Install @clerk/nextjs
Set your Clerk API keys
Add clerkMiddleware() to your app
Add <ClerkProvider> and Clerk components to your app
Create your first user
Next steps

Next.js Quickstart

You will learn the following:

Install @clerk/nextjs
Set your Clerk API keys
Add clerkMiddleware()
Add <ClerkProvider /> and Clerk components

Before you start

Example repositories

Install `@clerk/nextjs`

Clerk's Next.js SDK gives you access to prebuilt components, React hooks, and helpers to make user authentication easier.

Run the following command to install the SDK:

npm

yarn

pnpm

terminal

npm install @clerk/nextjs

terminal

yarn add @clerk/nextjs

terminal

pnpm add @clerk/nextjs

Set your Clerk API keys

Get your API keys instantly by creating a free account

.env.local

NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=YOUR_PUBLISHABLE_KEY
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=YOUR_SECRET_KEY

Add `clerkMiddleware()` to your app

clerkMiddleware() grants you access to user authentication state throughout your app, on any route or page. It also allows you to protect specific routes from unauthenticated users. To add clerkMiddleware() to your app, follow these steps:

Create a middleware.ts file.
- If you're using the /src directory, create middleware.ts in the /src directory.
- If you're not using the /src directory, create middleware.ts in the root directory alongside .env.local.

In your middleware.ts file, export the clerkMiddleware() helper:

middleware.ts

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. See the clerkMiddleware() reference to learn how to require authentication for specific routes.

Add `<ClerkProvider>` and Clerk components to your app

The <ClerkProvider> component wraps your app to provide active session and user context to Clerk's hooks and other components.

You can control which content signed-in and signed-out users can see with Clerk's prebuilt control components. Create a header using the following components:

<SignedIn>: Children of this component can only be seen while signed in.
<SignedOut>: Children of this component can only be seen while signed out.
<UserButton />: Shows the signed-in user's avatar. Selecting it opens a dropdown menu with account management options.
<SignInButton />: An unstyled component that links to the sign-in page. In this example, since no props or environment variables are set for the sign-in URL, this component links to the Account Portal sign-in page.

Select your preferred router to learn how to make this data available across your entire app:

App Router

Pages Router

app/layout.tsx

import { ClerkProvider, SignInButton, SignedIn, SignedOut, UserButton } from '@clerk/nextjs'
import './globals.css'

export default function RootLayout({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider>
      <html lang="en">
        <body>
          <header>
            <SignedOut>
              <SignInButton />
            </SignedOut>
            <SignedIn>
              <UserButton />
            </SignedIn>
          </header>
          <main>{children}</main>
        </body>
      </html>
    </ClerkProvider>
  )
}

pages/_app.tsx

import '@/styles/globals.css'
import { ClerkProvider, SignInButton, SignedIn, SignedOut, UserButton } from '@clerk/nextjs'
import type { AppProps } from 'next/app'

function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider {...pageProps}>
      <SignedOut>
        <SignInButton />
      </SignedOut>
      <SignedIn>
        <UserButton />
      </SignedIn>
      <Component {...pageProps} />
    </ClerkProvider>
  )
}

export default MyApp

Create your first user

Run your project with the following command:

npm

yarn

pnpm

terminal

npm run dev

terminal

yarn dev

terminal

pnpm dev

Visit your app's homepage at http://localhost:3000. Sign up to create your first user.

Last updated on Nov 18, 2024

Next.js Quickstart

You will learn the following:

Before you start

Example repositories

Install `@clerk/nextjs`

Set your Clerk API keys

Add `clerkMiddleware()` to your app

Add `<ClerkProvider>` and Clerk components to your app

Create your first user

Next steps

Protect routes using Clerk Middleware

Create custom sign-up and sign-in pages

Read user and session data

Client-side helpers

Next.js SDK Reference

Deploy to Production

Deploy to Vercel

Clerk + Next.js App Router Quickstart Repo

Clerk + Next.js Pages Router Quickstart Repo

Next.js Quickstart

You will learn the following:

Before you start

Example repositories

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