Clerk CI Integration

Overview

Set up CI/CD pipelines with Clerk authentication testing.

Prerequisites

• GitHub repository with Actions enabled
• Clerk test API keys
• npm/pnpm project configured

Instructions

Step 1: GitHub Actions Workflow

# .github/workflows/test.yml
name: Test

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

env:
  NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY_TEST }}
  CLERK_SECRET_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_SECRET_KEY_TEST }}

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

      - name: Type check
        run: npm run typecheck

      - name: Run unit tests
        run: npm test

      - name: Run integration tests
        run: npm run test:integration
        env:
          CLERK_SECRET_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_SECRET_KEY_TEST }}

      - name: Build
        run: npm run build

Step 2: E2E Testing with Playwright

# .github/workflows/e2e.yml
name: E2E Tests

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  e2e:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          cache: 'npm'

      - name: Install dependencies
        run: npm ci

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

      - name: Build application
        run: npm run build
        env:
          NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY_TEST }}

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

      - name: Upload test results
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        if: always()
        with:
          name: playwright-report
          path: playwright-report/

Step 3: Test User Setup

// scripts/setup-test-user.ts
import { clerkClient } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'

async function setupTestUser() {
  const client = await clerkClient()

  // Check if test user exists
  const { data: users } = await client.users.getUserList({
    emailAddress: ['test@example.com']
  })

  if (users.length === 0) {
    // Create test user
    const user = await client.users.createUser({
      emailAddress: ['test@example.com'],
      password: process.env.CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD,
      firstName: 'Test',
      lastName: 'User'
    })
    console.log('Created test user:', user.id)
  } else {
    console.log('Test user already exists:', users[0].id)
  }
}

setupTestUser()

Step 4: Playwright Test Configuration

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

export default defineConfig({
  testDir: './e2e',
  fullyParallel: true,
  forbidOnly: !!process.env.CI,
  retries: process.env.CI ? 2 : 0,
  workers: process.env.CI ? 1 : undefined,
  reporter: 'html',

  use: {
    baseURL: 'http://localhost:3000',
    trace: 'on-first-retry',
  },

  projects: [
    {
      name: 'chromium',
      use: { ...devices['Desktop Chrome'] },
    },
  ],

  webServer: {
    command: 'npm run start',
    url: 'http://localhost:3000',
    reuseExistingServer: !process.env.CI,
  },
})

Step 5: Authentication Test Helpers

// e2e/helpers/auth.ts
import { Page } from '@playwright/test'

export async function signIn(page: Page) {
  await page.goto('/sign-in')

  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 dashboard
  await page.waitForURL('/dashboard')
}

export async function signOut(page: Page) {
  await page.click('[data-clerk-user-button]')
  await page.click('button:has-text("Sign out")')
  await page.waitForURL('/')
}

Step 6: Sample E2E Tests

// e2e/auth.spec.ts
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/test'
import { signIn, signOut } from './helpers/auth'

test.describe('Authentication', () => {
  test('user can sign in and access dashboard', async ({ page }) => {
    await signIn(page)
    await expect(page).toHaveURL('/dashboard')
    await expect(page.locator('h1')).toContainText('Dashboard')
  })

  test('user can sign out', async ({ page }) => {
    await signIn(page)
    await signOut(page)
    await expect(page).toHaveURL('/')
  })

  test('unauthenticated user is redirected', async ({ page }) => {
    await page.goto('/dashboard')
    await expect(page).toHaveURL(/\/sign-in/)
  })
})

Output

• GitHub Actions workflows configured
• E2E tests with Playwright
• Test user management
• CI/CD pipeline ready

Secret Configuration

Required GitHub Secrets:

• CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY_TEST - Test publishable key
• CLERK_SECRET_KEY_TEST - Test secret key
• CLERK_TEST_USER_EMAIL - Test user email
• CLERK_TEST_USER_PASSWORD - Test user password

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Secret not found	Missing GitHub secret	Add secret in repo settings
Test user not found	User not created	Run setup script first
Timeout on sign-in	Slow response	Increase timeout, check network
Build fails	Missing env vars	Check all NEXT_PUBLIC vars set

Resources

• GitHub Actions Docs
• Playwright Testing
• Clerk Testing Guide

Next Steps

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