T13.1: idle timeout + absolute ceiling (D18)

Sessions now slide on activity (AUTH_IDLE_MINUTES, default 30) capped by
a hard ceiling from original sign-in (AUTH_SESSION_HOURS, meaning changed,
default 12 -> proposed 8). login_at carried across reissues so the ceiling
survives refreshes; pre-D18 tokens with no login_at fall back to iat.
Refresh is throttled (~IDLE_MINUTES/3) so the cookie isn't rewritten on
every request. Wired into auth_gate (server/app.py) - no DB hit, reads
only the already-validated claims.

Verified: 7 unit-level checks (fresh-token expiry, past-ceiling refusal,
throttling, mid-session extension, legacy-token fallback both live and
expired, idle cutoff itself) all pass, plus the full 27-check smoke
suite still passes end to end through the new middleware path.

server/.env.example

@@ -27,8 +27,18 @@ DATABASE_URL=postgresql+psycopg://wpsuite:CHANGE_ME@localhost:5432/wpsuite
 #   python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_urlsafe(48))"
 AUTH_SECRET_KEY=CHANGE_ME_run_the_command_above
 
-# How long a login lasts before re-authentication (hours). Default 12.
-# AUTH_SESSION_HOURS=12
+# D18 (2026-09-23): a session slides on activity, capped by a hard ceiling
+# underneath - not one flat lifetime. Both defaults are proposed, not
+# confirmed against this tenant's actual Okta SSO session policy - if Okta's
+# own session outlives either number, re-auth here is likely a fast redirect
+# rather than a real login screen, so these cost less than they look like.
+#
+# No request for this many minutes ends the session outright.
+# AUTH_IDLE_MINUTES=30
+#
+# The absolute ceiling from original sign-in, regardless of activity - no
+# session outlives this no matter how continuously active it is. Default 8.
+# AUTH_SESSION_HOURS=8
 
 # ── Okta OIDC (required — this is the only sign-in path) ───────────────────────
 # The Okta *authorization server* issuer, e.g. https://yourorg.okta.com/oauth2/default

server/app.py

@@ -103,12 +103,23 @@ def _csrf_ok(request: Request) -> bool:
 async def auth_gate(request: Request, call_next):
     path = request.url.path
     method = request.method
+    claims = None
     if method != "OPTIONS" and auth._needs_auth(path):
-        if not auth.is_request_authenticated(request):
+        claims = auth.is_request_authenticated(request)
+        if not claims:
             return JSONResponse(status_code=401, content={"detail": "Not authenticated"})
     if method in _UNSAFE_METHODS and path.startswith("/api/") and not _csrf_ok(request):
         return JSONResponse(status_code=403, content={"detail": "Cross-origin request rejected"})
-    return await call_next(request)
+    response = await call_next(request)
+    # D18: slide the session forward on activity, capped by its absolute
+    # ceiling. Reads only the already-validated claims - no DB hit here, and
+    # the separate is_active/token_version check in get_current_user still
+    # runs on its own for every request regardless of whether this refreshes.
+    if claims is not None:
+        refreshed = auth.maybe_refresh_token(claims)
+        if refreshed:
+            auth.set_session_cookie(response, request, refreshed)
+    return response
 
 
 def gen_id(prefix: str) -> str:

server/auth.py

@@ -59,8 +59,26 @@ log = logging.getLogger("wpsuite.auth")
 
 COOKIE_NAME = "wp_session"
 JWT_ALG = "HS256"
-# How long a session lasts before the person must sign in again.
-SESSION_HOURS = int(os.getenv("AUTH_SESSION_HOURS", "12"))
+# D18 (2026-09-23): a session now slides on activity, capped by a hard ceiling
+# underneath - not a single flat lifetime. A pure idle timer with no ceiling
+# would let a continuously-active session never force a fresh Okta recheck,
+# which is a worse fit for this item's own purpose (catching someone still
+# active after being deprovisioned) than a flat expiry would have been. Both
+# numbers are proposed defaults, not confirmed against the tenant's actual
+# Okta SSO session policy - see docs/waves/decisions-2026-09-17.md.
+#
+# No request for this long invalidates the session outright.
+IDLE_MINUTES = int(os.getenv("AUTH_IDLE_MINUTES", "30"))
+# The absolute ceiling from the ORIGINAL sign-in, regardless of activity. Same
+# env var name as the old flat-lifetime design; the meaning changed, the name
+# didn't, because it still answers "how long can this session possibly live."
+SESSION_HOURS = int(os.getenv("AUTH_SESSION_HOURS", "8"))
+# How much later a refreshed exp must be before it's worth rewriting the
+# cookie. Without this, an active session gets a new Set-Cookie on literally
+# every request - correct, but wasteful, and it makes the cookie a busier
+# target than it needs to be. A third of the idle window is a reasonable
+# balance: refreshed a few times within any idle window, never every request.
+_REFRESH_SLACK = timedelta(minutes=max(1, IDLE_MINUTES // 3))
 
 # ── permissions roles ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 ROLE_ADMIN = "admin"
@@ -160,6 +178,30 @@ SECRET_KEY = _load_secret()
 
 
 # ── tokens ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+def _parse_claim_dt(v) -> Optional[datetime]:
+    """`login_at` is a custom claim, so unlike `exp`/`iat` (which PyJWT
+    special-cases for a datetime -> POSIX-timestamp conversion on encode) it
+    is stored and read back as a plain numeric timestamp. Returns None for
+    anything unparseable rather than raising - a malformed or legacy token
+    should fail closed into "no refresh", not 500."""
+    if v is None:
+        return None
+    try:
+        return datetime.fromtimestamp(float(v), tz=timezone.utc)
+    except (TypeError, ValueError, OSError):
+        return None
+
+
+def _next_exp(login_at: datetime, now: datetime) -> datetime:
+    """Whichever comes first: another IDLE_MINUTES of quiet from now, or the
+    absolute SESSION_HOURS ceiling measured from the session's original
+    sign-in. Shared by create_token and maybe_refresh_token so the two can't
+    drift apart."""
+    ceiling = login_at + timedelta(hours=SESSION_HOURS)
+    idle_edge = now + timedelta(minutes=IDLE_MINUTES)
+    return min(ceiling, idle_edge)
+
+
 def create_token(user: "models.User") -> str:
     now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
     payload = {
@@ -168,7 +210,48 @@ def create_token(user: "models.User") -> str:
         "role": user.role,
         "ver": user.token_version or 0,
         "iat": now,
-        "exp": now + timedelta(hours=SESSION_HOURS),
+        "login_at": now.timestamp(),
+        "exp": _next_exp(now, now),
+    }
+    return jwt.encode(payload, SECRET_KEY, algorithm=JWT_ALG)
+
+
+def maybe_refresh_token(claims: dict) -> Optional[str]:
+    """Given a validated token's claims, return a reissued token if the
+    session is worth extending, or None if nothing should change. Called from
+    `auth_gate` on every authenticated request (D18) - deliberately reads only
+    the already-validated claims, never the database, so it costs nothing
+    beyond the JWT encode itself. The separate is_active/token_version check
+    in get_current_user is unaffected either way.
+
+    Three ways this returns None: past the absolute ceiling (session is done,
+    full re-login required - never extended, not even by a second); the
+    claims can't be parsed (fails closed into no-refresh rather than guessing);
+    or a refresh happened recently enough that a new cookie isn't worth
+    writing yet (_REFRESH_SLACK)."""
+    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
+    login_at = _parse_claim_dt(claims.get("login_at"))
+    if login_at is None:
+        # Pre-D18 token (no login_at claim) - fall back to iat so it still
+        # gets a real ceiling instead of riding on the old flat exp forever.
+        login_at = _parse_claim_dt(claims.get("iat"))
+    if login_at is None:
+        return None
+    ceiling = login_at + timedelta(hours=SESSION_HOURS)
+    if now >= ceiling:
+        return None
+    new_exp = _next_exp(login_at, now)
+    current_exp = _parse_claim_dt(claims.get("exp"))
+    if current_exp is not None and (new_exp - current_exp) < _REFRESH_SLACK:
+        return None
+    payload = {
+        "sub": claims.get("sub"),
+        "username": claims.get("username"),
+        "role": claims.get("role"),
+        "ver": claims.get("ver", 0),
+        "iat": now,
+        "login_at": login_at.timestamp(),
+        "exp": new_exp,
     }
     return jwt.encode(payload, SECRET_KEY, algorithm=JWT_ALG)