Build a custom sign-out 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.

Clerk's <UserButton /> and <SignOutButton /> components provide an out-of-the-box solution for signing out users. However, if you're building a custom solution, you can use the signOut() function to handle the sign-out process.

The signOut() function signs a user out of all sessions in a multi-session application, or only the current session in a single-session context. You can also specify a specific session to sign out by passing the sessionId parameter.

Note

The sign-out flow deactivates only the current session. Other valid sessions associated with the same user (e.g., if the user is signed in on another device) will remain active.

Next.js

JavaScript

Expo

iOS

Android

The useClerk() hook is used to access the signOut() function, which is called when the user clicks the sign-out button.

This example is written for Next.js App Router but can be adapted for any React-based framework.

app/components/SignOutButton.tsx

'use client'

import { useClerk } from '@clerk/nextjs'

export const SignOutButton = () => {
  const { signOut } = useClerk()

  return (
    // Clicking this button signs out a user
    // and redirects them to the home page "/".
    <button onClick={() => signOut({ redirectUrl: '/' })}>Sign out</button>
  )
}

index.html

main.js

index.html

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <link rel="icon" type="image/svg+xml" href="/clerk.svg" />
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
    <title>Clerk + JavaScript App</title>
  </head>

  <body>
    <div id="app"></div>
    <button id="sign-out">Sign out</button>
    <script type="module" src="main.js" async crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
  </body>
</html>

main.js

import { Clerk } from '@clerk/clerk-js'

const pubKey = import.meta.env.VITE_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY

const clerk = new Clerk(pubKey)
await clerk.load()

if (clerk.isSignedIn) {
  // Attach signOut function to the sign-out button
  document.getElementById('sign-out').addEventListener('click', async () => {
    await clerk.signOut()
    // Optional: refresh page after sign-out
    window.location.reload()
  })
}

The useClerk() hook is used to access the signOut() function, which is called when the user clicks the "Sign out" button.

app/components/SignOutButton.tsx

import { useClerk } from '@clerk/clerk-expo'
import { useRouter } from 'expo-router'
import { Text, TouchableOpacity } from 'react-native'

export const SignOutButton = () => {
  // Use `useClerk()` to access the `signOut()` function
  const { signOut } = useClerk()
  const router = useRouter()

  const handleSignOut = async () => {
    try {
      await signOut()
      // Redirect to your desired page
      router.replace('/')
    } catch (err) {
      // See https://clerk.com/docs/guides/development/custom-flows/error-handling
      // for more info on error handling
      console.error(JSON.stringify(err, null, 2))
    }
  }

  return (
    <TouchableOpacity onPress={handleSignOut}>
      <Text>Sign out</Text>
    </TouchableOpacity>
  )
}

SignOutView.swift

import SwiftUI
import Clerk

struct SignOutView: View {
  @Environment(Clerk.self) private var clerk

  var body: some View {
    if let session = clerk.session {
      Text("Active Session: \(session.id)")
      Button("Sign out") {
        Task { await signOut() }
      }
    } else {
      Text("You are signed out")
    }
  }
}

extension SignOutView {

  func signOut() async {
    do {
      try await clerk.signOut()
    } catch {
      // See https://clerk.com/docs/guides/development/custom-flows/error-handling
      // for more info on error handling.
      dump(error)
    }
  }
}

MainViewModel.kt

import androidx.lifecycle.ViewModel
import androidx.lifecycle.viewModelScope
import com.clerk.api.Clerk
import com.clerk.api.network.serialization.onFailure
import com.clerk.api.network.serialization.onSuccess
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.MutableStateFlow
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.asStateFlow
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.combine
import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.launchIn
import kotlinx.coroutines.launch

class MainViewModel : ViewModel() {

  private val _uiState = MutableStateFlow<UiState>(UiState.Loading)
  val uiState = _uiState.asStateFlow()

  init {
    combine(Clerk.isInitialized, Clerk.userFlow) { isInitialized, user ->
        _uiState.value =
          when {
            !isInitialized -> UiState.Loading
            user != null -> UiState.SignedIn
            else -> UiState.SignedOut
          }
      }
      .launchIn(viewModelScope)
  }

  fun signOut() {
    viewModelScope.launch {
      Clerk.signOut()
        .onSuccess { _uiState.value = UiState.SignedOut }
        .onFailure {
          // See https://clerk.com/docs/guides/development/custom-flows/error-handling
          // for more info on error handling
        }
    }
  }

  sealed interface UiState {
    data object SignedIn : UiState

    data object SignedOut : UiState

    data object Loading : UiState
  }
}

MainActivity.kt

import android.os.Bundle
import androidx.activity.ComponentActivity
import androidx.activity.compose.setContent
import androidx.activity.enableEdgeToEdge
import androidx.activity.viewModels
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.Box
import androidx.compose.foundation.layout.fillMaxSize
import androidx.compose.material3.Button
import androidx.compose.material3.CircularProgressIndicator
import androidx.compose.material3.Text
import androidx.compose.runtime.getValue
import androidx.compose.ui.Alignment
import androidx.compose.ui.Modifier
import androidx.lifecycle.compose.collectAsStateWithLifecycle

class MainActivity : ComponentActivity() {
    val viewModel: MainViewModel by viewModels()

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        enableEdgeToEdge()
        setContent {
            val state by viewModel.uiState.collectAsStateWithLifecycle()

            Box(
                modifier = Modifier.fillMaxSize(),
                contentAlignment = Alignment.Center
            ) {
                when (state) {
                    MainViewModel.UiState.Loading -> {
                        CircularProgressIndicator()
                    }

                    MainViewModel.UiState.SignedIn -> {
                        Button(onClick = { viewModel.signOut() }) {
                            Text("Sign out")
                        }
                    }

                    MainViewModel.UiState.SignedOut -> {
                        // Signed out content
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

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Last updated on Oct 22, 2025

Build a custom sign-out flow

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