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Auth object

The Auth object contains important information like the current user's session ID, user ID, and organization ID. It also contains methods to check for permissions and retrieve the current user's session token.

How to access the Auth object

The Auth object is available on the request object in server contexts. Some frameworks provide a helper that returns the Auth object. See the following table for more information.

FrameworkHow to access the Auth object
Next.js App Routerauth()
Next.js Pages RoutergetAuth()
Astrolocals.auth()
Expressreq.auth
React RoutergetAuth()
RemixgetAuth()
Tanstack StartgetAuth()
Otherrequest.auth

Properties

  • Name
    sessionId
    Type
    string
    Description

    The ID of the current session.

  • Name
    userId
    Type
    string
    Description

    The ID of the current user.

  • Name
    orgId
    Type
    string | undefined
    Description

    The ID of the user's active organization.

  • Name
    orgRole
    Type
    OrganizationCustomRoleKey | undefined
    Description

    The current user's role in their active organization.

  • Name
    orgSlug
    Type
    string | undefined
    Description

    The URL-friendly identifier of the user's active organization.

  • Name
    orgPermissions
    Type
    OrganizationCustomPermissionKey[] | undefined
    Description

    The current user's active organization permissions.

  • Name
    sessionClaims
    Type
    JwtPayload
    Description

    The current user's session claims.

  • Name
    actor
    Type
    ActClaim | undefined
    Description

    Holds identifier for the user that is impersonating the current user. Read more about impersonation.

  • Name
    has()
    Type
    (isAuthorizedParams: CheckAuthorizationParamsWithCustomPermissions) => boolean
    Description

    A function that checks if the user has an organization role or custom permission.

  • Name
    factorVerificationAge
    Type
    [number, number] | null
    Description

    An array where each item represents the number of minutes since the last verification of a first or second factor: [firstFactorAge, secondFactorAge].

  • Name
    getToken()
    Type
    ServerGetToken
    Description

    A function that gets the current user's session token or a custom JWT template.

  • Name
    debug
    Type
    AuthObjectDebug
    Description

    Used to help debug issues when using Clerk in development.

OrganizationCustomRoleKey

The orgRole property on the Auth object has the type OrganizationCustomRoleKey.

OrganizationCustomRoleKey is a string that represents the user's role in the organization. Clerk provides the default roles org:admin and org:member. However, you can create custom roles as well.

OrganizationCustomPermissionKey

The orgPermissions property on the Auth object has the type OrganizationCustomPermissionKey.

OrganizationCustomPermissionKey is a string representing a user's permission in an organization. Clerk provides default system permissions and allows you to create custom permissions.

has()

has() determines if the user has a role or permission and returns a boolean value.

function has(isAuthorizedParams: CheckAuthorizationParamsWithCustomPermissions): boolean

CheckAuthorizationParamsWithCustomPermissions

CheckAuthorizationParamsWithCustomPermissions has the following properties:

  • Name
    role
    Type
    string
    Description

    The role to check for.

  • Name
    permission
    Type
    string
    Description

    The permission to check for.

  • Name
    reverification?
    Type
    ReverificationConfig
    Description

    The reverification configuration to check for. This feature is currently in public beta. It is not recommended for production use.

ReverificationConfig
type ReverificationConfig =
  | SessionVerificationTypes
  | {
      level: SessionVerificationLevel
      afterMinutes: SessionVerificationAfterMinutes
    }

type SessionVerificationTypes = 'strict_mfa' | 'strict' | 'moderate' | 'lax'

The ReverificationConfig type has the following properties:

  • Name
    strict_mfa
    Description

    Requires the user to verify their credentials within the past 10 minutes. If not verified, prompt for both the first and second factors.

  • Name
    strict
    Description

    Requires the user to verify their credentials within the past 10 minutes. If not verified, prompt for the second factor.

  • Name
    moderate
    Description

    Requires the user to verify their credentials within the past hour. If not verified, prompt for the second factor.

  • Name
    lax
    Description

    Requires the user to verify their credentials within the past day. If not verified, prompt for the second factor.

  • Name
    level
    Type
    "first_factor" | "second_factor" | "multi_factor"
    Description

    The reverification level of credentials to check for.

  • Name
    afterMinutes
    Type
    number
    Description

    The age of the factor level to check for. Value should be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 99,999.

has() authorization example

You can use has() to check if a user is authorized to access a component.

Warning

Using has() on the server-side to check permissions works only with custom permissions, as system permissions aren't included in auth.sessionClaims.orgs_permissions. To check system permissions, verify the user's role instead.

In the following example, has() is used to check if the user has the org:team_settings:manage permission. If the user doesn't have the permission, null is returned and the page isn't rendered. This example is written for Next.js App Router, but can be adapted to other frameworks by using the appropriate method for accessing the Auth object.

app/page.tsx
import { auth } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'

export default async function Page() {
  const { has } = await auth()

  const canManage = has({ permission: 'org:team_settings:manage' })

  if (!canManage) return null

  return <h1>Team Settings</h1>
}

has() reverification example

Important

This example demonstrates how to handle reverification server-side. For information on how to handle reverification on the client-side, see the guide on reverification.

You can use has() to check if a user has verified their credentials within a certain time frame.

The following example uses the has() helper to check if the user has verified their credentials within a specific time period. The strict configuration sets the time period to 10 minutes. If the user hasn't verified their credentials within 10 minutes, the reverificationErrorResponse utility is used to return an error.

app/api/reverification-example/route.ts
import { auth, reverificationErrorResponse } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'

export const POST = async (req: Request) => {
  const { has } = await auth()

  // Check if the user has *not* verified their credentials within the past 10 minutes.
  const shouldUserRevalidate = !has({ reverification: 'strict' })

  // If the user hasn't reverified, return an error with the matching configuration (e.g., `strict`)
  if (shouldUserRevalidate) {
    return reverificationErrorResponse('strict')
  }

  // If the user has verified credentials, return a successful response
  return new Response({ success: true })
}

getToken()

getToken() retrieves the current user's session token or a custom JWT template.

const getToken: ServerGetToken

type ServerGetToken = (options?: ServerGetTokenOptions) => Promise<string | null>

type ServerGetTokenOptions = {
  template?: string // The name of the custom JWT template to retrieve.
}

Use getToken() in the frontend

The Auth object is not available in the frontend. To use the getToken() method in the frontend:

Use getToken() in the backend

To use the getToken() method in the backend:

  • In App Router applications, use the auth() helper.
  • In Pages Router applications, use the getAuth() helper.
app/api/get-token-example/route.ts
import { auth } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'

export async function GET() {
  const { getToken } = await auth()

  const template = 'test'

  const token = await getToken({ template })

  return Response.json({ token })
}
pages/api/getToken.ts
import { getAuth } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'
import type { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from 'next'

export default async function handler(req: NextApiRequest, res: NextApiResponse) {
  const { getToken } = getAuth(req)

  const template = 'test'

  const token = await getToken({ template })

  return res.json({ token })
}

To use the getToken() method in the backend, you can acccess it using the Auth object returned by the request.

getToken.ts
app.post(
  '/api/get-token',
  // ClerkExpressRequireAuth returns an error for unauthorized requests
  ClerkExpressRequireAuth(),

  // Optionally ClerkExpressWithAuth returns an empty user with no error
  // ClerkExpressWithAuth(),

  async (req, res) => {
    const getToken = req.auth.getToken

    const template = 'test'

    const token = await getToken({ template })

    res.json({ token })
  },
)

To use the getToken() method in the backend, you can access it using the getAuth() function.

app/routes/get-token.ts
import { getAuth } from '@clerk/remix/ssr.server'
import { ActionFunction, json } from '@remix-run/node'

export const action: ActionFunction = async (req) => {
  const { getToken } = await getAuth(req)

  const template = 'test'

  const token = await getToken({ template })

  return json({ token })
}

Auth object example without active organization

The following is an example of the Auth object without an active organization:

{
  sessionId: 'sess_123',
  userId: 'user_123',
  orgId: null,
  orgRole: null,
  orgSlug: null,
  orgPermissions: null,
  has: [Function (anonymous)],
  getToken: [AsyncFunction (anonymous)],
  claims: {
    azp: 'http://localhost:3000',
    exp: 1666622607,
    iat: 1666622547,
    iss: 'https://clerk.quiet.muskox-85.lcl.dev',
    nbf: 1666622537,
    sid: 'sess_123',
    sub: 'user_123',
  },
}

Auth object example with active organization

The following is an example of the Auth object with an active organization:

{
  sessionId: 'sess_123',
  userId: 'user_123',
  orgId: 'org_123',
  orgRole: 'org:admin',
  orgSlug: undefined,
  orgPermissions: ['org:team_settings:manage'], // Custom permissions
  has: [Function (anonymous)],
  getToken: [AsyncFunction (anonymous)],
  claims: {
    azp: 'http://localhost:3000',
    exp: 1666622607,
    iat: 1666622547,
    iss: 'https://clerk.quiet.muskox-85.lcl.dev',
    nbf: 1666622537,
    sid: 'sess_123',
    sub: 'user_123',
  },
}

Auth object example with valid factor age

{
  sessionId: 'sess_123',
  userId: 'user_123',
  orgId: null,
  orgRole: null,
  orgSlug: null,
  orgPermissions: null,
  factorVerificationAge: [0,0],
  has: [Function (anonymous)],
  getToken: [AsyncFunction (anonymous)],
  claims: {
    azp: 'http://localhost:3000',
    exp: 1666622607,
    iat: 1666622547,
    iss: 'https://clerk.quiet.muskox-85.lcl.dev',
    nbf: 1666622537,
    sid: 'sess_123',
    sub: 'user_123',
  },
}

Auth object example of a user without an MFA method registered

{
  sessionId: 'sess_123',
  userId: 'user_123',
  orgId: null,
  orgRole: null,
  orgSlug: null,
  orgPermissions: null,
  factorVerificationAge: [0, -1],
  has: [Function (anonymous)],
  getToken: [AsyncFunction (anonymous)],
  claims: {
    azp: 'http://localhost:3000',
    exp: 1666622607,
    iat: 1666622547,
    iss: 'https://clerk.quiet.muskox-85.lcl.dev',
    nbf: 1666622537,
    sid: 'sess_123',
    sub: 'user_123',
  },
}

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