@clerk/backend

What is @clerk/backend?

@clerk/backend is a Node.js package that provides backend functionality for authentication and user management. It allows developers to integrate user authentication, manage user sessions, and handle user data securely and efficiently.

What are @clerk/backend's main functionalities?

User Authentication

This feature allows you to authenticate users using a token. The code sample demonstrates how to verify a user's token and retrieve user information.

const { Clerk } = require('@clerk/backend');
const clerk = new Clerk({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' });

async function authenticateUser(token) {
  const user = await clerk.users.verifyToken(token);
  return user;
}

authenticateUser('user-token').then(user => console.log(user)).catch(err => console.error(err));

Session Management

This feature allows you to manage user sessions. The code sample demonstrates how to retrieve a session by its ID.

const { Clerk } = require('@clerk/backend');
const clerk = new Clerk({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' });

async function getSession(sessionId) {
  const session = await clerk.sessions.getSession(sessionId);
  return session;
}

getSession('session-id').then(session => console.log(session)).catch(err => console.error(err));

User Management

This feature allows you to manage user data. The code sample demonstrates how to retrieve user information by user ID.

const { Clerk } = require('@clerk/backend');
const clerk = new Clerk({ apiKey: 'your-api-key' });

async function getUser(userId) {
  const user = await clerk.users.getUser(userId);
  return user;
}

getUser('user-id').then(user => console.log(user)).catch(err => console.error(err));

Other packages similar to @clerk/backend

auth0

Auth0 is a flexible, drop-in solution to add authentication and authorization services to your applications. It provides a wide range of features including social login, multi-factor authentication, and user management. Compared to @clerk/backend, Auth0 offers more extensive integrations and a broader set of features but can be more complex to set up.

firebase-admin

Firebase Admin SDK allows you to integrate Firebase services into your server-side applications. It provides functionalities for user authentication, database management, and cloud messaging. Compared to @clerk/backend, Firebase Admin SDK offers a more comprehensive suite of backend services but may require more configuration and setup.

passport

Passport is an authentication middleware for Node.js that supports a wide range of authentication strategies. It is highly modular and can be integrated with various authentication providers. Compared to @clerk/backend, Passport is more flexible and customizable but requires more effort to implement and manage different authentication strategies.

README

@clerk/backend

Changelog · Report a Bug · Request a Feature · Get help

Getting Started

Clerk's JavaScript Backend SDK exposes Clerk's Backend API resources and low-level authentication utilities for JavaScript environments.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >=18.17.0 (or later) or any V8 isolates runtime
• An existing Clerk application. Create your account for free.

Installation

The fastest way to get started with @clerk/backend is by following the JavaScript Backend SDK reference documentation.

You'll learn how to install @clerk/backend and how to use createClerkClient().

Usage

For further information, guides, and examples visit the JavaScript Backend SDK reference documentation. It lists all the available APIs and methods.

Testing

This project uses vitest as the unit test runner and msw for mocking network requests.

If you need to see which requests are being intercepted by msw, you can run the test suite with the following env: DEBUG_MOCK_REQUESTS=true

Support

You can get in touch with us in any of the following ways:

• Join our official community Discord server
• On our support page

Contributing

We're open to all community contributions! If you'd like to contribute in any way, please read our contribution guidelines and code of conduct.

Security

@clerk/backend follows good practices of security, but 100% security cannot be assured.

@clerk/backend is provided "as is" without any warranty. Use at your own risk.

For more information and to report security issues, please refer to our security documentation.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license.

See LICENSE for more information.