider="Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider"
                />
        </firewall>
    </config>
</srv:container>
  • PHP
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    // config/packages/security.php
use Symfony\Bridge\Doctrine\Security\RememberMe\DoctrineTokenProvider;
$container->loadFromExtension('security', [
    // ...

    'firewalls' => [
        'main' => [
            // ...
            'remember_me' => [
                // ...
                'token_provider' => DoctrineTokenProvider::class,
            ],
        ],
    ],
]);