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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 the 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 the Clerk 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. In the Clerk Dashboard, navigate to the Sessions page.
  2. Toggle on Multi-session handling.
  3. Select Save changes.

Get the session and user

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

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

// Get the user
const currentUser = window.Clerk.user
// Get the current session
var currentSession: Session? { Clerk.shared.session }

// Get the current user
var currentUser: 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
const currentSession = availableSessions[0].id

// Use setActive() to set the session as active
await setActive({
  session: currentSession.id,
  navigate: async ({ session }) => {
    if (session?.currentTask) {
      // Check for tasks and navigate to custom UI to help users resolve them
      // See https://clerk.com/docs/guides/development/custom-flows/overview#session-tasks
      console.log(session?.currentTask)
      return
    }

    router.push('/')
  },
})
// You can get all the available sessions through the client
const availableSessions = window.Clerk.client.sessions

// Use setActive() to set the session as active
await window.Clerk.setActive({
  session: availableSessions[0].id,
  navigate: async ({ session }) => {
    if (session?.currentTask) {
      // Check for tasks and navigate to custom UI to help users resolve them
      // See https://clerk.com/docs/guides/development/custom-flows/overview#session-tasks
      console.log(session?.currentTask)
      return
    }

    router.push('/')
  },
})
// You can get all the available sessions through the client
var availableSessions: [Session] { Clerk.shared.client?.sessions ?? [] }

// Use setActive() to set the session as active
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, see one of the following popular guides:

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

Sign out all sessions

Use 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 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 current session
const currentSession = window.Clerk.session

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

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