Based on your description and the provided code samples, the issue was that when the page refreshes, Redux (by default) resets to its initial state before redux-persist rehydrates the stored auth state. This causes the auth-related flags (like isAuthenticated and user) to be temporarily unavailable, which leads your ProtectedRoute to think the user is unauthenticated and redirect to /login.

The key insight in the solution is to:

1. Maintain a loading state during rehydration. Instead of immediately checking for user or authentication status (which might be false or null in the initial state), the code returns a loading spinner until the rehydration (and any async auth-checks) is complete.

2. Explicitly handle the third state in your auth state: neither confirmed as authenticated nor unauthenticated (i.e., null), which prevents premature redirects.

This is implemented in the ProtectedRoute component as follows:

• The component checks if the auth state is still loading (if (loading)), returning a placeholder (e.g., a spinner) instead of redirecting.
• Only after the loading state is false does it check if the user is authenticated.
• The custom hook useAuthGuard further performs an asynchronous check using checkAuth() which validates the JWT stored in a cookie. This ensures that even if the Redux state has been reset on page reload, it will eventually rehydrate with the correct user info.

Here's a recap of the solution in your code:

---

ProtectedRoute.tsx

TYPESCRIPTCopied
import { Navigate, useLocation } from 'react-router-dom';
import { useSelector } from 'react-redux';
import { RootState } from '@/store/store';
import useAuthGuard from '@/hooks/useAuthGuard';

interface ProtectedRouteProps {
    children: React.ReactNode;
}

export const ProtectedRoute = ({ children }: ProtectedRouteProps): JSX.Element => {
    const { user, loading, isAuthenticated } = useSelector((state: RootState) => state.auth);
    const location = useLocation();

    console.log('Full Auth State:', { user, loading, isAuthenticated, currentPath: location.pathname });

    // Ensure that authentication checks run via a custom hook
    useAuthGuard();

    console.log(`console->log ${location.pathname}`, user);

    // Show a loading spinner while rehydration/auth-check is in progress
    if (loading) {
        return <div>Loading...</div>; // Replace this with your app's spinner if needed
    }

    // Redirect to /login if user is not authenticated
    if (!isAuthenticated || !user) {
        console.log('Redirecting to login...');
        return <Navigate to="/login" state={{ from: location.pathname }} replace />;
    }

    return <>{children}</>;
};

---

useAuthGuard.tsx

TYPESCRIPTCopied
import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { useSelector, useDispatch } from 'react-redux';
import { RootState, AppDispatch } from '@/store/store';
import { checkAuth } from '@/store/authSlice';

export const useAuthGuard = () => {
    const { user, isAuthenticated, loading } = useSelector((state: RootState) => state.auth);
    const dispatch = useDispatch<AppDispatch>();

    useEffect(() => {
        const verifyAuth = async () => {
            try {
                // Only run auth check if not loading and no valid authentication info
                if (!loading && (!isAuthenticated || !user)) {
                    await dispatch(checkAuth()).unwrap();
                }
            } catch (error) {
                console.error('Auth check failed, redirecting to login');
            }
        };

        verifyAuth();
    }, [isAuthenticated, loading, dispatch]);
};

---

Summary

• Initial State Issue: On a refresh, the Redux state is reset; redux-persist later rehydrates the state.
• Loading Flag: Utilizing a loading flag during rehydration prevents premature redirects.
• Smart Check: The third state (where authentication has not yet been confirmed) is managed by checking for loading, ensuring that the app only redirects after confirming the auth state.

This design avoids the need to add extra rehydration checks directly within the ProtectedRoute component since the loading state and asynchronous checks in useAuthGuard take care of it, resulting in an efficient solution for handling rehydration issues without breaking protected routes.