Session Lost on Page Refresh - Auth State Not Persisting

1. Auth state stored only in React state, not in localStorage/sessionStorage
2. Session token not being sent in HTTP-only cookies
3. No auth check on app initialization
4. Session storage cleared on mount due to conditional logic error
5. Server-side session not properly configured with persistent backend

Use useEffect to check for existing session on app mount: useEffect(() => { const token = localStorage.getItem('auth_token'); if(token) validateToken(token); }, [])

Implement persistent session with HTTP-only cookies set by backend on login

Use Next.js middleware to validate session before rendering protected routes