Make it easier to override serializer

docs/config_guide.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+Configuration Guide
+===================
+
+.. include:: config_example.rst
+
+.. include:: config_nonpermanent.rst
+
+.. include:: config_cleanup.rst
+
+.. include:: config_exceptions.rst
+
+.. include:: config_serialization.rst
+
+.. include:: config_flask.rst

docs/config.rst → docs/config_reference.rst

@@ -1,19 +1,8 @@
-Configuration
-=============
-
-.. include:: config_example.rst
-
-.. include:: config_nonpermanent.rst
-
-.. include:: config_cleanup.rst
-
-.. include:: config_exceptions.rst
-
-.. include:: config_serialization.rst
+Configuration Reference
+=========================
 
 .. include:: config_flask.rst
-
-
+
 Flask-Session configuration values
 ----------------------------------
 
@@ -79,8 +68,8 @@ These are specific to Flask-Session.
     ``SESSION_ID_LENGTH``
 
 
-Storage configuration
----------------------
+Storage configuration values
+----------------------------
 
 
 Redis

docs/config_serialization.rst

@@ -5,8 +5,41 @@ Serialization
 
     Flask-session versions below 1.0.0 use pickle serialization (or fallback) for session storage. While not a direct vulnerability, it is a potential security risk. If you are using a version below 1.0.0, it is recommended to upgrade to the latest version as soon as it's available.
 
-From 0.7.0 the serializer is msgspec, which is configurable using ``SESSION_SERIALIZATION_FORMAT``. The default format is ``'msgpack'`` which has 30% storage reduction compared to ``'json'``. The ``'json'`` format may be helpful for debugging, easier viewing or compatibility. Switching between the two should be seamless, even for existing sessions.
+From 0.7.0 the serializer is msgspec. The format it uses is configurable with ``SESSION_SERIALIZATION_FORMAT``. The default format is ``'msgpack'`` which has 30% storage reduction compared to ``'json'``. The ``'json'`` format may be helpful for debugging, easier viewing or compatibility. Switching between the two should be seamless, even for existing sessions.
 
 All sessions that are accessed or modified while using 0.7.0 will convert to a msgspec format. Once using 1.0.0, any sessions that are still in pickle format will be cleared upon access.
 
 The msgspec library has speed and memory advantages over other libraries. However, if you want to use a different library (such as pickle or orjson), you can override the :attr:`session_interface.serializer`.
+
+If you encounter a TypeError such as: "Encoding objects of type <type> is unsupported", you may be attempting to serialize an unsupported type. In this case, you can either convert the object to a supported type or use a different serializer.
+
+Casting to a supported type:
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    session["status"] = str(LazyString('done')))
+
+
+.. note::
+
+    Flask's flash method uses the session to store messages so you must also pass supported types to the flash method.
+
+
+For a detailed list of supported types by the msgspec serializer, please refer to the official documentation at `msgspec supported types <https://jcristharif.com/msgspec/supported-types.html>`_.
+
+Overriding the serializer:
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    from flask_session import Session
+    import orjson
+
+    app = Flask(__name__)
+    Session(app)
+
+    # Override the serializer
+    app.session_interface.serializer = orjson
+
+Any serializer that has a ``dumps`` and ``loads`` method can be used.

docs/index.rst

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ Table of Contents
     introduction
     installation
     usage
-    config
+    config_guide
+    config_reference
     security
     api
     contributing

src/flask_session/base.py

@@ -98,12 +98,12 @@ class Serializer(ABC):
     """Baseclass for session serialization."""
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def decode(self, serialized_data: bytes) -> dict:
+    def dumps(self, serialized_data: bytes) -> dict:
         """Deserialize the session data."""
         raise NotImplementedError()
 
     @abstractmethod
-    def encode(self, session: ServerSideSession) -> bytes:
+    def loads(self, session: ServerSideSession) -> bytes:
         """Serialize the session data."""
         raise NotImplementedError()
 
@@ -126,15 +126,15 @@ def __init__(self, app: Flask, format: str):
         else:
             raise ValueError(f"Unsupported serialization format: {format}")
 
-    def encode(self, session: ServerSideSession) -> bytes:
+    def dumps(self, data: dict) -> bytes:
         """Serialize the session data."""
         try:
-            return self.encoder.encode(dict(session))
+            return self.encoder.encode(data)
         except Exception as e:
             self.app.logger.error(f"Failed to serialize session data: {e}")
             raise
 
-    def decode(self, serialized_data: bytes) -> dict:
+    def loads(self, serialized_data: bytes) -> dict:
         """Deserialize the session data."""
         # TODO: Remove the pickle fallback in 1.0.0
         with suppress(msgspec.DecodeError):

src/flask_session/dynamodb/dynamodb.py

@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ def _retrieve_session_data(self, store_id: str) -> Optional[dict]:
         document = self.store.get_item(Key={"id": store_id}).get("Item")
         if document:
             serialized_session_data = want_bytes(document.get("val").value)
-            return self.serializer.decode(serialized_session_data)
+            return self.serializer.loads(serialized_session_data)
         return None
 
     def _delete_session(self, store_id: str) -> None:
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ def _upsert_session(
     ) -> None:
         storage_expiration_datetime = datetime.utcnow() + session_lifetime
         # Serialize the session data
-        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.encode(session)
+        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.dumps(dict(session))
 
         self.store.update_item(
             Key={

src/flask_session/memcached/memcached.py

@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@ def _retrieve_session_data(self, store_id: str) -> Optional[dict]:
         # Get the saved session (item) from the database
         serialized_session_data = self.client.get(store_id)
         if serialized_session_data:
-            return self.serializer.decode(serialized_session_data)
+            return self.serializer.loads(serialized_session_data)
         return None
 
     def _delete_session(self, store_id: str) -> None:
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ def _upsert_session(
         storage_time_to_live = total_seconds(session_lifetime)
 
         # Serialize the session data
-        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.encode(session)
+        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.dumps(dict(session))
 
         # Update existing or create new session in the database
         self.client.set(

src/flask_session/mongodb/mongodb.py

@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ def _retrieve_session_data(self, store_id: str) -> Optional[dict]:
         document = self.store.find_one({"id": store_id})
         if document:
             serialized_session_data = want_bytes(document["val"])
-            return self.serializer.decode(serialized_session_data)
+            return self.serializer.loads(serialized_session_data)
         return None
 
     def _delete_session(self, store_id: str) -> None:
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ def _upsert_session(
         storage_expiration_datetime = datetime.utcnow() + session_lifetime
 
         # Serialize the session data
-        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.encode(session)
+        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.dumps(dict(session))
 
         # Update existing or create new session in the database
         if self.use_deprecated_method:

src/flask_session/redis/redis.py

@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ def _retrieve_session_data(self, store_id: str) -> Optional[dict]:
         # Get the saved session (value) from the database
         serialized_session_data = self.client.get(store_id)
         if serialized_session_data:
-            return self.serializer.decode(serialized_session_data)
+            return self.serializer.loads(serialized_session_data)
         return None
 
     def _delete_session(self, store_id: str) -> None:
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ def _upsert_session(
         storage_time_to_live = total_seconds(session_lifetime)
 
         # Serialize the session data
-        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.encode(session)
+        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.dumps(dict(session))
 
         # Update existing or create new session in the database
         self.client.set(

src/flask_session/sqlalchemy/sqlalchemy.py

@@ -149,7 +149,7 @@ def _retrieve_session_data(self, store_id: str) -> Optional[dict]:
 
         if record:
             serialized_session_data = want_bytes(record.data)
-            return self.serializer.decode(serialized_session_data)
+            return self.serializer.loads(serialized_session_data)
         return None
 
     @retry_query()
@@ -168,7 +168,7 @@ def _upsert_session(
         storage_expiration_datetime = datetime.utcnow() + session_lifetime
 
         # Serialize session data
-        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.encode(session)
+        serialized_session_data = self.serializer.dumps(dict(session))
 
         # Update existing or create new session in the database
         try: