react-native-nitro-cookies

High-performance HTTP cookie management for React Native using Nitro Modules JSI architecture.

Features

• 5x+ Faster than bridge-based cookie libraries thanks to JSI (JavaScript Interface)
• Synchronous API for performance-critical code paths (no async/await needed!)
• Cross-platform support for iOS (11+) and Android (API 21+)
• WebView synchronization with iOS WKWebView cookie storage
• Automatic HTTP header parsing from Set-Cookie headers
• Type-safe API with full TypeScript support
• Drop-in replacement for @react-native-cookies/cookies

Installation

npm install react-native-nitro-cookies react-native-nitro-modules
# or
yarn add react-native-nitro-cookies react-native-nitro-modules

Note: react-native-nitro-modules is required as this library relies on Nitro Modules.

iOS

cd ios && pod install

Android

No additional setup required - autolinking handles everything.

Quick Start

import NitroCookies from "react-native-nitro-cookies";

// Set a cookie
await NitroCookies.set("https://example.com", {
  name: "session_token",
  value: "abc123",
  path: "/",
  secure: true,
});

// Get cookies for a URL
const cookies = await NitroCookies.get("https://example.com");

// Clear all cookies
await NitroCookies.clearAll();

API Overview

Synchronous Methods

For performance-critical code paths where you need immediate results without async overhead:

// Get cookies - returns Cookies dictionary (keyed by cookie name)
const cookies = NitroCookies.getSync("https://example.com");

// Set cookie - returns boolean immediately
NitroCookies.setSync("https://example.com", {
  name: "session",
  value: "abc123",
});

// Parse Set-Cookie header
NitroCookies.setFromResponseSync("https://example.com", "session=abc; path=/");

// Remove specific cookie
NitroCookies.clearByNameSync("https://example.com", "session");

// Set several cookies at once
NitroCookies.setManySync("https://example.com", [
  { name: "session", value: "abc123" },
  { name: "theme", value: "dark" },
]);

// Get the ready-to-send Cookie request header (e.g. "session=abc123; theme=dark")
const header = NitroCookies.getCookieHeaderSync("https://example.com");

Asynchronous Methods

For operations requiring WebKit access (iOS), network requests, or callback-based Android APIs:

Method	Description
get(url, useWebKit?)	Get cookies for URL
set(url, cookie, useWebKit?)	Set a cookie
setMany(url, cookies, useWebKit?)	Set several cookies for a URL
getCookieHeader(url, useWebKit?)	Get the Cookie request-header string
clearAll(useWebKit?)	Clear all cookies
clearByName(url, name, useWebKit?)	Remove specific cookie
setFromResponse(url, header)	Parse Set-Cookie header
getFromResponse(url)	Fetch URL and extract cookies
getAll(useWebKit?)	Get all cookies (iOS only)
flush()	Persist cookies to disk (Android only)
removeSessionCookies()	Remove session cookies (Android only)

When to Use Sync vs Async

Scenario	Recommended
Quick cookie read during render	getSync()
Setting cookie before navigation	setSync()
WebKit cookie store access (iOS)	get() / set() with useWebKit: true
Clearing all cookies	clearAll()
Fetching cookies from network	getFromResponse()

Cookie Object

interface Cookie {
  name: string; // Required
  value: string; // Required
  path?: string; // Defaults to "/"
  domain?: string; // Defaults to URL host
  secure?: boolean; // HTTPS only
  httpOnly?: boolean; // No JS access
  expires?: string; // ISO 8601 format
}

Attaching cookies to a manual request

getCookieHeader returns the exact value of the HTTP Cookie request header for a URL, so you can forward stored cookies on a fetch or XMLHttpRequest you build yourself:

const header = await NitroCookies.getCookieHeader("https://api.example.com");

await fetch("https://api.example.com/profile", {
  headers: header ? { Cookie: header } : {},
});

On iOS the header is built with HTTPCookie.requestHeaderFields(with:), so name/value serialization follows the platform's RFC 6265 rules; on Android it maps directly to CookieManager.getCookie(url). The synchronous getCookieHeaderSync is available for hot paths.

WebView Integration (iOS)

Manage cookies separately for native HTTP requests and WKWebView:

// For WKWebView - accessible in WebView
await NitroCookies.set(url, cookie, true); // useWebKit = true

// For native URLSession - not visible in WebView
await NitroCookies.set(url, cookie, false); // useWebKit = false

Error Handling

try {
  await NitroCookies.set("example.com", cookie); // Missing protocol!
} catch (error) {
  // INVALID_URL: URLs must include protocol (http:// or https://)
}

Error Code	Description
INVALID_URL	URL malformed or missing protocol
DOMAIN_MISMATCH	Cookie domain doesn't match URL
WEBKIT_UNAVAILABLE	WebKit requested on iOS < 11
PLATFORM_UNSUPPORTED	Platform-specific method on wrong platform
NETWORK_ERROR	HTTP request failed

Migration from @react-native-cookies/cookies

Drop-in replacement - just change the import:

- import CookieManager from '@react-native-cookies/cookies';
+ import CookieManager from 'react-native-nitro-cookies';

// All existing code works unchanged!

Prior Art

This package is a from-scratch Nitro Modules implementation, not a fork, but its public API and behavior are modeled on @react-native-cookies/cookies. Big thanks to its maintainers and contributors for the original implementation and long-term work on the project.

Acknowledgement

• This Week In React
  • #261
• NativeWeekly by beehiiv
  • Dec 5 2025: Issue 8

Example App

cd example && yarn install

# iOS
yarn ios

# Android
yarn android

TypeScript

import NitroCookies, {
  type Cookie,
  type Cookies,
  type CookieError,
  type CookieErrorCode,
} from "react-native-nitro-cookies";

License

MIT

Credits

Built with Nitro Modules by Marc Rousavy