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April 26, 2024

The Clerk team has been hard at work shipping new features to help you build secure applications faster. Here’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Passkeys Are Now in Beta

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Passkeys are a simple-to-use, secure, passwordless way to authenticate your users, and are now available in beta.

  • New Auth Mechanisms: With passkeys, your users can log in using their fingerprint, face scan, PIN, or pattern.
  • Component Support: When passkeys are enabled as an authentication strategy in the Clerk Dashboard, they are made available for use in the <SignIn /> component, and your users can create and manage their passkeys from the <UserProfile /> component.
  • New Helpers: Beyond the all-in-one components, we provide handy helpers like createPasskey() and authenticateWithPasskey() for building your own flows.

Note that passkeys are only available for use with Clerk’s latest Core 2 release. To upgrade to Core 2, check out the Core 2 upgrade guide or spin up a fresh application using one of our quickstarts. 

Learn more on the Clerk Changelog →

Visual Captcha for Bot Protection

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Fight bot detection false positives by showing a visual captcha challenge.

  • Reduce false positives: Display a visual captcha for suspected bot traffic, allowing users to prove they are human.
  • Invisible and Smart display modes: Configurable options allow you to disable the interactive challenge if desired.

Learn more on the Clerk Changelog →

Clerk Core 2 Is Now Generally Available

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Core 2 is now generally available and ships with refreshed UI components, a new middleware for Next.js, and a new CLI tool to help you upgrade.

  • Refreshed UI Components: Our Core 2 SDKs feature redesigned UI components for an enhanced design and UX. They provide the perfect foundation for your app and allow you to focus on building.
  • New Default Middleware for Next.js: In Core 2, middleware settings now leave routes open by default, giving you the freedom to protect as needed.
  • Upgrade CLI Tool: To aid you in this upgrade, we've built a CLI tool that scans your codebase, guiding you step-by-step through the Core 2 upgrade.

Learn more on the Clerk Changelog →

IdP-Initiated SSO & SAML Is Generally Available

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IdP-initiated SSO has arrived, and SAML Enterprise Connections are now generally available.

  • SAML Enterprise Connections in GA: This release makes it easy for enterprise customers to configure SAML connections with Clerk.
  • IdP-initiated Single Sign-On: Allows users to initiate login through their preferred Identity Providers (IdPs) like Google Workspace, Microsoft AD, and Okta.
  • Dashboard Enhancements: The update also brings UI improvements to the Clerk Dashboard that make it easier to configure Enterprise Connections.

Learn more on the Clerk Changelog →

Other Features, Fixes & Improvements

  • Community SDK for Astro: Authenticate your Astro apps using Clerk’s pre-built React components or utilize the isomorphic auth store to create your own custom flows!
  • clerk-sdk-go/v2 is now GA: As of version 2.0.3, Clerk’s Go SDK is no longer in beta.
  • Linear OAuth Update: When configuring Linear as an identity provider, you can now set a global actor value for all users who sign in using a Linear account.
  • Testing Tokens: Short-lived tokens can be generated and used with test suites to bypass testing environments in development instances, allowing for easier end-to-end testing without compromising security.

Events & Community Updates

Thank you to everyone who joined us at React Miami and Stripe Sessions this month. We had a blast, and are looking forward to seeing you all again next year!

Resources

If you have feedback or suggestions, we want to hear them! Let us know at feedback.clerk.com. For the latest on our product releases, follow @ClerkDev on 𝕏 or join the Clerk Community on Discord.

Authors
Nick Parsons
Brian Morrison II

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