Clerk Production Checklist

Overview

Complete checklist to ensure your Clerk integration is production-ready. Covers environment config, security hardening, monitoring, error handling, and compliance.

Prerequisites

• Clerk integration working in development
• Production environment and domain configured
• CI/CD pipeline ready

Instructions

Step 1: Environment Configuration Checklist

Check	Status	Action
Using pk_live_ keys	[ ]	Switch from test to live keys
CLERK_SECRET_KEY is sk_live_	[ ]	Never use test keys in production
.env.local in .gitignore	[ ]	Prevent accidental secret commits
CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET set	[ ]	Required for webhook verification
Production domain in Clerk Dashboard	[ ]	Dashboard > Domains
Sign-in/sign-up URLs configured	[ ]	Set NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_SIGN_IN_URL etc.

Step 2: Validation Script

// scripts/prod-readiness.ts
import { createClerkClient } from '@clerk/backend'

async function validateProduction() {
  const checks: { name: string; pass: boolean; detail: string }[] = []

  // 1. Live keys check
  const pk = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY || ''
  const sk = process.env.CLERK_SECRET_KEY || ''
  checks.push({
    name: 'Live publishable key',
    pass: pk.startsWith('pk_live_'),
    detail: pk.startsWith('pk_live_') ? 'Using live key' : `Using ${pk.slice(0, 8)}... (should be pk_live_)`,
  })
  checks.push({
    name: 'Live secret key',
    pass: sk.startsWith('sk_live_'),
    detail: sk.startsWith('sk_live_') ? 'Using live key' : 'Should be sk_live_ for production',
  })

  // 2. API connectivity
  try {
    const clerk = createClerkClient({ secretKey: sk })
    await clerk.users.getUserList({ limit: 1 })
    checks.push({ name: 'API connectivity', pass: true, detail: 'Backend API reachable' })
  } catch (err: any) {
    checks.push({ name: 'API connectivity', pass: false, detail: err.message })
  }

  // 3. Webhook secret
  checks.push({
    name: 'Webhook secret configured',
    pass: !!process.env.CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET,
    detail: process.env.CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET ? 'Set' : 'CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET missing',
  })

  // 4. Middleware exists
  const fs = await import('fs')
  const hasMiddleware = fs.existsSync('middleware.ts') || fs.existsSync('src/middleware.ts')
  checks.push({
    name: 'Middleware present',
    pass: hasMiddleware,
    detail: hasMiddleware ? 'Found' : 'middleware.ts not found at project root',
  })

  // Print results
  console.log('\n=== Clerk Production Readiness ===\n')
  for (const check of checks) {
    const icon = check.pass ? 'PASS' : 'FAIL'
    console.log(`[${icon}] ${check.name}: ${check.detail}`)
  }

  const allPass = checks.every((c) => c.pass)
  console.log(`\nResult: ${allPass ? 'READY for production' : 'NOT READY — fix failing checks'}`)
  process.exit(allPass ? 0 : 1)
}

validateProduction()

Run with:

npx tsx scripts/prod-readiness.ts

Step 3: Security Checklist

Check	Status	Action
Middleware protects all routes	[ ]	Verify non-public routes require auth
API routes check userId	[ ]	Return 401 if userId is null
Webhook signatures verified	[ ]	Use svix library for verification
CORS configured correctly	[ ]	Only allow production domain
Rate limiting on sensitive endpoints	[ ]	Use @upstash/ratelimit or similar
CSP headers set	[ ]	Add Clerk domains to Content-Security-Policy
No secret keys in client code	[ ]	CLERK_SECRET_KEY never exposed

Step 4: Monitoring Checklist

Check	Status	Action
Health check endpoint	[ ]	/api/health monitoring Clerk API
Error tracking (Sentry)	[ ]	Clerk user context in error reports
Auth event logging	[ ]	Log sign-in, sign-out, permission denied
Webhook monitoring	[ ]	Alert on failed webhook deliveries
Uptime monitoring	[ ]	External monitor hitting health endpoint

Step 5: Error Handling Checklist

Check	Status	Action
Custom error pages	[ ]	/not-found, /error pages handle auth errors
Graceful auth failures	[ ]	Redirect to sign-in, don't show stack traces
Webhook retry handling	[ ]	Idempotency keys prevent duplicate processing
Session expiry UX	[ ]	Show "session expired" prompt, not blank page

// app/error.tsx — global error boundary with auth context
'use client'
import { useAuth } from '@clerk/nextjs'

export default function Error({ error, reset }: { error: Error; reset: () => void }) {
  const { isSignedIn } = useAuth()

  return (
    <div>
      <h2>Something went wrong</h2>
      <p>{error.message}</p>
      <button onClick={reset}>Try again</button>
      {!isSignedIn && <a href="/sign-in">Sign in</a>}
    </div>
  )
}

Step 6: Performance Checklist

Check	Status	Action
Middleware matcher excludes static files	[ ]	Don't auth-check images, fonts, CSS
User data cached (React.cache())	[ ]	Deduplicate within request
Auth components lazy loaded	[ ]	dynamic() for UserButton, SignInButton
Edge Runtime for middleware	[ ]	Faster cold starts on Vercel

Output

• Environment configuration verified (live keys, webhook secret, domain)
• Automated validation script (run in CI or before deploy)
• Security, monitoring, error handling, and performance checklists
• Global error boundary component with auth context

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Validation script fails	Test keys in production	Switch to pk_live_ / sk_live_ keys
API connectivity check fails	Wrong secret key	Verify key in Clerk Dashboard > API Keys
Middleware not found	File in wrong location	Place middleware.ts at project root (not inside app/)
Health check returns 503	Clerk API unreachable	Check network, verify key, check status.clerk.com

Examples

CI Production Gate

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml — add as pre-deploy step
- name: Clerk production readiness
  run: npx tsx scripts/prod-readiness.ts
  env:
    NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_PK_PROD }}
    CLERK_SECRET_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_SK_PROD }}
    CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET: ${{ secrets.CLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRET_PROD }}

Resources

• Clerk Production Checklist
• Clerk Security Best Practices
• Clerk Domain Setup

Next Steps

Proceed to clerk-upgrade-migration for SDK version upgrades.