Adding Clerk

Version: Check package.json for the SDK version — see clerk skill for the version table. Core 2 differences are noted inline with > **Core 2 ONLY (skip if current SDK):** callouts.

This skill sets up Clerk for authentication by following the official quickstart documentation. For agents, the clerk CLI handles most of this end to end — see the next section.

Agent-first: Provision via CLI

The clerk CLI replaces most Dashboard clicks. Three scenarios cover almost everything:

Scenario A — New project, new Clerk app

clerk init --framework <next|react|vue|nuxt|astro|react-router|tanstack-react-start|expressjs|fastify|expo> -y

clerk init creates the Clerk app via PLAPI, links the project, writes the framework-specific publishable + secret keys to the right env file (e.g. .env.local for Next.js, .env for Vite-based projects), and installs the SDK package.

Scenario B — Existing project, existing Clerk app