fix(auth): centralize JWT secret + 24h TTL (Brief 1 of fix-auth-bypass)

- New `lib/auth-secret.js` is the single source of truth for `JWT_SECRET`
  and the canonical `JWT_TOKEN_TTL = '24h'`. Module throws at import time
  if `process.env.JWT_SECRET` is unset — no silent fallback to the literal
  `'your-secret-key-change-in-production'`.

- 7 callers refactored to import from the helper:
    lib/permission-middleware.js
    pages/api/auth-utils.js   (also drops unused `'7d'` → JWT_TOKEN_TTL)
    pages/api/auth/login.js   (also routes via auth-utils.generateToken)
    pages/api/auth/register.js (same)
    pages/api/auth/verify.js  (Brief 2 still owns the no-token admin branch)
    pages/api/favorites.js
    pages/api/users/search.js

- `process.env.JWT_SECRET` now appears exactly once in the JS source
  (lib/auth-secret.js). `your-secret-key-change-in-production` is gone.

- TTL drift reconciled: auth-utils used `'7d'`, login/register used
  inline `'24h'`. Both now route through imported `JWT_TOKEN_TTL` (24h).

Pre-deploy reminder: Vercel must have `JWT_SECRET` set before merge or
serverless functions refuse to boot. Existing tokens (signed against the
fallback literal) will be invalidated — users will need to log in again.

Resolves AGENTS.md gotcha #3. Brief 2/3/4/5 still pending in convoy.

Convoy: fix-auth-bypass / Brief 1
Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

lib/auth-secret.js

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET;
+
+if (!JWT_SECRET) {
+  throw new Error(
+    'JWT_SECRET environment variable is not set. ' +
+      'Set it in .env.local for local dev, or in the Vercel project settings for deploys. ' +
+      'Generate a strong secret with: openssl rand -hex 32'
+  );
+}
+
+export { JWT_SECRET };
+export const JWT_TOKEN_TTL = '24h';

lib/permission-middleware.js

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
-
+import { JWT_SECRET } from './auth-secret.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key-change-in-production';
 
 /**
  * Get user ID from request headers

pages/api/auth-utils.js

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
 import { db } from '../../lib/database.js';
-
+import { JWT_SECRET, JWT_TOKEN_TTL } from '../../lib/auth-secret.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key';
 
 export async function hashPassword(password) {
   const bcrypt = await import('bcryptjs');
@@ -21,7 +20,7 @@ export function generateToken(user) {
       role: user.role 
     },
     JWT_SECRET,
-    { expiresIn: '7d' }
+    { expiresIn: JWT_TOKEN_TTL }
   );
 }
 

pages/api/auth/login.js

@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 import bcrypt from 'bcryptjs';
-import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
 import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';
-
+import { generateToken } from '../auth-utils.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key-change-in-production';
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
   // Set CORS headers
@@ -48,11 +46,7 @@ export default async function handler(req, res) {
     }
 
     // Generate JWT token
-    const token = jwt.sign(
+    const token = generateToken({ id: user.id, email: user.email, role: user.role });
-      { userId: user.id, email: user.email, role: user.role },
-      JWT_SECRET,
-      { expiresIn: '24h' }
-    );
 
     // Return user data (without password) and token
     const { password: _, ...userWithoutPassword } = user;

pages/api/auth/register.js

@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 import bcrypt from 'bcryptjs';
-import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
 import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';
 import { generateUniqueSlug } from '../../../lib/slug-utils.js';
-
+import { generateToken } from '../auth-utils.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key-change-in-production';
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
   // Set CORS headers
@@ -140,11 +138,7 @@ export default async function handler(req, res) {
     }
 
     // Generate JWT token
-    const token = jwt.sign(
+    const token = generateToken({ id: user.id, email: user.email, role: user.role });
-      { userId: user.id, email: user.email, role: user.role },
-      JWT_SECRET,
-      { expiresIn: '24h' }
-    );
 
     // Return user data without password
     const userResponse = {

pages/api/auth/verify.js

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
-
+import { JWT_SECRET } from '../../../lib/auth-secret.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key-change-in-production';
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
   // Set CORS headers

pages/api/favorites.js

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
-
+import { JWT_SECRET } from '../../lib/auth-secret.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key-change-in-production';
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
   // Set CORS headers

pages/api/users/search.js

@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';
 import jwt from 'jsonwebtoken';
-
+import { JWT_SECRET } from '../../../lib/auth-secret.js';
-const JWT_SECRET = process.env.JWT_SECRET || 'your-secret-key-change-in-production';
 
 export default async function handler(req, res) {
   // Set CORS headers