README

clerkinc/backend-php

Overview

Clerk is the easiest way to add authentication and user management to your application. To gain a better understanding of the Clerk Backend API, refer to the Backend API documentation.

Summary

Clerk Backend API: The Clerk REST Backend API, meant to be accessed by backend servers.

Versions

When the API changes in a way that isn't compatible with older versions, a new version is released. Each version is identified by its release date, e.g. 2025-04-10. For more information, please see Clerk API Versions.

Please see https://clerk.com/docs for more information.

More information about the API can be found at https://clerk.com/docs

clerkinc/backend-php
Development
- Maturity
- Support
- Contributing
- Security
- License

SDK Installation

The SDK relies on Composer to manage its dependencies.

To install the SDK and add it as a dependency to an existing composer.json file:

composer require "clerkinc/backend-php"

Usage

Retrieve your Backend API key from the API Keys screen in your Clerk dashboard and set it as an environment variable in a .env file:

CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_*******
CLERK_SECRET_KEY=sk_******

SDK Example Usage

Example

declare(strict_types=1);

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Clerk\Backend;

$sdk = Backend\ClerkBackend::builder()
    ->setSecurity(
        '<YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN_HERE>'
    )
    ->build();



$response = $sdk->emailAddresses->get(
    emailAddressId: '<id>'
);

if ($response->emailAddress !== null) {
    // handle response
}

Request Authentication

Use the authenticateRequest method to authenticate a request from your app's frontend (when using a Clerk frontend SDK) to Clerk's Backend API. For example the following utility function checks if the user is effectively signed in:

use GuzzleHttp\Psr7\Request;
use Clerk\Backend\Helpers\Jwks\AuthenticateRequestOptions;
use Clerk\Backend\Helpers\Jwks\AuthenticateRequest;
use Clerk\Backend\Helpers\Jwks\RequestState;

class UserAuthentication
{
    public static function isSignedIn(Request $request): bool
    {
        $options = new AuthenticateRequestOptions(
            secretKey: getenv("CLERK_SECRET_KEY"),
            authorizedParties: ["https://example.com"]
        );

        $requestState = AuthenticateRequest::authenticateRequest($request, $options);

        return $requestState->isSignedIn();
    }
}

If the request is correctly authenticated, the token's payload is made available in $requestState->payload. Otherwise the reason for the token verification failure is given by requestState->errorReason.

Authentication

Per-Client Security Schemes

This SDK supports the following security scheme globally:

Name	Type	Scheme
`bearerAuth`	http	HTTP Bearer

To authenticate with the API the bearerAuth parameter must be set when initializing the SDK. For example:

declare(strict_types=1);

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Clerk\Backend;

$sdk = Backend\ClerkBackend::builder()
    ->setSecurity(
        '<YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN_HERE>'
    )
    ->build();



$response = $sdk->miscellaneous->getPublicInterstitial(
    request: $request
);

if ($response->statusCode === 200) {
    // handle response
}

Available Resources and Operations

Available methods

actorTokens

create - Create actor token
revoke - Revoke actor token

allowlistIdentifiers

list - List all identifiers on the allow-list
create - Add identifier to the allow-list
delete - Delete identifier from allow-list

awsCredentials

delete - Delete an AWS Credential
update - Update an AWS Credential

betaFeatures

updateInstanceSettings - Update instance settings
~~updateProductionInstanceDomain~~ - Update production instance domain ⚠️ Deprecated

blocklistIdentifiers

list - List all identifiers on the block-list
create - Add identifier to the block-list
delete - Delete identifier from block-list

clients

~~list~~ - List all clients ⚠️ Deprecated
verify - Verify a client
get - Get a client

commerce

listPlans - List all commerce plans
listSubscriptionItems - List all subscription items
cancelSubscriptionItem - Cancel a subscription item

domains

list - List all instance domains
add - Add a domain
delete - Delete a satellite domain
update - Update a domain

emailAddresses

create - Create an email address
get - Retrieve an email address
delete - Delete an email address
update - Update an email address

emailAndSmsTemplates

~~upsert~~ - Update a template for a given type and slug ⚠️ Deprecated

emailSMSTemplates

~~list~~ - List all templates ⚠️ Deprecated
~~get~~ - Retrieve a template ⚠️ Deprecated
~~revert~~ - Revert a template ⚠️ Deprecated
~~toggleTemplateDelivery~~ - Toggle the delivery by Clerk for a template of a given type and slug ⚠️ Deprecated

experimentalAccountlessApplications

create - Create an accountless application [EXPERIMENTAL]
complete - Complete an accountless application [EXPERIMENTAL]

instanceSettings

get - Fetch the current instance
update - Update instance settings
updateRestrictions - Update instance restrictions
changeDomain - Update production instance domain
updateOrganizationSettings - Update instance organization settings

invitations

create - Create an invitation
list - List all invitations
bulkCreate - Create multiple invitations
revoke - Revokes an invitation

jwks

getJWKS - Retrieve the JSON Web Key Set of the instance

jwtTemplates

list - List all templates
create - Create a JWT template
get - Retrieve a template
update - Update a JWT template
delete - Delete a Template

m2m

createToken - Create a M2M Token
listTokens - Get M2M Tokens
revokeToken - Revoke a M2M Token
verifyToken - Verify a M2M Token

machines

list - Get a list of machines for an instance
create - Create a machine
get - Retrieve a machine
update - Update a machine
delete - Delete a machine
getSecretKey - Retrieve a machine secret key
createScope - Create a machine scope
deleteScope - Delete a machine scope

miscellaneous

getPublicInterstitial - Returns the markup for the interstitial page

oauthAccessTokens

verify - Verify an OAuth Access Token

oauthApplications

list - Get a list of OAuth applications for an instance
create - Create an OAuth application
get - Retrieve an OAuth application by ID
update - Update an OAuth application
delete - Delete an OAuth application
rotateSecret - Rotate the client secret of the given OAuth application

organizationDomains

create - Create a new organization domain.
list - Get a list of all domains of an organization.
update - Update an organization domain.
delete - Remove a domain from an organization.
listAll - List all organization domains

organizationInvitations

getAll - Get a list of organization invitations for the current instance
create - Create and send an organization invitation
list - Get a list of organization invitations
bulkCreate - Bulk create and send organization invitations
~~listPending~~ - Get a list of pending organization invitations ⚠️ Deprecated
get - Retrieve an organization invitation by ID
revoke - Revoke a pending organization invitation

organizationMemberships

create - Create a new organization membership
list - Get a list of all members of an organization
update - Update an organization membership
delete - Remove a member from an organization
updateMetadata - Merge and update organization membership metadata

organizations

list - Get a list of organizations for an instance
create - Create an organization
get - Retrieve an organization by ID or slug
update - Update an organization
delete - Delete an organization
mergeMetadata - Merge and update metadata for an organization
uploadLogo - Upload a logo for the organization
deleteLogo - Delete the organization's logo.
getBillingSubscription - Retrieve an organization's billing subscription

phoneNumbers

create - Create a phone number
get - Retrieve a phone number
delete - Delete a phone number
update - Update a phone number

proxyChecks

verify - Verify the proxy configuration for your domain

redirectUrls

list - List all redirect URLs
create - Create a redirect URL
get - Retrieve a redirect URL
delete - Delete a redirect URL

samlConnections

list - Get a list of SAML Connections for an instance
create - Create a SAML Connection
get - Retrieve a SAML Connection by ID
update - Update a SAML Connection
delete - Delete a SAML Connection

sessions

list - List all sessions
create - Create a new active session
get - Retrieve a session
refresh - Refresh a session
revoke - Revoke a session
createToken - Create a session token
createTokenFromTemplate - Create a session token from a jwt template

signInTokens

create - Create sign-in token
revoke - Revoke the given sign-in token

signUps

get - Retrieve a sign-up by ID
update - Update a sign-up

templates

~~preview~~ - Preview changes to a template ⚠️ Deprecated

testingTokens

create - Retrieve a new testing token

users

list - List all users
create - Create a new user
count - Count users
get - Retrieve a user
update - Update a user
delete - Delete a user
ban - Ban a user
unban - Unban a user
bulkBan - Ban multiple users
bulkUnban - Unban multiple users
lock - Lock a user
unlock - Unlock a user
setProfileImage - Set user profile image
deleteProfileImage - Delete user profile image
updateMetadata - Merge and update a user's metadata
getBillingSubscription - Retrieve a user's billing subscription
getOAuthAccessToken - Retrieve the OAuth access token of a user
getOrganizationMemberships - Retrieve all memberships for a user
getOrganizationInvitations - Retrieve all invitations for a user
verifyPassword - Verify the password of a user
verifyTotp - Verify a TOTP or backup code for a user
disableMfa - Disable a user's MFA methods
deleteBackupCodes - Disable all user's Backup codes
deletePasskey - Delete a user passkey
deleteWeb3Wallet - Delete a user web3 wallet
deleteTOTP - Delete all the user's TOTPs
deleteExternalAccount - Delete External Account
getInstanceOrganizationMemberships - Get a list of all organization memberships within an instance.

waitlistEntries

list - List all waitlist entries
create - Create a waitlist entry
invite - Invite a waitlist entry
reject - Reject a waitlist entry

webhooks

createSvixApp - Create a Svix app
deleteSvixApp - Delete a Svix app
generateSvixAuthURL - Create a Svix Dashboard URL

Retries

Some of the endpoints in this SDK support retries. If you use the SDK without any configuration, it will fall back to the default retry strategy provided by the API. However, the default retry strategy can be overridden on a per-operation basis, or across the entire SDK.

To change the default retry strategy for a single API call, simply provide an Options object built with a RetryConfig object to the call:

declare(strict_types=1);

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Clerk\Backend;
use Clerk\Backend\Utils\Retry;

$sdk = Backend\ClerkBackend::builder()->build();



$response = $sdk->miscellaneous->getPublicInterstitial(
    request: $request,
    options: Utils\Options->builder()->setRetryConfig(
        new Retry\RetryConfigBackoff(
            initialInterval: 1,
            maxInterval:     50,
            exponent:        1.1,
            maxElapsedTime:  100,
            retryConnectionErrors: false,
        ))->build()
);

if ($response->statusCode === 200) {
    // handle response
}

If you'd like to override the default retry strategy for all operations that support retries, you can pass a RetryConfig object to the SDKBuilder->setRetryConfig function when initializing the SDK:

declare(strict_types=1);

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Clerk\Backend;
use Clerk\Backend\Utils\Retry;

$sdk = Backend\ClerkBackend::builder()
    ->setRetryConfig(
        new Retry\RetryConfigBackoff(
            initialInterval: 1,
            maxInterval:     50,
            exponent:        1.1,
            maxElapsedTime:  100,
            retryConnectionErrors: false,
        )
  )
    ->build();



$response = $sdk->miscellaneous->getPublicInterstitial(
    request: $request
);

if ($response->statusCode === 200) {
    // handle response
}

Error Handling

Handling errors in this SDK should largely match your expectations. All operations return a response object or throw an exception.

By default an API error will raise a Errors\SDKException exception, which has the following properties:

Property	Type	Description
`$message`	string	The error message
`$statusCode`	int	The HTTP status code
`$rawResponse`	?\Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface	The raw HTTP response
`$body`	string	The response content

When custom error responses are specified for an operation, the SDK may also throw their associated exception. You can refer to respective Errors tables in SDK docs for more details on possible exception types for each operation. For example, the delete method throws the following exceptions:

Error Type	Status Code	Content Type
Errors\ClerkErrors	400, 401, 403, 404	application/json
Errors\SDKException	4XX, 5XX	/

Example

declare(strict_types=1);

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Clerk\Backend;
use Clerk\Backend\Models\Errors;

$sdk = Backend\ClerkBackend::builder()
    ->setSecurity(
        '<YOUR_BEARER_TOKEN_HERE>'
    )
    ->build();

try {
    $response = $sdk->awsCredentials->delete(
        id: '<id>'
    );

    if ($response->deletedObject !== null) {
        // handle response
    }
} catch (Errors\ClerkErrorsThrowable $e) {
    // handle $e->$container data
    throw $e;
} catch (Errors\SDKException $e) {
    // handle default exception
    throw $e;
}

Server Selection

Override Server URL Per-Client

The default server can be overridden globally using the setServerUrl(string $serverUrl) builder method when initializing the SDK client instance. For example:

declare(strict_types=1);

require 'vendor/autoload.php';

use Clerk\Backend;

$sdk = Backend\ClerkBackend::builder()
    ->setServerURL('https://api.clerk.com/v1')
    ->build();



$response = $sdk->miscellaneous->getPublicInterstitial(
    request: $request
);

if ($response->statusCode === 200) {
    // handle response
}

Development

Maturity

This SDK is in beta, and there may be breaking changes between versions without a major version update. Therefore, we recommend pinning usage to a specific package version. This way, you can install the same version each time without breaking changes unless you are intentionally looking for the latest version.

Support

You can get in touch with us in any of the following ways:

Join the official community Clerk Discord server
Create a GitHub Discussion
Contact options listed on Clerk Support page

Contributing

We're open to all community contributions!

Security

clerkinc/backend-php follows good practices of security, but 100% security cannot be assured.

clerkinc/backend-php is provided "as is" without any warranty. Use at your own risk.

For more information and to report security issues, please refer to the security documentation.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT license.

See LICENSE for more information.

clerkinc / backend-php

Maintainers

Details

README

clerkinc/backend-php

Overview

Summary

Versions

Table of Contents

SDK Installation

Usage

SDK Example Usage

Example

Request Authentication

Authentication

Per-Client Security Schemes

Available Resources and Operations

Retries

Error Handling

Example

Server Selection

Override Server URL Per-Client

Development

Maturity

Support

Contributing

Security

License