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Build a custom multi-session flow

Warning

This guide is for users who want to build a custom user interface using the Clerk API. To use a prebuilt UI, use Clerk's Account Portal pages or prebuilt components.

A multi-session application is an application that allows multiple accounts to be signed in from the same browser at the same time. The user can switch from one account to another seamlessly. Each account is independent from the rest and has access to different resources.

This guide provides you with the necessary information to build a custom multi-session flow using Clerk's API.

To implement the multi-session feature to your application, you need to handle the following scenarios:

Enable multi-session in your application

To enable multi-session in your application, you need to configure it in the Clerk Dashboard.

  1. Navigate to the Clerk Dashboard and select your application.
  2. In the navigation sidebar, select Sessions.
  3. Toggle on Multi-session handling.
  4. Select Save changes.

Get the active session and user

import { useClerk } from '@clerk/clerk-react'

// Get the active session and user
const { session, user } = useClerk()
// Get the active session
const activeSession = window.Clerk.session

// Get the active user
const activeUser = window.Clerk.user
// Get the active session
var activeSession: Session? { Clerk.shared.session }

// Get the active user
var user: User? { Clerk.shared.user }

Switch between sessions

import { useClerk } from '@clerk/clerk-react'

const { client, setActive } = useClerk()

// You can get all the available sessions through the client
const availableSessions = client.sessions

// Use setActive to set the active session.
setActive({ session: availableSessions[0].id })
// You can get all the available sessions through the client
const availableSessions = window.Clerk.client.sessions

// Use setActive to set the active session.
window.Clerk.setActive({ session: availableSessions[0].id })
// You can get all the available sessions through the client
var availableSessions: [Session] { Clerk.shared.client?.sessions ?? [] }

// Use setActive to set the active session.
try await Clerk.shared.setActive(sessionId: session.id)

Add a new session

To add a new session, simply link to your existing sign-in flow. New sign-ins will automatically add to the list of available sessions on the client. To create a sign-in flow, please check one of the following popular guides:

For more information on how Clerk's sign-in flow works, check out the detailed sign-in guide.

Sign out all sessions

Use signOut() to deactivate all sessions on the current client.

import { useClerk } from '@clerk/clerk-react'

const { signOut, session } = useClerk()

// Use signOut to sign-out all active sessions.
await signOut()
// Use signOut to sign-out all active sessions.
await window.Clerk.signOut()
// Use signOut to sign-out all active sessions.
try await Clerk.shared.signOut()

Sign out active session

Use signOut() to deactivate a specific session by passing the session ID.

import { useClerk } from '@clerk/clerk-react'

// Get the signOut method and the active session
const { signOut, session } = useClerk()

// Use signOut to sign-out the active session
await signOut(session.id)
// Get the active session
const activeSession = window.Clerk.session

// Use signOut to sign-out the active session
await window.Clerk.signOut(activeSession.id)
// Use signOut to sign-out a specific session
try await Clerk.shared.signOut(sessionId: session.id)

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