This may be a bit of a basic question but in some cases the

Question

This may be a bit of a basic question but in some cases the supertokens instance is not found even though I initialize Supertokens as the first thing in the app Now I am trying to get the user count in a request handler and it is saying that Supertokens is not initialized ``` await supertokens getUserCount ```

CaptainPhoton · Answer

so Do I have to do anything special to get the instance

rp · Answer

well if you are seeing the error it means that the code for initialising supertokens has not been called

rp · Answer

you may think that it s being called but it s not

rp · Answer

cause otherwise the error would not come

CaptainPhoton · Answer

But it is called as the first thing in the app

CaptainPhoton · Answer

I think the Sails framework might be in the way here

CaptainPhoton · Answer

this is a request handler in a Sails controller

rp · Answer

put a console log before calling the init function and before you call the getUserCount function and see which one is printed first

CaptainPhoton · Answer

yeah I have the init is printed first

rp · Answer

can you upload the code to github in a way that i can replicate it

CaptainPhoton · Answer

Sails might require the controllers a bit weirdly and I m not fully sure what s going on But the instance should still be there as it s not a new thread or anything

CaptainPhoton · Answer

I ll try

rp · Answer

well im not entierly sure how sails works

CaptainPhoton · Answer

I don t like sails

CaptainPhoton · Answer

but it s a legacy app so

CaptainPhoton · Answer

I am constantly evaluating the time cost of dumping it while working on this lol

rp · Answer

yea well it can be difficult to use a framework that you are not fully familiar with

rp · Answer

but maybe ask on their community about this and how it affects singletons

CaptainPhoton · Answer

hmm yeah good idea

rp · Answer

in the worst case you can just call the init function before calling getUserCount

CaptainPhoton · Answer

It uses this to require the controller modules https www npmjs com package include all

rp · Answer

and then it should work

CaptainPhoton · Answer

Okay I ll try that

CaptainPhoton · Answer

Putting it in a different module and importing it in the controller works

CaptainPhoton · Answer

I still had a require of supertokens in the controller file and it didn t start working until I removed it You could look into not loading the instance before something from the supertokens import is used

CaptainPhoton · Answer

Without peeking at the code it seems that the Supertokens instance is loaded immediately when importing the module and then when I try to use a method it throws the error because it doesn t have the instance even if the instance WOULD be available when calling the method

rp · Answer

Not sure i completely follow your reasoning here

rp · Answer

but if you call supertokens init it creates a singleton in memory As long as the memory is shared future calls to supertokens functions would not throw that error

CaptainPhoton · Answer

So I had the import `import supertokens from supertokens node ` in the controller file and presumably the controller file was loaded somehow before supertokens init was called At this point Supertokens seems to already try to load or whatever the initialized instance If it doesn t exist nothing is thrown Then when I tried to use a method example `supertokens getUserCount ` in a request handler it throws the init not called error It would be better if the instance was loaded when I call the getUserCount method instead of immediately upon importing the module

rp · Answer

to load the instance it requires you to call the init function first

rp · Answer

i mean creating a singleton only happens when the init function is called

rp · Answer

creating an instance when getUserCount is called is not possible since we don t have the info needed to actually create an instance

CaptainPhoton · Answer

Okay I ll look at the code at some point

CaptainPhoton · Answer

this was just a theory But I didn t mean creating a new instance when getUserCount is called

rp · Answer

ah right Then i misunderstood

CaptainPhoton · Answer

Yeah I should look at the code before theorising

CaptainPhoton · Answer

but the thing works in my app now so all is good