Clerk Management Skill

Manage and analyze Clerk authentication resources including users, organizations, and sessions.

API Conventions

Authentication

All API calls use Bearer secret key, injected automatically.

Base URL

https://api.clerk.com/v1

Core Helper Function

#!/bin/bash

clerk_api() {
    local method="$1"
    local endpoint="$2"
    local data="${3:-}"

    if [ -n "$data" ]; then
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLERK_SECRET_KEY" \
            -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
            "https://api.clerk.com/v1${endpoint}" \
            -d "$data"
    else
        curl -s -X "$method" \
            -H "Authorization: Bearer $CLERK_SECRET_KEY" \
            "https://api.clerk.com/v1${endpoint}"
    fi
}

Output Rules

• Target ≤50 lines per script output
• Use jq to extract only needed fields
• Never dump full API responses

Phase 1: Discovery

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== User Count ==="
clerk_api GET "/users/count" | jq '{total_users: .total_count}'

echo ""
echo "=== Recent Users ==="
clerk_api GET "/users?limit=20&order_by=-created_at" \
    | jq -r '.[] | "\(.id[0:16])\t\(.email_addresses[0].email_address // "no-email")\t\(.created_at | . / 1000 | strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))"' \
    | column -t | head -20

echo ""
echo "=== Organizations ==="
clerk_api GET "/organizations?limit=20" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.id[0:16])\t\(.name)\t\(.members_count) members\t\(.created_at | . / 1000 | strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))"' \
    | column -t | head -15

echo ""
echo "=== Active Sessions ==="
clerk_api GET "/sessions?status=active&limit=20" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.id[0:16])\t\(.user_id[0:16])\t\(.status)\t\(.last_active_at | . / 1000 | strftime("%Y-%m-%d %H:%M"))"' \
    | head -15

Phase 2: Analysis

User Health

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== User Growth (sign-up method) ==="
clerk_api GET "/users?limit=200&order_by=-created_at" \
    | jq -r '[.[] | .external_accounts[0].provider // "email"] | group_by(.) | map({(.[0]): length}) | add'

echo ""
echo "=== Users Without Verified Email ==="
clerk_api GET "/users?limit=100" \
    | jq -r '[.[] | select(.email_addresses | all(.verification.status != "verified"))] | length | "Unverified emails: \(.)"'

echo ""
echo "=== Users with 2FA Enabled ==="
clerk_api GET "/users?limit=200" \
    | jq -r '[.[] | select(.two_factor_enabled == true)] | length | "2FA enabled: \(.)"'

echo ""
echo "=== Banned/Locked Users ==="
clerk_api GET "/users?limit=200" \
    | jq -r '[.[] | select(.banned == true or .locked == true)] | length | "Banned/Locked: \(.)"'

Organization Analytics

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Organization Summary ==="
clerk_api GET "/organizations?limit=50" \
    | jq '{
        total_orgs: (.data | length),
        total_members: (.data | map(.members_count) | add),
        avg_members: (.data | map(.members_count) | if length > 0 then add / length | floor else 0 end)
    }'

echo ""
echo "=== Largest Organizations ==="
clerk_api GET "/organizations?limit=50&order_by=-members_count" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.name)\t\(.members_count) members\t\(.pending_invitations_count) pending"' \
    | head -10

echo ""
echo "=== Pending Invitations ==="
clerk_api GET "/invitations?status=pending&limit=20" \
    | jq -r '.data[] | "\(.email_address)\t\(.status)\t\(.created_at | . / 1000 | strftime("%Y-%m-%d"))"' \
    | head -15

Output Format

=== Clerk Instance ===
Total Users: <n>  Organizations: <n>

--- Auth Health ---
2FA Enabled: <n>  Unverified: <n>  Banned: <n>

--- Sign-up Methods ---
email: <n>  google: <n>  github: <n>

--- Organizations ---
Total: <n>  Avg Members: <n>  Pending Invites: <n>

Anti-Hallucination Rules

1. NEVER assume resource names — always discover via CLI/API in Phase 1 before referencing in Phase 2.
2. NEVER fabricate metric names or dimensions — verify against the service documentation or --help output.
3. NEVER mix CLI commands between service versions — confirm which version/API you are targeting.
4. ALWAYS use the discovery → verify → analyze chain — every resource referenced must have been discovered first.
5. ALWAYS handle empty results gracefully — an empty response is valid data, not an error to retry.

Counter-Rationalizations

Shortcut	Counter	Why
"I'll skip discovery and check known resources"	Always run Phase 1 discovery first	Resource names change, new resources appear — assumed names cause errors
"The user only asked for a quick check"	Follow the full discovery → analysis flow	Quick checks miss critical issues; structured analysis catches silent failures
"Default configuration is probably fine"	Audit configuration explicitly	Defaults often leave logging, security, and optimization features disabled
"Metrics aren't needed for this"	Always check relevant metrics when available	API/CLI responses show current state; metrics reveal trends and intermittent issues
"I don't have access to that"	Try the command and report the actual error	Assumed permission failures prevent useful investigation; actual errors are informative

Common Pitfalls

• Timestamps: Clerk uses Unix milliseconds, not seconds — divide by 1000 for date conversion
• Pagination: Use limit and offset; check response array length for more pages
• Rate limits: 20 requests/10 seconds for backend API
• User IDs: Prefixed with user_, org IDs with org_