How to access user/session data in 404 error handler when Session/Auth middleware are router-only?

[alberto-satsearch]

Hi all,

I’m using AdonisJS v6 with Inertia and have a question about middleware and 404 error handling.

According to the documentation and the default kernel.ts setup, session and auth middleware are registered as router middleware (i.e., router.use([...])), not as server middleware. This means they only run for requests that match a defined route.

The problem:
When a user visits a URL that does not match any route (404), the 404 error handler is triggered. However, since session and auth middleware are not run for these requests, the error handler (and any layout it renders) does not have access to user/session data (e.g., ctx.auth.user). This breaks layouts that expect user info (like name, avatar, etc.) to always be available.

What I’ve considered:

1. Using a minimal 404 page with no user data (safe, but not ideal for UX consistency).
2. Moving session and auth middleware to the server middleware stack (would make user data available everywhere, but is not the default AdonisJS pattern and may have side effects).
3. Redirecting to an explicit /not-found route in the 404 handler, so the request goes through router middleware (but this changes the URL).

My questions:

• Is there a recommended way in AdonisJS to have user/session data available in the 404 handler/layout, without moving session/auth to server middleware?
• Are there any best practices or alternative patterns for handling this scenario?
• What are the potential side effects if I move session/auth to server middleware?