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Integrate Convex with Clerk

With Convex, you can build a backend with a provided realtime database, file storage, text search, scheduling, and more. Paired with Clerk's authentication and user management features, you can build native mobile apps with a secure auth flow and realtime data access.

This guide shows how to integrate Convex with Clerk in your native mobile app. It assumes you have already integrated both Convex and Clerk in your app.

Set up Clerk as a Convex auth provider

For your Clerk session token to work with Convex, you need to set up the Convex integration in Clerk.

  1. In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the Convex integration setup.
  2. Choose your configuration options, and then select Activate Convex integration. This will reveal the for your Clerk instance.
  3. Save the URL. In development, its format is https://verb-noun-00.clerk.accounts.dev. In production, its format is https://clerk.<your-domain>.com.

Map additional claims (optional)

If you need to map additional claims, navigate to the Sessions page in the Clerk Dashboard.

In the Claims section, the default audience (aud) claim required by Convex is pre-mapped. You can include additional claims as necessary. Shortcodes are available to make adding dynamic user values easy.

Configure Convex with Clerk's Frontend API URL

  1. Convex backend functions don't read your app's .env file. In your Convex project, run the following command to set your Clerk :

    terminal
    npx convex env set CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL 'YOUR_FRONTEND_API_URL'

    Note

    This command needs an existing Convex deployment. If you don't have one yet, run npx convex dev --once to configure the project and create it, then rerun the command above.

  2. In your Convex project's convex folder, create an auth.config.ts file with the following configuration:

    convex/auth.config.ts
    import type { AuthConfig } from 'convex/server'

export default {
  providers: [
    {
      domain: process.env.CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL!,
      applicationID: 'convex',
    },
  ],
} satisfies AuthConfig

Sync your auth configuration

In your Convex project, run the following command to sync your auth configuration to your Convex backend:

terminal
npx convex dev

Add the Clerk Convex SDK to your app

Add the clerk-convex-kotlin dependency to your app:

app/build.gradle.kts
dependencies {
    implementation("com.clerk:clerk-convex-kotlin:<latest-version>")
}

Initialize Clerk first with your Clerk , then create a ConvexClientWithAuth using ClerkConvexAuthProvider().createConvexClientWithAuth(), passing in your Convex deployment URL. Refer to the Convex deployment docs for more info.

MyApplication.kt
import android.app.Application
import com.clerk.api.Clerk
import com.clerk.convex.ClerkConvexAuthProvider
import com.clerk.convex.createConvexClientWithAuth

class MyApplication : Application() {
  private val authProvider = ClerkConvexAuthProvider()

  override fun onCreate() {
    super.onCreate()
    Clerk.initialize(
      context = this,
      publishableKey = "YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY",
    )

    val convex = authProvider.createConvexClientWithAuth(
      deploymentUrl = "YOUR_CONVEX_DEPLOYMENT_URL",
      context = applicationContext,
    )

    // Store `convex` in app state (for example, a repository or DI container).
  }
}

After users authenticate with Clerk, auth state is automatically synced to Convex. Use convex for queries, mutations, actions, and auth state. If you don't need to keep an auth provider instance, createClerkConvexClient() is available as a shorthand helper.

Show UI based on auth state

Convex exposes auth state from the authenticated client. Use that state to render loading, signed-out, and signed-in UI.

AuthViewModel.kt
import androidx.lifecycle.ViewModel
import androidx.lifecycle.viewModelScope
import dev.convex.android.AuthState
import dev.convex.android.ConvexClientWithAuth
import kotlinx.coroutines.launch

class AuthViewModel(
  private val convex: ConvexClientWithAuth<String>,
) : ViewModel() {
  init {
    viewModelScope.launch {
      convex.authState.collect { authState ->
        when (authState) {
          is AuthState.AuthLoading -> showLoading()
          is AuthState.Unauthenticated -> showSignIn()
          is AuthState.Authenticated -> showAuthenticatedContent()
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Collect convex.authState in your ViewModel and map each state to the appropriate screen.

Make requests and present data in the UI

With Clerk and Convex configured, authenticated requests stay in sync so you can subscribe and render data with minimal setup.

MessagesViewModel.kt
import androidx.lifecycle.ViewModel
import androidx.lifecycle.viewModelScope
import dev.convex.android.ConvexClientWithAuth
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.SharingStarted
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.StateFlow
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.catch
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.stateIn

class MessagesViewModel(
  convex: ConvexClientWithAuth<String>,
) : ViewModel() {

  val messages: StateFlow<List<Message>> =
    convex
      .subscribe<List<Message>>("messages:list")
      .catch { emit(emptyList()) } // keep old behavior: fail -> show nothing
      .stateIn(
        scope = viewModelScope,
        started = SharingStarted.WhileSubscribed(stopTimeoutMillis = 5_000),
        initialValue = emptyList()
      )
}
MessagesScreen.kt
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Column
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.PaddingValues
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxWidth
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.padding
import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.LazyColumn
import androidx.compose.foundation.lazy.items
import androidx.compose.material3.Text
import androidx.compose.runtime.Composable
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.compose.ui.unit.dp
import androidx.lifecycle.compose.collectAsStateWithLifecycle

@Composable
fun MessagesScreen(
  viewModel: MessagesViewModel,
  modifier: Modifier = Modifier,
) {
  val messages = viewModel.messages.collectAsStateWithLifecycle().value

  LazyColumn(
    modifier = modifier,
    contentPadding = PaddingValues(12.dp),
  ) {
    items(items = messages, key = { it.id }) { message ->
      Column(Modifier.fillMaxWidth().padding(vertical = 6.dp)) {
        Text(message.author)
        Text(message.body)
      }
    }
  }
}

data class Message(
  val id: String,
  val author: String,
  val body: String,
)

Deploy to production

Set the from your Clerk production instance on your Convex production deployment. In your Convex project, run:

terminal
npx convex env --prod set CLERK_FRONTEND_API_URL 'https://clerk.<your-domain>.com'

Then, run the following command to sync your auth configuration to your Convex production deployment:

terminal
npx convex deploy

Next steps

For more information on how to use Convex with Clerk, see the Convex docs.

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