Read session and user data in your Next.js app with Clerk

Clerk provides a set of hooks and helpers that you can use to access the active session and user data in your Next.js application. Here are examples of how to use these helpers in both the client and server side to get you started.

Server side

App Router

auth() and currentUser() are App Router-specific helpers that you can use inside of your Route Handlers, Middleware, Server Components, and Server Actions.

The auth() helper will return the Authentication object of the currently active user. Now that request data is available in the global scope through Next.js's headers() and cookies() methods, passing the request object to Clerk is no longer required.

The currentUser() helper will return the User object of the currently active user. This is helpful if you want to render information, like their first and last name, directly from the server.

Under the hood, currentUser() uses the clerkClient wrapper to make a call to Clerk's Backend API. This does count towards the Backend API Request Rate Limit. This also uses fetch() so it is automatically deduped per request.

Any requests from a Client Component to a Route Handler will read the session from cookies and will not need the token sent as a Bearer token.

This example uses the new auth() helper to validate an authenticated user and the new currentUser() helper to access the User object for the authenticated user.

app/page.tsx
import { auth, currentUser } from "@clerk/nextjs";
 
export default async function Page() {
 
  // Get the userId from auth() -- if null, the user is not logged in
  const { userId } = auth();
 
  if (userId) {
    // Query DB for user specific information or display assets only to logged in users 
  }
 
  // Get the User object when you need access to the user's information
  const user = await currentUser()
  // Use `user` to render user details or create UI elements
}

A Route Handler added to publicRoutes can still use the auth() helper to return information about the user or their authentication state, or to control access to some or all of the Route Handler. The auth() helper does require Middleware.

app/api/user/route.tsx
import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
import { auth } from '@clerk/nextjs';
 
export async function GET() {
 
  // Get the userId from auth() -- if null, the user is not logged in
  const { userId } = auth();
 
  if (!userId) {
    return new NextResponse("Unauthorized", { status: 401 });
  }
 
  // Perform your Route Handler's logic
 
  return NextResponse.json({ userId }, { status: 200 });
}

In this example, the auth() helper is used to validate an authenticated user and the currentUser() helper is used to access the User object for the authenticated user.

app/api/user/route.ts
 import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
 import { currentUser, auth } from "@clerk/nextjs";
 
 export async function GET() {
 
   // Get the userId from auth() -- if null, the user is not logged in
   const { userId } = auth();
 
   if (!userId) {
     return new NextResponse("Unauthorized", { status: 401 });
   }
 
   const user = await currentUser();
 
   // Perform your Route Handler's logic with the returned user object
 
   return NextResponse.json({ "user": user }, { status: 200 })
 }

Pages Router

For Next.js applications using the Pages Router, you can retrieve information about the user and their authentication state, or control access to some or all of your API routes by using the getAuth() helper. The getAuth() helper does require Middleware.

pages/api/auth.ts
import type { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from "next";
import { getAuth } from "@clerk/nextjs/server";
 
export default function handler(req: NextApiRequest, res: NextApiResponse) {
  const { userId } = getAuth(req);
 
  if (!userId) {
    return res.status(401).json({ error: "Unauthorized" });
  }
 
  // retrieve data from your database
 
  res.status(200).json({});
}

In some cases, you may need the full User object. For example, if you want to access the user's email address address or name, you can use the clerkClient helper to get the full User object.

pages/api/auth.ts
import { clerkClient } from "@clerk/nextjs";
import { getAuth } from "@clerk/nextjs/server";
import type { NextApiRequest, NextApiResponse } from "next";
 
export default async function handler(
  req: NextApiRequest,
  res: NextApiResponse
) {
  const { userId } = getAuth(req);
 
  if (!userId) {
    return res.status(401).json({ error: "Unauthorized" });
  }
 
  const user = userId ? await clerkClient.users.getUser(userId) : null;
 
  // use the user object to decide what data to return
 
  return res.status(200).json({});
}

You can access the active session and user data in your getServerSideProps using the getAuth() helper.

Please note the addition of buildClerkProps in the return statement, which informs the Clerk React helpers of the authentication state during server-side rendering (like useAuth(), <SignedIn>, and <SignedOut>).

pages/example.tsx
import { getAuth, buildClerkProps } from "@clerk/nextjs/server";
import { GetServerSideProps } from "next";
 
export const getServerSideProps: GetServerSideProps = async (ctx) => {
  const { userId } = getAuth(ctx.req);
 
  if (!userId) {
    // handle user is not logged in.
  }
 
  // Load any data your application needs for the page using the userId
 
  return { props: { ...buildClerkProps(ctx.req) } };
};

You can also access the full User object before passing it to the page by using the clerkClient helper.

pages/example.tsx
import { clerkClient } from "@clerk/nextjs";
import { getAuth, buildClerkProps } from "@clerk/nextjs/server";
import { GetServerSideProps } from "next";
 
export const getServerSideProps: GetServerSideProps = async (ctx) => {
  const { userId } = getAuth(ctx.req);
 
  const user = userId ? await clerkClient.users.getUser(userId) : undefined;
 
  return { props: { ...buildClerkProps(ctx.req, { user }) } };
};

Client side

`useAuth`

The useAuth hook is a convenient way to access the current auth state. This hook provides the minimal information needed for data-loading and helper methods to manage the current active session.

example.tsx
"use client";
import { useAuth } from "@clerk/nextjs";
 
export default function Example() {
  const { isLoaded, userId, sessionId, getToken } = useAuth();
 
  // In case the user signs out while on the page.
  if (!isLoaded || !userId) {
    return null;
  }
 
  return (
    <div>
      Hello, {userId} your current active session is {sessionId}
    </div>
  );
}

`useUser`

The useUser hook is a convenient way to access the current user data where you need it. This hook provides the user data and helper methods to manage the current active session.

example.tsx
"use client";
import { useUser } from "@clerk/nextjs";
 
export default function Example() {
  const { isLoaded, isSignedIn, user } = useUser();
 
  if (!isLoaded || !isSignedIn) {
    return null;
  }
 
  return <div>Hello, {user.firstName} welcome to Clerk</div>;
}