Providers / Clerk

Auth

Clerk API keys and credentials

What every Clerk credential a founder holds does, whether it expires, and what tends to break. Each fact links to Clerk's own docs.

Last checked 2026-11-06 · clerk.com

At a glance

Each credential

Secret Key (sk_live_ / sk_test_)

• Not documented

Separate keys per instance (development and production) and per application. Docs describe no expiry or rotation schedule. Multiple active secret keys are supported: create a new key, deploy with it, then delete the old one. Deleting a key still in use makes Backend API requests fail; Clerk warns if the key was used recently. Dashboard shows a 'Last used' timestamp. Keys can be restricted to IP addresses (not the same as permission scopes).

Clerk docs

Publishable Key (pk_live_ / pk_test_)

• Not documented

Docs describe it as safe to expose on the frontend. No expiry or rotation behavior documented.

Clerk docs

Webhook signing secret (whsec_)

• Not documented
• Full access only

Issued per webhook endpoint. Expiry and rotation steps were not researched.

Clerk Dashboard login

• Not documented

Dashboard sign-in. Not an API credential. Session and login policy not researched.

What usually goes wrong

• Deleting a secret key that a deployed backend still uses breaks Backend API calls immediately
• Secret key pasted into a repo or .env file and not rotated after a leak; rotation is manual

Renewals and billing

• Clerk plan. Plan and billing cadence not researched.

Not researched.

What Clerk's docs don't say

We couldn't confirm these from official docs, so don't rely on them either way:

• Whether secret keys ever expire (docs are silent)
• Whether secret keys have granular permission scopes (docs describe IP restriction only)
• Webhook signing secret rotation and expiry
• Dashboard login and session policy
• Billing model, usage API, and plan cadence

Rotating or replacing a Clerk key

The steps are the same for most providers: make the new key, deploy it everywhere the old one is used, check it works, then revoke the old one. Our guides walk through it:

Sources

• clerk.com/docs/guides/secure/rotate-api-keys

Related providers

Keep track of every Clerk key

StackHangar stores your Clerk keys in an encrypted vault, grouped by the product they belong to, warns you before they expire, and walks you through rotating them. We can't read your secrets.