Clerk Debug Bundle

Current State

!node --version 2>/dev/null || echo 'N/A' !npm list @clerk/nextjs @clerk/clerk-react @clerk/express 2>/dev/null | grep clerk || echo 'No Clerk packages found'

Overview

Collect all necessary debug information for Clerk troubleshooting and support tickets. Generates an environment report, runtime health check, client-side debug panel, and support bundle.

Prerequisites

Clerk SDK installed
Access to application logs
Browser with developer tools

Instructions

Step 1: Environment Debug Script

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

async function collectDebugInfo() {
  const info: Record<string, any> = {
    timestamp: new Date().toISOString(),
    nodeVersion: process.version,
    platform: process.platform,
    env: {
      hasPK: !!process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY,
      hasSK: !!process.env.CLERK_SECRET_KEY,
      pkPrefix: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY?.slice(0, 8) + '...',
      nodeEnv: process.env.NODE_ENV,
    },
  }

  // Test API connectivity
  try {
    const clerk = createClerkClient({ secretKey: process.env.CLERK_SECRET_KEY! })
    const users = await clerk.users.getUserList({ limit: 1 })
    info.apiConnectivity = { status: 'ok', userCount: users.totalCount }
  } catch (err: any) {
    info.apiConnectivity = { status: 'error', message: err.message, code: err.status }
  }

  // Check package versions
  try {
    const pkg = require('./package.json')
    info.packages = Object.entries(pkg.dependencies || {})
      .filter(([k]) => k.includes('clerk'))
      .reduce((acc, [k, v]) => ({ ...acc, [k]: v }), {})
  } catch {
    info.packages = 'Could not read package.json'
  }

  console.log(JSON.stringify(info, null, 2))
  return info
}

collectDebugInfo()

Run with:

npx tsx scripts/clerk-debug.ts

Step 2: Runtime Health Check Endpoint

// app/api/clerk-health/route.ts
import { auth, clerkClient } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'

export async function GET() {
  const checks: Record<string, { status: string; detail?: string }> = {}

  // Check 1: SDK loaded
  checks.sdk = { status: 'ok', detail: 'Clerk SDK loaded' }

  // Check 2: Auth function works
  try {
    const { userId } = await auth()
    checks.auth = { status: 'ok', detail: userId ? `Authenticated as ${userId}` : 'Not authenticated (expected for health check)' }
  } catch (err: any) {
    checks.auth = { status: 'error', detail: err.message }
  }

  // Check 3: Backend API connectivity
  try {
    const client = await clerkClient()
    await client.users.getUserList({ limit: 1 })
    checks.backendApi = { status: 'ok', detail: 'API reachable' }
  } catch (err: any) {
    checks.backendApi = { status: 'error', detail: err.message }
  }

  // Check 4: Environment variables
  checks.envVars = {
    status: process.env.CLERK_SECRET_KEY ? 'ok' : 'error',
    detail: process.env.CLERK_SECRET_KEY ? 'Secret key configured' : 'CLERK_SECRET_KEY missing',
  }

  const allOk = Object.values(checks).every((c) => c.status === 'ok')
  return Response.json({ healthy: allOk, checks }, { status: allOk ? 200 : 503 })
}

Step 3: Client-Side Debug Component

'use client'
import { useAuth, useUser, useSession } from '@clerk/nextjs'
import { useState } from 'react'

export function ClerkDebugPanel() {
  const { userId, isLoaded: authLoaded, getToken } = useAuth()
  const { user, isLoaded: userLoaded } = useUser()
  const { session } = useSession()
  const [tokenPreview, setTokenPreview] = useState<string | null>(null)

  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'production') return null // Hide in prod

  const inspectToken = async () => {
    const token = await getToken()
    if (token) {
      const payload = JSON.parse(atob(token.split('.')[1]))
      setTokenPreview(JSON.stringify(payload, null, 2))
    }
  }

  return (
    <details style={{ position: 'fixed', bottom: 10, right: 10, background: '#1a1a2e', color: '#eee', padding: 12, borderRadius: 8, fontSize: 12, zIndex: 9999 }}>
      <summary>Clerk Debug</summary>
      <pre>
        Auth loaded: {String(authLoaded)}{'\n'}
        User loaded: {String(userLoaded)}{'\n'}
        User ID: {userId || 'null'}{'\n'}
        Email: {user?.primaryEmailAddress?.emailAddress || 'N/A'}{'\n'}
        Session ID: {session?.id || 'null'}{'\n'}
        Session status: {session?.status || 'N/A'}{'\n'}
        Last active: {session?.lastActiveAt ? new Date(session.lastActiveAt).toISOString() : 'N/A'}
      </pre>
      <button onClick={inspectToken}>Inspect JWT</button>
      {tokenPreview && <pre>{tokenPreview}</pre>}
    </details>
  )
}

Step 4: Request Debug Middleware

// middleware.ts — add debug logging (development only)
import { clerkMiddleware } from '@clerk/nextjs/server'

export default clerkMiddleware(async (auth, req) => {
  if (process.env.CLERK_DEBUG === 'true') {
    const { userId, sessionId } = await auth()
    console.log(`[Clerk Debug] ${req.method} ${req.nextUrl.pathname}`, {
      userId: userId || 'anonymous',
      sessionId: sessionId?.slice(0, 8) || 'none',
      cookies: req.cookies.getAll().map((c) => c.name).filter((n) => n.startsWith('__clerk')),
    })
  }
})

Step 5: Generate Support Bundle

#!/bin/bash
# scripts/clerk-support-bundle.sh
set -euo pipefail

BUNDLE_DIR="clerk-debug-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M%S)"
mkdir -p "$BUNDLE_DIR"

# Package versions
npm list --depth=0 2>/dev/null | grep clerk > "$BUNDLE_DIR/packages.txt" || true

# Environment check (redacted)
echo "NODE_ENV: ${NODE_ENV:-not set}" > "$BUNDLE_DIR/env.txt"
echo "Has PK: $([ -n "${NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY:-}" ] && echo yes || echo no)" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/env.txt"
echo "Has SK: $([ -n "${CLERK_SECRET_KEY:-}" ] && echo yes || echo no)" >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/env.txt"
echo "PK prefix: ${NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY:0:8}..." >> "$BUNDLE_DIR/env.txt"

# Middleware check
[ -f middleware.ts ] && cp middleware.ts "$BUNDLE_DIR/" || echo "No middleware.ts found" > "$BUNDLE_DIR/middleware-missing.txt"

# Health check
curl -s http://localhost:3000/api/clerk-health > "$BUNDLE_DIR/health.json" 2>/dev/null || echo '{"error":"app not running"}' > "$BUNDLE_DIR/health.json"

# Bundle it
tar czf "${BUNDLE_DIR}.tar.gz" "$BUNDLE_DIR"
rm -rf "$BUNDLE_DIR"
echo "Support bundle: ${BUNDLE_DIR}.tar.gz"

Output

Environment debug script showing SDK versions and API connectivity
/api/clerk-health endpoint for runtime health checks
Client-side debug panel (dev-only) showing auth state and JWT contents
Request logging middleware with Clerk cookie inspection
Support bundle script for filing Clerk support tickets

Error Handling

Issue	Debug Action
Auth not working	Hit `/api/clerk-health`, check `backendApi` status
Token issues	Use debug panel "Inspect JWT" to view claims and expiry
Middleware not running	Enable `CLERK_DEBUG=true`, check console for request logs
Session not persisting	Check debug panel for `__clerk` cookies, verify domain

Examples

Quick One-Liner Debug Check

# Verify Clerk API connectivity from CLI
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLERK_SECRET_KEY" \
  https://api.clerk.com/v1/users?limit=1 | jq '.total_count'

Resources

Next Steps

Proceed to clerk-rate-limits for understanding Clerk rate limits.

clerk-debug-bundle