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NestJS CLS

New: Version 2.0 brings advanced type safety and type inference. However, it requires features from typescript >= 4.4 - Namely allowing symbol members in interfaces. If you can't upgrade but still want to use this library, install version 1.6.2, which lacks the typing features.

A continuation-local storage module compatible with NestJS's dependency injection.

Continuous-local storage allows to store state and propagate it throughout callbacks and promise chains. It allows storing data throughout the lifetime of a web request or any other asynchronous duration. It is similar to thread-local storage in other languages.

Some common use cases for CLS include:

  • Tracing the Request ID and other metadata for logging purposes
  • Making the Tenant ID available everywhere in multi-tenant apps
  • Globally setting an authentication level for the request

Most of these are to some extent solvable using request-scoped providers or passing the context as a parameter, but these solutions are often clunky and come with a whole lot of other issues.

Note: This package uses AsyncLocalStorage from Node's async_hooks API. Most parts of it are marked as stable now, see Security considerations for more details.

Outline

Install

npm install nestjs-cls
# or
yarn add nestjs-cls

Note: This module requires additional peer deps, like the nestjs core and common libraries, but it is assumed those are already installed.

Quick Start

Below is an example of storing the client's IP address in an interceptor and retrieving it in a service without explicitly passing it along.

Note: This example assumes you are using HTTP and therefore can use middleware. For usage with non-HTTP transports, keep reading.

// app.module.ts
@Module({
    imports: [
        // Register the ClsModule and automatically mount the ClsMiddleware
        ClsModule.register({
            global: true,
            middleware: { mount: true },
        }),
    ],
    providers: [AppService],
    controllers: [AppController],
})
export class TestHttpApp {}

/* user-ip.interceptor.ts */
@Injectable()
export class UserIpInterceptor implements NestInterceptor {
    constructor(
        // Inject the ClsService into the interceptor to get
        // access to the current shared cls context.
        private readonly cls: ClsService,
    );

    intercept(context: ExecutionContext, next: CallHandler): Observable<any> {
        // Extract the client's ip address from the request...
        const request = context.switchToHttp().getRequest();
        const userIp = req.connection.remoteAddress;
        // ...and store it to the cls context.
        this.cls.set('ip', userIp);
        return next.handle();
    }
}

/* app.controller.ts */

// By mounting the interceptor on the controller, it gets access
// to the same shared cls context that the ClsMiddleware set up.
@UseInterceptors(UserIpInterceptor)
@Injectable()
export class AppController {
    constructor(private readonly appService: AppService) {}

    @Get('/hello')
    hello() {
        return this.appService.sayHello();
    }
}

/* app.service.ts */
@Injectable()
export class AppService {
    constructor(
        // Inject ClsService to be able to retrieve data from the cls context.
        private readonly cls: ClsService,
    ) {}

    sayHello() {
        // Here we can extract the value of 'ip' that was
        // put into the cls context in the interceptor.
        return 'Hello ' + this.cls.get('ip') + '!';
    }
}

How it works

Continuation-local storage provides a common space for storing and retrieving data throughout the life of a function/callback call chain. In NestJS, this allows for sharing request data across the lifetime of a single request - without the need for request-scoped providers. It also makes it easy to track and log request ids throughout the whole application.

To make CLS work, it is required to set up the CLS context first. This is done by calling cls.run() (or cls.enter(), see Security considerations for more info) somewhere in the app. Once that is set up, anything that is called within the same callback chain has access to the same storage with cls.set() and cls.get().

Setting up the CLS context

This package provides three methods of setting up the CLS context for incoming requests. This is mainly due to the fact that different underlying platforms are compatible with some of these methods - see Compatibility considerations.

For HTTP transports, the context can be preferably set up in a ClsMiddleware. For all other platforms, or cases where the ClsMiddleware is not applicable, this package also provides a ClsGuard and ClsInterceptor. While both of these also work with HTTP, they come with some caveats, see below.

Using a Middleware (HTTP Only)

Since in NestJS, HTTP middleware is the first thing to run when a request arrives, it is an ideal place to initialise the cls context. This package provides ClsMiddleware that can be mounted to all (or selected) routes inside which the context is set up before the next() call.

All you have to do is mount it to routes in which you want to use CLS, or pass middleware: { mount: true } to the ClsModule.register options which automatically mounts it to all routes.

Once that is set up, the ClsService will have access to a common storage in all Guards, Interceptors, Pipes, Controllers, Services and Exception Filters that are called within that route.

Manually mounting the middleware

Sometimes, you might want to only use CLS on certain routes. In that case, you can bind the ClsMiddleware manually in the module:

export class AppModule implements NestModule {
    configure(consumer: MiddlewareConsumer) {
        apply(ClsMiddleware).forRoutes(AppController);
    }
}

Sometimes, however, that won't be enough, because the middleware could be mounted too late and you won't be able to use it in other middlewares (as is the case of GQL resolvers). In that case, you can mount it directly in the bootstrap method:

function bootstrap() {
    const app = await NestFactory.create(AppModule);
    // create and mount the middleware manually here
    app.use(
        new ClsMiddleware({
            /* useEnterWith: true */
        }).use,
    );
    await app.listen(3000);
}

Please note: If you bind the middleware using app.use(), it will not respect middleware settings passed to ClsModule.register(), so you will have to provide them yourself in the constructor.

Using a Guard

The ClsGuard can be also used set up the CLS context. While it is not a "guard" per-se, it's the second best place to set up the CLS context, since after a middleware, it is the first piece of code that the request hits.

To use it, pass its configuration to the guard property to the ClsModule.register options:

ClsModule.register({
    guard: { generateId: true, mount: true }
}),

If you need any other guards to use the ClsService, it's preferable to mount ClsGuard manually as the first guard in the root module:

@Module({
    //...
    providers: [
        {
            provide: APP_GUARD,
            useClass: ClsGuard,
        },
    ],
})
export class AppModule {}

or mount it directly on the Controller/Resolver with

@UseGuards(ClsGuard);

Please note: since the ClsGuard uses the AsyncLocalStorage#enterWith method, using the ClsGuard comes with some security considerations!

Using an Interceptor

Another place to initiate the CLS context is an ClsInterceptor, which, unlike the ClsGuard uses AsyncLocalStorage#run method to wrap the following code, which is considered safer than enterWith.

To use it, pass its configuration to the interceptor property to the ClsModule.register options:

ClsModule.register({
    interceptor: { generateId: true, mount: true }
}),

Or mount it manually as APP_INTERCEPTOR, or directly on the Controller/Resolver with:

@UseInterceptors(ClsInterceptor);

Please note: Since Nest's Interceptors run after Guards, that means using this method makes CLS unavailable in Guards (and in case of REST Controllers, also in Exception Filters).

Other features

In addition to the basic functionality described in the Quick start chapter, this module provides several other features.

Request ID

Because of a shared storage, CLS is an ideal tool for tracking request (correlation) IDs for the purpose of logging. This package provides an option to automatically generate request IDs in the middleware/guard/interceptor, if you pass { generateId: true } to its options. By default, the generated ID is a string based on Math.random(), but you can provide a custom function in the idGenerator option.

This function receives the Request (or ExecutionContext in case a ClsGuard is used) as the first parameter, which can be used in the generation process and should return (or resolve with) a string ID that will be stored in the CLS for later use.

Below is an example of retrieving the request ID from the request header with a fallback to an autogenerated one.

ClsModule.register({
    middleware: {
        mount: true,
        generateId: true,
        idGenerator: (req: Request) =>
            req.headers['X-Request-Id'] ?? uuid();
    }
})

The ID is stored under the CLS_ID constant in the context. ClsService provides a shorthand method getId to quickly retrieve it anywhere. It can be for example used in a custom logger:

// my.logger.ts
@Injectable()
class MyLogger {
    constructor(private readonly cls: ClsService) {}

    log(message: string) {
        console.log(`<${this.cls.getId()}> ${message}`);
    }

    // [...]
}

// my.service.ts
@Injectable()
class MyService {
    constructor(private readonly logger: MyLogger);

    hello() {
        this.logger.log('Hello');
        // -> logs for ex.: "<44c2d8ff-49a6-4244-869f-75a2df11517a> Hello"
    }
}

Additional CLS Setup

The CLS middleware/guard/interceptor provide some default functionality, but sometimes you might want to store more things about the request in the context. This can be of course done in a custom enhancer bound after, but for this scenario the options expose the setup function, which will be executed in the enhancer right after the CLS context is set up.

The function receives the ClsService instance and the Request (or ExecutionContext) object, and can be asynchronous.

ClsModule.register({
    middleware: {
        mount: true,
        setup: (cls, req: Request) => {
            // put some additional default info in the CLS
            cls.set('TENANT_ID', req.params('tenant_id'));
            cls.set('AUTH', { authenticated: false });
        },
    },
});

Usage outside of web request

Sometimes, a part of the app that relies on the CLS storage might need to be called outside of the context of a web request - for example, in a Cron job or during the application bootstrap. In such cases, there are no enhancers that can be bound to the handler to set up the context.

Therefore, you as the the developer are responsible for wrapping the execution with ClsService#run and set up the appropriate context variables.

@Injectable()
export class CronController {
    constructor(
        private readonly someService: SomeService,
        private readonly cls: ClsService,
    );

    @Cron('45 * * * * *')
    handleCronExample1() {
        this.clsService.run(() => {
            // either set up all context variables inside the wrapped `run` call
            this.cls.set(CLS_ID, uuid());
            this.cls.set('mode', 'cron');
            this.someService.doTheThing();
        });
    }

    @Cron('90 * * * * *')
    handleCronExample2() {
        // or create the context object beforehand...
        const context = {
            [CLS_ID]: uuid(),
            mode: 'cron',
        };
        // ...and pass it to the `runWith` call
        this.clsService.runWith(context, () => {
            this.someService.doTheThing();
        });
    }
}

If you find that using ClsService#run causes the context to be lost, you can resort to the less safe ClsService#enter.

Breaking out of DI

While this package aims to be compatible with NestJS's DI, it is also possible to access the CLS context outside of it. For that, it provides the static ClsServiceManager class that exposes the getClsService() method.

function helper() {
    const cls = ClsServiceManager.getClsService();
    // you now have access to the shared storage
    console.log(cls.getId());
}

Please note: Only use this feature where absolutely necessary. Using this technique instead of dependency injection will make it difficult to mock the ClsService and your code will become harder to test.

Type safety and type inference

Since v2.0

By default the CLS context is untyped and allows setting and retrieving any string or symbol key from the context. Some safety can be enforced by using CONSTANTS instead of magic strings, but that might not be enough.

Therefore, it is possible to specify a custom interface for the ClsService and get proper typing and automatic type inference when retrieving or setting values. This works even for nested objects using a dot notation.

To create a typed CLS Store, start by creating an interface that extends ClsStore.

export interface MyClsStore extends ClsStore {
    tenantId: string;
    user: {
        id: number;
        authorized: boolean;
    };
}

Then you can inject the ClsService with a type parameter ClsService<MyClsStore> to make use of the safe typing.

export class MyService {
    constructor(private readonly cls: ClsService<ClsStore>) {}

    doTheThing() {
        // a boolean type will be enforced here
        this.cls.set('user.authorized', true);

        // tenantId will be inferred as a stirng
        const tenantId = this.cls.get('tenantId');

        // userId will be inferred as a number
        const userId = this.cls.get('user.id');

        // user will be inferred as { id: number, authorized: boolean }
        const user = this.cls.get('user');

        // you'll even get intellisense for the keys, because the type
        // will be inferred as:
        // symbol | 'tenantId˙ | 'user' | 'user.id' | 'user.authorized'

        // alternatively, since the `get` method returns the whole store
        // when called without arguments, you can use object destructuring
        const { tenantId, user } = this.cls.get();

        // accessing a nonexistent property will result in a type error
        const notExist = this.cls.get('user.name');
    }
}

Alternatively, if you feel like using ClsService<MyClsStore> everywhere is tedious, you can instead globally augment the ClsStore interface and have strict typing of ClsService anywhere without the type parameter:

declare module 'nestjs-cls' {
    interface ClsStore {
        tenantId: string;
        user: {
            id: number;
            authorized: boolean;
        };
    }
}

It can happen, that the object you want to store in the context is too complex, or contains cyclic references. In that case, typescript might complain that type instantiation is too deep, possibly infinite. That is due to the fact that it tries to generate all possible paths inside the store. If that's the case, you can use the Terminal type to stop generating the paths for a certain subtree:

interface ClsStore {
    tenantId: string;
    user: Terminal<{
        id: number;
        authorized: boolean;
    }>;
}

This will only generate the paths tenantId | user and won't allow directly accessing nested keys (like cls.get('user.id'), but you'll still get fully typing for things like const { id } = cls.get('user')). See issue #22 for more details.

API

Service interface

The injectable ClsService provides the following API to manipulate the cls context:

  • set(key: string, value: any): void
    Set a value on the CLS context.
  • get(key?: string): any
    Retrieve a value from the CLS context by key. Get the whole store if key is omitted.
  • getId(): string;
    Retrieve the request ID (a shorthand for cls.get(CLS_ID))
  • enter(): void;
    Run any following code in a shared CLS context.
  • enterWith(store: any): void;
    Run any following code in a shared CLS context (while supplying the default contents).
  • run(callback: () => T): T;
    Run the callback in a shared CLS context.
  • runWith(store: any, callback: () => T): T;
    Run the callback in a shared CLS context (while supplying the default contents).
  • isActive(): boolean
    Whether the current code runs within an active CLS context.

Module Options

The ClsModule.register() method takes the following ClsModuleOptions:

  • middleware: ClsMiddlewareOptions
    An object with additional options for the ClsMiddleware, see below
  • guard: ClsGuardOptions
    An object with additional options for the ClsGuard, see below
  • interceptor: ClsInterceptorOptions
    An object with additional options for the ClsInterceptor, see below
  • global: boolean (default false)
    Whether to make the module global, so you do not have to import ClsModule.forFeature() in other modules.
  • namespaceName: string (default unset)
    The namespace that will be set up. When used, ClsService must be injected using the @InjectCls('name') decorator. (most of the time you will not need to touch this setting)

Please note: the middleware, guard and interceptor options should be mutually exclusive - do not use more than one of them, otherwise the context will be overwritten by the one that runs after.

ClsModule.registerAsync() is also available. You can supply the usual imports, inject and useFactory parameters.

All of the Cls{Middleware,Guard,Interceptor}Options take the following parameters (either in ClsModuleOptions or directly when instantiating them manually):

  • mount: boolean (default false)
    Whether to automatically mount the middleware/guard/interceptor to every route (not applicable when instantiating manually)
  • generateId: boolean (default false)
    Whether to automatically generate request IDs.
  • idGenerator: (req: Request | ExecutionContext) => string | Promise<string> An optional function for generating the request ID. It takes the Request object (or the ExecutionContext in case of a Guard or Interceptor) as an argument and (synchronously or asynchronously) returns a string. The default implementation uses Math.random() to generate a string of 8 characters.
  • setup: (cls: ClsService, req: Request) => void | Promise<void>; Function that executes after the CLS context has been initialised. It can be used to put additional variables in the CLS context.

The ClsMiddlewareOptions additionally takes the following parameters:

  • saveReq: boolean (default true)
    Whether to store the Request object to the context. It will be available under the CLS_REQ key.
  • saveRes: boolean (default false)
    Whether to store the Response object to the context. It will be available under the CLS_RES key
  • useEnterWith: boolean (default false)
    Set to true to set up the context using a call to AsyncLocalStorage#enterWith instead of wrapping the next() call with the safer AsyncLocalStorage#run. Most of the time this should not be necessary, but some frameworks are known to lose the context with run.

Security considerations

It is often discussed whether AsyncLocalStorage is safe to use for concurrent requests (because of a possible context leak) and whether the context could be lost throughout the duration of a request.

The ClsMiddleware by default uses the safe run() method, so it should not leak context, however, that only works for REST Controllers.

GraphQL Resolvers, cause the context to be lost and therefore require using the less safe enterWith() method. The same applies to using ClsGuard to set up the context, since there's no callback to wrap with the run() call, the only way to set up context in a guard is to use enterWith() (the context would be not available outside of the guard otherwise).

This has a consequence that should be taken into account:

When the enterWith method is used, any consequent requests get access to the context of the previous one until the request hits the enterWith call.

That means, when using ClsMiddleware with the useEnterWith option, or ClsGuard to set up context, be sure to mount them as early in the request lifetime as possible and do not use any other enhancers that rely on ClsService before them. For ClsGuard, that means you should probably manually mount it in AppModule if you require any other guard to run after it.

The ClsInterceptor only uses the safe run() method.

Compatibility considerations

The table below outlines the compatibility with some platforms:

REST GQL WS Others
ClsMiddleware ✔ ✔
must be mounted manually
and use useEnterWith: true		 ✖ ✖
ClsGuard
(uses enterWith)		 ✔ ✔ ✔* ?
ClsInterceptor
(context inaccessible
in Guards)		 ✔
context also inaccessible
in Exception Filters		 ✔ ✔* ?

REST

This package is 100% compatible with Nest-supported REST controllers and the preferred way is to use the ClsMiddleware with the mount option.

Tested with:

  • ✔ Express
  • ✔ Fastify

GraphQL

For GraphQL, the ClsMiddleware needs to be mounted manually with app.use(...) in order to correctly set up the context for resolvers. Additionally, you have to pass useEnterWith: true to the ClsMiddleware options, because the context gets lost otherwise due to an issue with CLS and Apollo (sadly, the same is true for Mercurius). This method is functionally identical to just using the ClsGuard.

Alternatively, you can use the ClsInterceptor, which uses the safer AsyncLocalStorage#run (thanks to andreialecu), but remember that using it makes CLS unavailable in Guards.

Tested with:

  • ✔ Apollo (Express)
  • ✔ Mercurius (Fastify)

Others

Use the ClsGuard or ClsInterceptor to set up context with any other platform. This is still experimental, as there are no test and I can't guarantee it will work with your platform of choice.

If you decide to try this package with a platform that is not listed here, please let me know so I can add the compatibility notice.

Below are listed platforms with which it is confirmed to work.

Websockets

Websocket Gateways don't respect globally bound enhancers, therefore it is required to bind the ClsGuard or ClsIntercetor manually on the WebscocketGateway. (See #8)

Namespaces (experimental)

Warning: Namespace support is currently experimental and has no tests. While the API is mostly stable now, it can still change any time.

The default CLS namespace that the ClsService provides should be enough for most application, but should you need it, this package provides a way to use multiple CLS namespaces simultaneously.

To use custom namespace provider, use ClsModule.forFeature('my-namespace').

@Module({
    imports: [ClsModule.forFeature('hello-namespace')],
    providers: [HelloService],
    controllers: [HelloController],
})
export class HelloModule {}

This creates a namespaces ClsService provider that you can inject using @InjectCls

// hello.service.ts

@Injectable()
class HelloService {
    constructor(
        @InjectCls('hello-namespace')
        private readonly myCls: ClsService,
    ) {}

    sayHello() {
        return this.myCls.run('hi');
    }
}

// hello.controller.ts
@Injectable()
export class HelloController {
    constructor(
        @InjectCls('hello-namespace')
        private readonly myCls: ClsService,
        private readonly helloService: HelloService,
    );

    @Get('/hello')
    hello2() {
        // setting up cls context manually
        return this.myCls.run(() => {
            this.myCls.set('hi', 'Hello');
            return this.helloService.sayHello();
        });
    }
}

Note: @InjectCls('x') is equivalent to @Inject(getNamespaceToken('x')). If you don't pass an argument to @InjectCls(), the default ClsService will be injected and is equivalent to omitting the decorator altogether.