diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Controller/Auth.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Controller/Auth.pm
index cd00ac1..25c1e15 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Controller/Auth.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Controller/Auth.pm
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package CharmBoard::Controller::Auth;
 use Mojo::Base 'Mojolicious::Controller', -signatures;
 use CharmBoard::Crypt::Password;
 use CharmBoard::Crypt::Seasoning;
-use Time::HiRes qw(time);
 
 # initial registration page
 sub register ($app) { 
@@ -41,17 +40,21 @@ sub register_do ($app) {
     if ($userCheck && $emailCheck) { # notify user that username and email are both already being used
       $app->flash(error => 'Username and email already in use.');
       $app->redirect_to('register')}
+
     elsif ($userCheck) { # notify user that only username is already in use
       $app->flash(error => 'Username is already in use.');
       $app->redirect_to('register')}
+
     elsif ($emailCheck) { # notify user that only email is already in use
       $app->flash(error => 'email is already in use.');
       $app->redirect_to('register')}}
+
     else { # TODO: add more error handling here, in case SQL transact fails
     # append pepper to pass before hashing
     $password = $app->pepper . ':' . $password;
     # return hashed result + salt
     my ($salt, $hash) = passgen($password);
+
     # add user info and pw/salt to DB
     $app->schema->resultset('Users')->create({
       username    => $username,
@@ -59,6 +62,7 @@ sub register_do ($app) {
       password    => $hash,
       salt        => $salt,
       signup_date => time });
+
     $app->flash(message => 'User registered successfully!');
     $app->redirect_to('register')}};
 
@@ -70,20 +74,47 @@ sub login ($app) {
 
 sub login_do ($app) {
   my $username = $app->param('username');
-  my $password = $app->param('password');
-  $password = $app->pepper . ':' . $password;
+  my $password = $app->pepper . ':' . $app->param('password');
+
   my $userInfoCheck = $app->schema->resultset('Users')->search({username => $username});
+
   if ($userInfoCheck) {
-    my $savedSalt = $userInfoCheck->get_column('salt')->first;
-    my $savedHash = $userInfoCheck->get_column('password')->first;
-    my $passCheckStatus = passchk($savedSalt, $savedHash, $password);
+    my $passCheckStatus = passchk($userInfoCheck->get_column('salt')->first,
+        $userInfoCheck->get_column('password')->first, $password);
+
     if ($passCheckStatus) {
-      $app->flash(message => 'Password correct, but auth isn\'t implemented yet');
-      $app->redirect_to('login')
-    } else {
+      my $userID = $userInfoCheck->get_column('user_id')->first;
+
+      # delete old session from DB if exists
+      if ($app->schema->resultset('Session')->search({user_id => $userID})) {
+        $app->schema->resultset('Session')->search({user_id => $userID})->delete; };
+
+      # gen session key and set expiry time
+      my $sessionKey = seasoning(16);
+      my $sessionExpiry = time + 604800;
+
+      # add session to database
+      $app->schema->resultset('Session')->create({
+      user_id        => $userID,
+      session_key    => $sessionKey,
+      session_expiry => $sessionExpiry,
+      is_ip_bound    => 0,
+      bound_ip       => undef });
+
+      # now create session cookie for user
+      $app->session(is_auth => 1);
+      $app->session(user_id => $userID);
+      $app->session(session_key => $sessionKey);
+      $app->session(expires => $sessionExpiry);
+
+      # redirect to index
+      $app->redirect_to('/')}
+
+    else {
       $app->flash(error => 'Password incorrect');
       $app->redirect_to('login')}}
-    else {
+
+  else {
     $app->flash(error => 'User ' . $username . ' does not exist.');
     $app->redirect_to('login')};
 
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Crypt/Password.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Crypt/Password.pm
index 72300b8..187567a 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Crypt/Password.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Crypt/Password.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package CharmBoard::Crypt::Password;
 use Authen::Passphrase::Argon2;
+use CharmBoard::Crypt::Seasoning;
 
 use Exporter qw(import);
 our @EXPORT = qw(passgen passchk);
@@ -10,26 +11,26 @@ our @EXPORT = qw(passgen passchk);
 # `my ($salt, $hash) = passgen($password);`
 sub passgen ($) {
   my $argon2 = Authen::Passphrase::Argon2->new(
-    salt_random => 1,
+    salt        => seasoning(32),
     passphrase  => $_[0],
-    cost        => 3,
+    cost        => 17,
     factor      => '32M',
     parallelism => 1,
-    size        => 16 ); 
+    size        => 32 ); 
 
-  return ($argon2->salt, $argon2->as_crypt)};
+  return ($argon2->salt_hex, $argon2->hash_hex)};
 
 # subroutine to check inputted password against one in DB
 # `$_[0]` is the salt, `$_[1]` is the hashed pass, and
 # `$_[2]` is the inputted plaintext pepper:password to check
 sub passchk ($$$) {
   my $argon2 = Authen::Passphrase::Argon2->new(
-    salt    => $_[0],
-    hash    => $_[1],
-    cost        => 3,
+    salt_hex    => $_[0],
+    hash_hex    => $_[1],
+    cost        => 17,
     factor      => '32M',
     parallelism => 1,
-    size        => 16 );
+    size        => 32 );
 
   return ($argon2->match($_[2]))}
 
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Categories.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Categories.pm
index e39134a..5e78132 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Categories.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Categories.pm
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
   cat_name => {
     data_type         => 'text',
     is_nullable       => 0, });
+    
 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('cat_id');
 
 1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Posts.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Posts.pm
index e74a958..cd09783 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Posts.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Posts.pm
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
     data_type         => 'integer',
     is_auto_increment => 0,
     is_nullable       => 0, });
+
 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('post_id');
+
 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to(
   user_id =>
     'CharmBoard::Schema::Result::Users',
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Session.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Session.pm
index 8361c6e..6c08a17 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Session.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Session.pm
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
     data_type         => 'text',
     is_auto_increment => 0,
     is_nullable       => 1, });
+  
 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('user_id');
+
 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to(
   user_id =>
     'CharmBoard::Schema::Result::Users',
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Subforums.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Subforums.pm
index 167e4c4..7e112f1 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Subforums.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Subforums.pm
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
     data_type         => 'text',
     is_auto_increment => 0,
     is_nullable       => 1, });
+
 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('subf_id');
+
 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to(
   subf_cat =>
     'CharmBoard::Schema::Result::Categories',
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Threads.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Threads.pm
index 8162eca..9368f22 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Threads.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Threads.pm
@@ -13,7 +13,9 @@ __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
   thread_subf   => {
     data_type         => 'integer',
     is_nullable       => 1, });
+
 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('thread_id');
+
 __PACKAGE__->belongs_to(
   thread_subf =>
     'CharmBoard::Schema::Result::Subforums',
diff --git a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Users.pm b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Users.pm
index 09c262a..24701aa 100644
--- a/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Users.pm
+++ b/lib/CharmBoard/Schema/Result/Users.pm
@@ -10,20 +10,25 @@ __PACKAGE__->add_columns(
     is_auto_increment => 1, },
   username    => {
     data_type         => 'text',
+    is_numeric        => 0,
     is_nullable       => 0, },
   email       => {
     data_type         => 'text',
+    is_numeric        => 0,
     is_nullable       => 0, },
   password    => {
     data_type         => 'text',
+    is_numeric        => 0,
     is_nullable       => 0, },
   salt        => {
     data_type         => 'text',
+    is_numeric        => 0,
     is_nullable       => 0, },
   signup_date => {
-    data_type         => 'real',
+    data_type         => 'integer',
     is_numeric        => 1,
     is_nullable       => 0, });
+
 __PACKAGE__->set_primary_key('user_id');
 
 1
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/templates/index.html.ep b/templates/index.html.ep
index 89db429..87cd4c7 100644
--- a/templates/index.html.ep
+++ b/templates/index.html.ep
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
 % layout 'default', title => 'CharmBoard';
-
-index page
\ No newline at end of file
+% my $hpm = "you are not logged in";
+% if ($self->session('is_auth')) {$hpm = "you're logged in!"};
+<%= $hpm %>
\ No newline at end of file