diff --git a/datasette/app.py b/datasette/app.py
index e4e544c6..0c2bb809 100644
--- a/datasette/app.py
+++ b/datasette/app.py
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ from .utils import (
     StartupError,
     async_call_with_supported_arguments,
     await_me_maybe,
+    baseconv,
     call_with_supported_arguments,
     detect_json1,
     display_actor,
@@ -1430,6 +1431,18 @@ class Datasette:
 
         return await template.render_async(template_context)
 
+    def set_actor_cookie(
+        self, response: Response, actor: dict, expire_after: Optional[int] = None
+    ):
+        data = {"a": actor}
+        if expire_after:
+            expires_at = int(time.time()) + (24 * 60 * 60)
+            data["e"] = baseconv.base62.encode(expires_at)
+        response.set_cookie("ds_actor", self.sign(data, "actor"))
+
+    def delete_actor_cookie(self, response: Response):
+        response.set_cookie("ds_actor", "", expires=0, max_age=0)
+
     async def _asset_urls(self, key, template, context, request, view_name):
         # Flatten list-of-lists from plugins:
         seen_urls = set()
diff --git a/datasette/views/special.py b/datasette/views/special.py
index e997b788..1db24d74 100644
--- a/datasette/views/special.py
+++ b/datasette/views/special.py
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ class AuthTokenView(BaseView):
             self.ds._root_token = None
             response = Response.redirect(self.ds.urls.instance())
             root_actor = {"id": "root"}
-            response.set_cookie("ds_actor", self.ds.sign({"a": root_actor}, "actor"))
+            self.ds.set_actor_cookie(response, root_actor)
             await self.ds.track_event(LoginEvent(actor=root_actor))
             return response
         else:
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ class LogoutView(BaseView):
 
     async def post(self, request):
         response = Response.redirect(self.ds.urls.instance())
-        response.set_cookie("ds_actor", "", expires=0, max_age=0)
+        self.ds.delete_actor_cookie(response)
         self.ds.add_message(request, "You are now logged out", self.ds.WARNING)
         await self.ds.track_event(LogoutEvent(actor=request.actor))
         return response
diff --git a/docs/authentication.rst b/docs/authentication.rst
index 5452b9c3..0343dc94 100644
--- a/docs/authentication.rst
+++ b/docs/authentication.rst
@@ -1062,19 +1062,25 @@ Authentication plugins can set signed ``ds_actor`` cookies themselves like so:
 .. code-block:: python
 
     response = Response.redirect("/")
-    response.set_cookie(
-        "ds_actor",
-        datasette.sign({"a": {"id": "cleopaws"}}, "actor"),
-    )
+    datasette.set_actor_cookie(response, {"id": "cleopaws"})
 
-Note that you need to pass ``"actor"`` as the namespace to :ref:`datasette_sign`.
+The shape of data encoded in the cookie is as follows:
 
-The shape of data encoded in the cookie is as follows::
+.. code-block:: json
 
     {
-        "a": {... actor ...}
+      "a": {
+        "id": "cleopaws"
+      }
     }
 
+To implement logout in a plugin, use the ``delete_actor_cookie()`` method:
+
+.. code-block:: python
+
+    response = Response.redirect("/")
+    datasette.delete_actor_cookie(response)
+
 .. _authentication_ds_actor_expiry:
 
 Including an expiry time
@@ -1082,25 +1088,13 @@ Including an expiry time
 
 ``ds_actor`` cookies can optionally include a signed expiry timestamp, after which the cookies will no longer be valid. Authentication plugins may chose to use this mechanism to limit the lifetime of the cookie. For example, if a plugin implements single-sign-on against another source it may decide to set short-lived cookies so that if the user is removed from the SSO system their existing Datasette cookies will stop working shortly afterwards.
 
-To include an expiry, add a ``"e"`` key to the cookie value containing a base62-encoded integer representing the timestamp when the cookie should expire. For example, here's how to set a cookie that expires after 24 hours:
+To include an expiry pass ``expire_after=`` to ``datasette.set_actor_cookie()`` with a number of seconds. For example, to expire in 24 hours:
 
 .. code-block:: python
 
-    import time
-    from datasette.utils import baseconv
-
-    expires_at = int(time.time()) + (24 * 60 * 60)
-
     response = Response.redirect("/")
-    response.set_cookie(
-        "ds_actor",
-        datasette.sign(
-            {
-                "a": {"id": "cleopaws"},
-                "e": baseconv.base62.encode(expires_at),
-            },
-            "actor",
-        ),
+    datasette.set_actor_cookie(
+        response, {"id": "cleopaws"}, expire_after=60 * 60 * 24
     )
 
 The resulting cookie will encode data that looks something like this:
@@ -1108,13 +1102,12 @@ The resulting cookie will encode data that looks something like this:
 .. code-block:: json
 
     {
-        "a": {
-            "id": "cleopaws"
-        },
-        "e": "1jjSji"
+      "a": {
+        "id": "cleopaws"
+      },
+      "e": "1jjSji"
     }
 
-
 .. _LogoutView:
 
 The /-/logout page
diff --git a/tests/plugins/my_plugin.py b/tests/plugins/my_plugin.py
index 54c59227..2aa57e69 100644
--- a/tests/plugins/my_plugin.py
+++ b/tests/plugins/my_plugin.py
@@ -279,9 +279,7 @@ def register_routes():
         # Mainly for the latest.datasette.io demo
         if request.method == "POST":
             response = Response.redirect("/")
-            response.set_cookie(
-                "ds_actor", datasette.sign({"a": {"id": "root"}}, "actor")
-            )
+            datasette.set_actor_cookie(response, {"id": "root"})
             return response
         return Response.html(
             """