Clerk CI Integration

Overview

Set up CI/CD pipelines with Clerk authentication testing. Covers GitHub Actions workflows, Playwright E2E tests with Clerk auth, test user management, and CI secrets configuration.

Prerequisites

• GitHub repository with Actions enabled
• Clerk test API keys (pk_test_ / sk_test_)
• npm/pnpm project configured

Instructions

Step 1: GitHub Actions Workflow

# .github/workflows/test.yml
name: Test with Clerk Auth
on:
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_PK_TEST }}
      CLERK_SECRET_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_SK_TEST }}
      CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET: ${{ secrets.CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TEST }}

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
          cache: npm

      - run: npm ci
      - run: npm run build
      - run: npm test

      - name: Install Playwright
        run: npx playwright install --with-deps chromium

      - name: Run E2E tests
        run: npx playwright test
        env:
          CLERK_TEST_USER_EMAIL: ${{ secrets.CLERK_TEST_USER_EMAIL }}
          CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD }}

Step 2: Configure GitHub Secrets

Add these secrets in GitHub repo > Settings > Secrets:

Secret	Value
CLERK_PK_TEST	pk_test_... from dev instance
CLERK_SK_TEST	sk_test_... from dev instance
CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET_TEST	whsec_... from dev webhooks
CLERK_TEST_USER_EMAIL	ci-test@yourapp.com
CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD	Strong test password

Step 3: Playwright Auth Setup

// e2e/auth.setup.ts
import { test as setup, expect } from '@playwright/test'
import path from 'path'

const authFile = path.join(__dirname, '.auth/user.json')

setup('authenticate', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/sign-in')

  // Fill Clerk sign-in form
  await page.fill('input[name="identifier"]', process.env.CLERK_TEST_USER_EMAIL!)
  await page.click('button:has-text("Continue")')
  await page.fill('input[name="password"]', process.env.CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD!)
  await page.click('button:has-text("Continue")')

  // Wait for redirect to authenticated page
  await page.waitForURL('/dashboard')
  await expect(page.locator('text=Dashboard')).toBeVisible()

  // Save auth state for reuse across tests
  await page.context().storageState({ path: authFile })
})

Step 4: Playwright Config with Auth State

// playwright.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@playwright/test'

export default defineConfig({
  testDir: './e2e',
  projects: [
    { name: 'setup', testMatch: 'auth.setup.ts' },
    {
      name: 'authenticated',
      testMatch: '*.spec.ts',
      dependencies: ['setup'],
      use: {
        storageState: 'e2e/.auth/user.json',
      },
    },
  ],
  webServer: {
    command: 'npm run dev',
    port: 3000,
    reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
  },
})

Step 5: E2E Test Examples

// e2e/dashboard.spec.ts
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test'

test('authenticated user sees dashboard', async ({ page }) => {
  await page.goto('/dashboard')
  await expect(page.locator('h1')).toContainText('Dashboard')
  await expect(page.locator('[data-clerk-user-button]')).toBeVisible()
})

test('unauthenticated user is redirected to sign-in', async ({ browser }) => {
  // Create fresh context without saved auth state
  const context = await browser.newContext()
  const page = await context.newPage()

  await page.goto('/dashboard')
  await expect(page).toHaveURL(/sign-in/)

  await context.close()
})

test('protected API returns data', async ({ page }) => {
  const response = await page.request.get('/api/data')
  expect(response.status()).toBe(200)
  const data = await response.json()
  expect(data.userId).toBeTruthy()
})

Step 6: Test User Seed Script for CI

// scripts/seed-ci-user.ts
import { createClerkClient } from '@clerk/backend'

const clerk = createClerkClient({ secretKey: process.env.CLERK_SECRET_KEY! })

async function ensureTestUser() {
  const email = process.env.CLERK_TEST_USER_EMAIL!
  const password = process.env.CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD!

  const existing = await clerk.users.getUserList({ emailAddress: [email] })
  if (existing.totalCount > 0) {
    console.log('Test user already exists')
    return
  }

  await clerk.users.createUser({
    emailAddress: [email],
    password,
    firstName: 'CI',
    lastName: 'TestUser',
  })
  console.log('Test user created')
}

ensureTestUser()

Output

• GitHub Actions workflow with Clerk env vars from secrets
• Playwright auth setup saving session state for reuse
• E2E tests covering authenticated and unauthenticated flows
• Test user seed script for CI environments
• Protected API endpoint test

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Secret not found in CI	Missing GitHub secret	Add in repo Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions
Test user sign-in fails	User not created or wrong password	Run seed script, verify credentials
Timeout on sign-in page	Clerk SDK not loaded in CI build	Ensure NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY is set
E2E auth state stale	Cached session expired	Delete .auth/ directory, re-run setup

Examples

Vitest Unit Test with Mocked Clerk

// __tests__/api.test.ts
import { describe, it, expect, vi } from 'vitest'

vi.mock('@clerk/nextjs/server', () => ({
  auth: vi.fn().mockResolvedValue({ userId: 'user_test_123', has: () => true }),
}))

describe('Protected API', () => {
  it('returns data for authenticated user', async () => {
    const { GET } = await import('@/app/api/data/route')
    const response = await GET()
    expect(response.status).toBe(200)
  })
})

Resources

• Clerk Testing Guide
• Playwright Authentication
• GitHub Actions Secrets

Next Steps

Proceed to clerk-deploy-integration for deployment platform setup.