fix: route API traffic through CloudFront for same-site cookie support#36
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fix: route API traffic through CloudFront for same-site cookie support#36
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gburger5
approved these changes
Apr 12, 2026
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Problem
After migrating auth tokens from localStorage to httpOnly cookies, login broke in production. The frontend (
d1hpk0u9qgnsex.cloudfront.net) and API (u9114xh6q6.execute-api.us-east-1.amazonaws.com) are on different domains, so the browserblocks
SameSite=Strictcookies on cross-origin requests — even withcredentials: include.This worked locally because frontend and API both run on
localhost(same site).Solution
Add API Gateway as a CloudFront origin and route all
/api/*requests through CloudFront. The browser now sees only one domain for both the frontend and API, making cookies same-site. No code changes required —SameSite=Strictis thecorrect and most secure setting.
Infrastructure changes
frontend.tf— new API Gateway origin +/api/*cache behavior (caching disabled, all headers and cookies forwarded viaAllViewerExceptHostHeader)outputs.tf— updated description onapi_gateway_urlto clarify direct URL is for debugging onlyRequired follow-up
After
terraform apply, updateVITE_API_URLin CI/CD from the direct API Gateway URL to the CloudFront domain.Security
SameSite=Strictremains unchanged — strongest CSRF protection