Convex & Clerk

Clerk is an authentication platform providing login via passwords, social identity providers, one-time email or SMS access codes, and multi-factor authentication and basic user management.

Get started

Convex offers a provider that is specifically for integrating with Clerk called <ConvexProviderWithClerk>. It works with any of Clerk's React-based SDKs, such as the Next.js and Expo SDKs.

See the following sections for the Clerk SDK that you're using:

React - Use this as a starting point if your SDK is not listed
Next.js
Tanstack Start

React

Example: React with Convex and Clerk

This guide assumes you already have a working React app with Convex. If not follow the Convex React Quickstart first. Then:

Sign up for Clerk
Sign up for a free Clerk account at clerk.com/sign-up.
Create an application in Clerk
Choose how you want your users to sign in.
Create a JWT Template
In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the JWT templates page.
Select New template and then from the list of templates, select Convex. You'll be redirected to the template's settings page. Do NOT rename the JWT token. It must be called convex.
Copy and save the Issuer URL somewhere secure. This URL is the issuer domain for Clerk's JWT templates, which is your Clerk app's Frontend API URL. In development, it's format will be https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev. In production, it's format will be https://clerk.<your-domain>.com.
Set the Issuer URL in your env vars
In your env file, add your Issuer URL as the CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL environment variable. If you're using Vite, you'll need to prefix it with VITE_.
.env
VITE_CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL=https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev
Configure Convex with the Clerk issuer domain
In your app's convex folder, create a new file auth.config.ts with the following code. This is the server-side configuration for validating access tokens.
convex/auth.config.ts
TS
export default { providers: [ { domain: process.env.VITE_CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL, applicationID: "convex", }, ] };
Deploy your changes
Run npx convex dev to automatically sync your configuration to your backend.
npx convex dev
Install clerk
In a new terminal window, install the Clerk React SDK:
npm install @clerk/clerk-react
Set your Clerk API keys
In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the API keys page. In the Quick Copy section, copy your Clerk Publishable Key and set it as the CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY environment variable. If you're using Vite, you will need to prefix it with VITE_.
.env
VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY

Configure ConvexProviderWithClerk

Both Clerk and Convex have provider components that are required to provide authentication and client context.

You should already have <ConvexProvider> wrapping your app. Replace it with <ConvexProviderWithClerk>, and pass Clerk's useAuth() hook to it.

Then, wrap it with <ClerkProvider>. <ClerkProvider> requires a publishableKey prop, which you can set to the VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY environment variable.

src/main.tsx
TS
import React from "react";
import ReactDOM from "react-dom/client";
import App from "./App";
import "./index.css";
import { ClerkProvider, useAuth } from "@clerk/clerk-react";
import { ConvexProviderWithClerk } from "convex/react-clerk";
import { ConvexReactClient } from "convex/react";

const convex = new ConvexReactClient(import.meta.env.VITE_CONVEX_URL as string);

ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById("root")!).render(
  <React.StrictMode>
    <ClerkProvider publishableKey="pk_test_...">
      <ConvexProviderWithClerk client={convex} useAuth={useAuth}>
        <App />
      </ConvexProviderWithClerk>
    </ClerkProvider>
  </React.StrictMode>,
);

Show UI based on authentication state
You can control which UI is shown when the user is signed in or signed out using Convex's <Authenticated>, <Unauthenticated> and <AuthLoading> helper components. These should be used instead of Clerk's <SignedIn>, <SignedOut> and <ClerkLoading> components, respectively.
It's important to use the useConvexAuth() hook instead of Clerk's useAuth() hook when you need to check whether the user is logged in or not. The useConvexAuth() hook makes sure that the browser has fetched the auth token needed to make authenticated requests to your Convex backend, and that the Convex backend has validated it.
In the following example, the <Content /> component is a child of <Authenticated>, so its content and any of its child components are guaranteed to have an authenticated user, and Convex queries can require authentication.
src/App.tsx
TS
import { SignInButton, UserButton } from "@clerk/clerk-react"; import { Authenticated, Unauthenticated, AuthLoading, useQuery } from "convex/react"; import { api } from "../convex/_generated/api"; function App() { return ( <main> <Unauthenticated> <SignInButton /> </Unauthenticated> <Authenticated> <UserButton /> <Content /> </Authenticated> <AuthLoading> <p>Still loading</p> </AuthLoading> </main> ); } function Content() { const messages = useQuery(api.messages.getForCurrentUser); return <div>Authenticated content: {messages?.length}</div>; } export default App;

Use authentication state in your Convex functions

If the client is authenticated, you can access the information stored in the JWT via ctx.auth.getUserIdentity.

If the client isn't authenticated, ctx.auth.getUserIdentity will return null.

Make sure that the component calling this query is a child of <Authenticated> from convex/react. Otherwise, it will throw on page load.

convex/messages.ts
TS
import { query } from "./_generated/server";

export const getForCurrentUser = query({
  args: {},
  handler: async (ctx) => {
    const identity = await ctx.auth.getUserIdentity();
    if (identity === null) {
      throw new Error("Not authenticated");
    }
    return await ctx.db
      .query("messages")
      .filter((q) => q.eq(q.field("author"), identity.email))
      .collect();
  },
});

Next.js

Example: Next.js with Convex and Clerk

This guide assumes you already have a working Next.js app with Convex. If not follow the Convex Next.js Quickstart first. Then:

Sign up for Clerk
Sign up for a free Clerk account at clerk.com/sign-up.
Create an application in Clerk
Choose how you want your users to sign in.
Create a JWT Template
In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the JWT templates page.
Select New template and then from the list of templates, select Convex. You'll be redirected to the template's settings page. Do NOT rename the JWT token. It must be called convex.
Copy and save the Issuer URL somewhere secure. This URL is the issuer domain for Clerk's JWT templates, which is your Clerk app's Frontend API URL. In development, it's format will be https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev. In production, it's format will be https://clerk.<your-domain>.com.
Set the Issuer URL in your env vars
In your env file, add your Issuer URL as the NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL environment variable.
.env
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL=https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev
Configure Convex with the Clerk issuer domain
In your app's convex folder, create a new file auth.config.ts with the following code. This is the server-side configuration for validating access tokens.
convex/auth.config.ts
TS
export default { providers: [ { domain: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL, applicationID: "convex", }, ] };
Deploy your changes
Run npx convex dev to automatically sync your configuration to your backend.
npx convex dev
Install clerk
In a new terminal window, install the Clerk Next.js SDK:
npm install @clerk/nextjs
Set your Clerk API keys
In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the API keys page. In the Quick Copy section, copy your Clerk Publishable and Secret Keys and set them as the NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY and CLERK_SECRET_KEY environment variables, respectively.
.env
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY CLERK_SECRET_KEY=YOUR_SECRET_KEY
Add Clerk middleware
Clerk's clerkMiddleware() helper grants you access to user authentication state throughout your app.
Create a middleware.ts file.
In your middleware.ts file, export the clerkMiddleware() helper:
import { clerkMiddleware } from '@clerk/nextjs/server' export default clerkMiddleware() export const config = { matcher: [ // Skip Next.js internals and all static files, unless found in search params '/((?!_next|[^?]*\\.(?:html?|css|js(?!on)|jpe?g|webp|png|gif|svg|ttf|woff2?|ico|csv|docx?|xlsx?|zip|webmanifest)).*)', // Always run for API routes '/(api|trpc)(.*)', ], }
By default, clerkMiddleware() will not protect any routes. All routes are public and you must opt-in to protection for routes.https://clerk.com/docs/references/nextjs/clerk-middleware) to learn how to require authentication for specific routes.

Configure ConvexProviderWithClerk

Both Clerk and Convex have provider components that are required to provide authentication and client context.

Typically, you'd replace <ConvexProvider> with <ConvexProviderWithClerk>, but with Next.js App Router, things are a bit more complex.

<ConvexProviderWithClerk> calls ConvexReactClient() to get Convex's client, so it must be used in a Client Component. Your app/layout.tsx, where you would use <ConvexProviderWithClerk>, is a Server Component, and a Server Component cannot contain Client Component code. To solve this, you must first create a wrapper Client Component around <ConvexProviderWithClerk>.

'use client'

import { ReactNode } from 'react'
import { ConvexReactClient } from 'convex/react'
import { ConvexProviderWithClerk } from 'convex/react-clerk'
import { useAuth } from '@clerk/nextjs'

if (!process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL) {
  throw new Error('Missing NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL in your .env file')
}

const convex = new ConvexReactClient(process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CONVEX_URL)

export default function ConvexClientProvider({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <ConvexProviderWithClerk client={convex} useAuth={useAuth}>
      {children}
    </ConvexProviderWithClerk>
  )
}

Wrap your app in Clerk and Convex

Now, your Server Component, app/layout.tsx, can render <ConvexClientProvider> instead of rendering <ConvexProviderWithClerk> directly. It's important that <ClerkProvider> wraps <ConvexClientProvider>, and not the other way around, as Convex needs to be able to access the Clerk context.

import type { Metadata } from 'next'
import { Geist, Geist_Mono } from 'next/font/google'
import './globals.css'
import { ClerkProvider } from '@clerk/nextjs'
import ConvexClientProvider from '@/components/ConvexClientProvider'

const geistSans = Geist({
  variable: '--font-geist-sans',
  subsets: ['latin'],
})

const geistMono = Geist_Mono({
  variable: '--font-geist-mono',
  subsets: ['latin'],
})

export const metadata: Metadata = {
  title: 'Clerk Next.js Quickstart',
  description: 'Generated by create next app',
}

export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: Readonly<{
  children: React.ReactNode
}>) {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body className={`${geistSans.variable} ${geistMono.variable} antialiased`}>
        <ClerkProvider>
          <ConvexClientProvider>{children}</ConvexClientProvider>
        </ClerkProvider>
      </body>
    </html>
  )
}

Show UI based on authentication state
You can control which UI is shown when the user is signed in or signed out using Convex's <Authenticated>, <Unauthenticated> and <AuthLoading> helper components. These should be used instead of Clerk's <SignedIn>, <SignedOut> and <ClerkLoading> components, respectively.
It's important to use the useConvexAuth() hook instead of Clerk's useAuth() hook when you need to check whether the user is logged in or not. The useConvexAuth() hook makes sure that the browser has fetched the auth token needed to make authenticated requests to your Convex backend, and that the Convex backend has validated it.
In the following example, the <Content /> component is a child of <Authenticated>, so its content and any of its child components are guaranteed to have an authenticated user, and Convex queries can require authentication.
app/page.tsx
TS
"use client"; import { Authenticated, Unauthenticated } from "convex/react"; import { SignInButton, UserButton } from "@clerk/nextjs"; import { useQuery } from "convex/react"; import { api } from "../convex/_generated/api"; export default function Home() { return ( <> <Authenticated> <UserButton /> <Content /> </Authenticated> <Unauthenticated> <SignInButton /> </Unauthenticated> </> ); } function Content() { const messages = useQuery(api.messages.getForCurrentUser); return <div>Authenticated content: {messages?.length}</div>; }

Use authentication state in your Convex functions

If the client is authenticated, you can access the information stored in the JWT via ctx.auth.getUserIdentity.

If the client isn't authenticated, ctx.auth.getUserIdentity will return null.

Make sure that the component calling this query is a child of <Authenticated> from convex/react. Otherwise, it will throw on page load.

convex/messages.ts
TS
import { query } from "./_generated/server";

export const getForCurrentUser = query({
  args: {},
  handler: async (ctx) => {
    const identity = await ctx.auth.getUserIdentity();
    if (identity === null) {
      throw new Error("Not authenticated");
    }
    return await ctx.db
      .query("messages")
      .filter((q) => q.eq(q.field("author"), identity.email))
      .collect();
  },
});

Tanstack Start

Example: Tanstack Start with Convex and Clerk

See the Tanstack Start with Clerk guide for more information.

Next steps

Accessing user information in functions

See Auth in Functions to learn about how to access information about the authenticated user in your queries, mutations and actions.

See Storing Users in the Convex Database to learn about how to store user information in the Convex database.

Accessing user information client-side

To access the authenticated user's information, use Clerk's User object, which can be accessed using Clerk's useUser() hook. For more information on the User object, see the Clerk docs.

components/Badge.tsx
TS
export default function Badge() {
  const { user } = useUser();

  return <span>Logged in as {user.fullName}</span>;
}

Configuring dev and prod instances

To configure a different Clerk instance between your Convex development and production deployments, you can use environment variables configured on the Convex dashboard.

Configuring the backend

In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the API keys page. Copy your Clerk Frontend API URL. This URL is the issuer domain for Clerk's JWT templates, and is necessary for Convex to validate access tokens. In development, it's format will be https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev. In production, it's format will be https://clerk.<your-domain>.com.

Paste your Clerk Frontend API URL into your .env file, set it as the CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL environment variable. If you are using Vite, you will need to prefix it with VITE_. If you are using Next.js, you will need to prefix it with NEXT_PUBLIC_.

.env

CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL=https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev

Then, update your auth.config.ts file to use the environment variable. Don't forget to use the necessary prefix for your client platform (e.g. VITE_ or NEXT_PUBLIC_).

convex/auth.config.ts
TS
export default {
  providers: [
    {
      domain: process.env.CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL,
      applicationID: "convex",
    },
  ],
};

Development configuration

In the left sidenav of the Convex dashboard, switch to your development deployment and set the values for your development Clerk instance.

Convex dashboard dev deployment settings

Then, to switch your deployment to the new configuration, run npx convex dev.

Production configuration

In the left sidenav of the Convex dashboard, switch to your production deployment and set the values for your production Clerk instance.

Then, to switch your deployment to the new configuration, run npx convex deploy.

Configuring Clerk's API keys

Clerk's API keys differ depending on whether they are for development or production. Don't forget to update the environment variables in your .env file as well as your hosting platform, such as Vercel or Netlify.

Development configuration

Clerk's Publishable Key for development follows the format pk_test_....

.env.local
VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY="pk_test_..."

Production configuration

Clerk's Publishable Key for production follows the format pk_live_....

.env
NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY="pk_live_..."

Debugging authentication

If a user goes through the Clerk login flow successfully, and after being redirected back to your page, useConvexAuth() returns isAuthenticated: false, it's possible that your backend isn't correctly configured.

The auth.config.ts file contains a list of configured authentication providers. You must run npx convex dev or npx convex deploy after adding a new provider to sync the configuration to your backend.

For more thorough debugging steps, see Debugging Authentication.

Under the hood

The authentication flow looks like this under the hood:

The user clicks a login button
The user is redirected to a page where they log in via whatever method you configure in Clerk
After a successful login Clerk redirects back to your page, or a different page which you configure via the afterSignIn prop.
The ClerkProvider now knows that the user is authenticated.
The ConvexProviderWithClerk fetches an auth token from Clerk.
The ConvexReactClient passes this token down to your Convex backend to validate
Your Convex backend retrieves the public key from Clerk to check that the token's signature is valid.
The ConvexReactClient is notified of successful authentication, and ConvexProviderWithClerk now knows that the user is authenticated with Convex. useConvexAuth returns isAuthenticated: true and the Authenticated component renders its children.

ConvexProviderWithClerk takes care of refetching the token when needed to make sure the user stays authenticated with your backend.

Get started​

React​

Next.js​

Tanstack Start​

Next steps​

Accessing user information in functions​

Accessing user information client-side​

Configuring dev and prod instances​

Configuring the backend​

Configuring Clerk's API keys​

Debugging authentication​

Under the hood​