Unable to read cookies in Golang (router: chi)

I'm working on the REST API for a todolist app (no not from a tutorial) and i have successfully implemented authentication but one of my helper functions seems to be unable to read cookies that are clearly there, here is the function:

// jwt is imported from the https://github.com/dgrijalva/jwt-go package
func validateAccessToken(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) uuid.UUID {
    jwtSecret, exists := os.LookupEnv("JWT_SECRET")
    if !exists {
        w.WriteHeader(500)
        w.Write([]byte(`{"message":{"error":"Fatal internal error occurred"}}`))
        panic(errors.New("JWT_SECRET environment variable not set"))
    }
    // Get access token and then validate it
    at, err := r.Cookie("access_token")
    if err == http.ErrNoCookie {
        w.WriteHeader(401)
        w.Write([]byte(`{"message":{"error":"access_token cookie not found"}}`)) // this error is always returned when i attempt to use the handler that uses this function
        return uuid.Nil
    }
    t := at.Value
    token, err := jwt.ParseWithClaims(t, &models.UserClaims{}, func(token *jwt.Token) (interface{}, error) {
        return []byte(jwtSecret), nil
    })

    if claims, ok := token.Claims.(*models.UserClaims); ok && token.Valid {
        return claims.ID
    }
    w.WriteHeader(401)
    w.Write([]byte(`{"message":{"error":"access_token invalid"}}`))
    return uuid.Nil
}

and here is the relevant part of the code that sets the cookie:

// Login handles the login route
func Login(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    //...
    // Construct cookies and then set them
    rtCookie := http.Cookie{
        Name:    "refresh_token",
        Value:   *rt,
        Expires: time.Now().Add(time.Nanosecond * time.Duration(sessionLifeNanos)),
    }
    atCookie := http.Cookie{
        Name:    "access_token",
        Value:   *at,
        Expires: time.Now().Add(time.Minute * 15),
    }
    http.SetCookie(w, &rtCookie)
    http.SetCookie(w, &atCookie)
    w.Write([]byte(`{"message":"Logged in successfully :)"}`))
}

and here is where validateAccessToken() is used and where it fails (uuid is the "github.com/google/uuid" package):

func CreateList(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
    // li will be used to store the decoded request body
    var li models.ListInput
    // listID will be used to store the returned id after inserting
    var listID uuid.UUID
    userID := validateAccessToken(w, r)
    fmt.Println(userID.String())
    if userID == uuid.Nil {
        return
    }
    //...
}

also, whenever i check after using the login route in postman, all of the cookies are sent and in the cookie jar (and no the "access_token" cookie is not expired) and also have correct looking values. I am perplexed as to why the validateAccessToken() function can't find a cookie that is there, also here is the serve() function which is called in main():

func serve() {
    // Initialise new router
    r := chi.NewRouter()
    // Some recommended middlewares
    r.Use(middleware.RequestID)
    r.Use(middleware.RealIP)
    r.Use(middleware.Logger)
    r.Use(middleware.Recoverer)
    // Cors options
    r.Use(cors.Handler(cors.Options{
        AllowedOrigins:   []string{"*"},
        AllowedHeaders:   []string{"*"},
        AllowedMethods:   []string{"GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE", "OPTIONS"},
        ExposedHeaders:   []string{"Content-Type", "Set-Cookie", "Cookie"},
        AllowCredentials: true,
        MaxAge:           300,
    }))
    // API routes
    r.Route("/api", func(r chi.Router) {
        r.Route("/users", func(r chi.Router) {
            r.Post("/", handlers.CreateUser)
            r.Post("/login", handlers.Login)
        })
        r.Route("/lists", func(r chi.Router) {
            r.Post("/", handlers.CreateList)
        })
    })
    // Listen on port 5000 and log any errors
    log.Fatal(http.ListenAndServe("0.0.0.0:5000", r))
}

I very much appreciate any attempt to help and also i apologise for this badly put together question, I'm sort of in a rush to finish this.

The application implicitly sets the cookie path to the login handler path. Fix by explicitly setting the cookie path to "/".

rtCookie := http.Cookie{
    Name:    "refresh_token",
    Path:    "/", // <--- add this line
    Value:   *rt,
    Expires: time.Now().Add(time.Nanosecond * time.Duration(sessionLifeNanos)),
}
atCookie := http.Cookie{
    Name:    "access_token",
    Path:    "/", // <--- add this line.
    Value:   *at,
    Expires: time.Now().Add(time.Minute * 15),
}