Verify API keys in your React Router application with Clerk

Example 1: Accepting a single token type
Example 2: Accepting multiple token types

Available in other SDKs

When building a resource server that needs to accept and verify API keys issued by Clerk, it's crucial to verify these keys on your backend to ensure the request is coming from an authenticated client.

Important

This guide assumes you've configured clerkMiddleware() in your React Router application. The getAuth() helper requires Clerk Middleware to be configured before it can read request authentication state.

Clerk's React Router SDK provides a built-in getAuth() function that supports token validation via the acceptsToken parameter. This lets you specify which type(s) of token your loader or action should accept in your React Router application.

By default, acceptsToken is set to session_token, which means API keys will not be accepted unless explicitly configured. You can pass either a single token type or an array of token types to acceptsToken. To learn more about the supported token types, see the getAuth() parameters documentation.

Below are two examples of verifying API keys in a React Router route module using Clerk's SDK:

Example 1: Accepting a single token type

In the following example, the acceptsToken parameter is set to only accept api_keys.

If the API key is invalid or missing, getAuth() will return false for isAuthenticated, and the request will be rejected with a 401 response.
If the API key is valid, subject, scopes, and claims are returned. API keys are scoped to either a user or an Organization, so subject is the user ID or Organization ID associated with the key.

app/routes/api.example.ts

import { getAuth } from '@clerk/react-router/server'
import type { Route } from './+types/api.example'

export async function loader(args: Route.LoaderArgs) {
  const authObject = await getAuth(args, {
    acceptsToken: 'api_key',
  })

  // If isAuthenticated is false, the token is invalid
  if (!authObject.isAuthenticated) {
    throw new Response('Unauthorized', { status: 401 })
  }

  const { subject, scopes, claims } = authObject

  return Response.json({ subject, scopes, claims })
}

Example 2: Accepting multiple token types

In the following example, the acceptsToken parameter allows session_tokens, oauth_tokens, and api_keys.

If the token is invalid or missing, getAuth() will return false for isAuthenticated. Check isAuthenticated before reading the other properties, like userId.
If the token is an api_key, use subject to identify the user or Organization associated with the key.
If the token is valid, isAuthenticated is true. This example includes pseudo-code that uses subject for API keys or userId for session and OAuth tokens to get data from a database.

app/routes/api.example.ts

import { getAuth } from '@clerk/react-router/server'
import type { Route } from './+types/api.example'

export async function action(args: Route.ActionArgs) {
  // Accept session_token, oauth_token, and api_key types
  const authObject = await getAuth(args, {
    acceptsToken: ['session_token', 'oauth_token', 'api_key'],
  })

  // If the token is invalid or missing
  if (!authObject.isAuthenticated) {
    throw new Response('Unauthorized', { status: 401 })
  }

  // Check if the token is an api key and if it doesn't have the required scope
  if (authObject.tokenType === 'api_key' && !authObject.scopes.includes('read:data')) {
    throw new Response('API Key missing the "read:data" scope', { status: 401 })
  }

  // If the token is valid, move forward with the application logic
  // This example includes pseudo-code for getting data from a database using the resource owner ID
  const ownerId = authObject.tokenType === 'api_key' ? authObject.subject : authObject.userId
  const data = db.select().from(resources).where(eq(resources.ownerId, ownerId))

  return Response.json({ data })
}

Last updated on Jul 21, 2026

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Verify API keys in your React Router application with Clerk

Example 1: Accepting a single token type

Example 2: Accepting multiple token types

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