clerk-auth-django 0.1.1

Django REST Framework authentication library with Clerk integration

clerk-auth-django

Django REST Framework authentication library with Clerk integration.

Installation

pip install clerk-auth-django

Quick Start

1. Add to INSTALLED_APPS

# settings.py
INSTALLED_APPS = [
    # ...
    'clerk_auth',
]

2. Configure Clerk Settings

# settings.py
CLERK_AUTH = {
    'SECRET_KEY': 'sk_test_...',  # Required: Your Clerk secret key
    'USER_MODEL': 'auth.User',    # Your minimal user model
    'AUTO_CREATE_USER': True,     # Auto-create user on first auth (default: True)
}

3. Define Your User Model

# models.py
from clerk_auth.models import ClerkUser

class User(ClerkUser):
    """Minimal user model - only app-specific fields"""
    # clerk_id (PK) inherited from ClerkUser
    stripe_customer_id = models.CharField(max_length=255, null=True)
    subscription_tier = models.CharField(max_length=50, default='free')
    preferences = models.JSONField(default=dict)

4. Use in Your Views

# views.py
from rest_framework import viewsets
from clerk_auth.permissions import HasRole

class InvoiceViewSet(viewsets.ModelViewSet):
    permission_classes = [HasRole('admin')]

    def get_queryset(self):
        # Normal Django ForeignKey filtering!
        return self.request.user.invoices.all()

Features

Authentication

Automatic JWT verification and user creation:

# The authentication class automatically:
# 1. Validates JWT from Authorization header
# 2. Creates User record on first auth (if AUTO_CREATE_USER=True)
# 3. Attaches JWT claims to request.user.clerk_claims
# 4. Attaches org_role to request.user.org_role

Permissions

Role-based and permission-based access control:

from clerk_auth.permissions import HasRole, HasPermission, HasAnyRole

class AdminView(APIView):
    permission_classes = [HasRole('admin')]

class EditorView(APIView):
    permission_classes = [HasAnyRole('admin', 'editor')]

class InvoiceView(APIView):
    permission_classes = [HasPermission('read:invoices')]

Decorators

Function-based view support:

from clerk_auth.decorators import require_role, require_permission

@require_role('admin')
def admin_only_view(request):
    return Response({'message': 'Admin access granted'})

@require_permission('write:invoices')
def create_invoice(request):
    return Response({'message': 'Invoice created'})

Webhooks

Handle Clerk webhook events:

# urls.py
from clerk_auth.webhooks import ClerkWebhookView

urlpatterns = [
    path('webhooks/clerk/', ClerkWebhookView.as_view()),
]

# settings.py
CLERK_AUTH = {
    # ...
    'WEBHOOK_SECRET': 'whsec_...',
}

Configuration

Complete Configuration Reference

CLERK_AUTH = {
    # Required
    'SECRET_KEY': 'sk_test_...',

    # User Management
    'USER_MODEL': 'auth.User',           # Your minimal user model
    'AUTO_CREATE_USER': True,            # Create User on first auth (default: True)
    'USER_FIELD_MAPPING': {
        'email': 'email',                # Optional: cache email from JWT
    },
    'UPDATE_USER_ON_AUTH': False,        # Update cached fields on each request

    # JWT Claims
    'ROLE_CLAIM': 'org_role',
    'ORG_CLAIM': 'org_id',
    'PERMISSIONS_CLAIM': 'permissions',
    'METADATA_CLAIM': 'public_metadata',

    # Caching
    'CACHE_PUBLIC_KEYS': True,
    'CACHE_TIMEOUT': 3600,
    'CACHE_KEY_PREFIX': 'clerk_auth',

    # Multi-tenancy
    'ENABLE_ORG_CONTEXT': True,
    'ORG_HEADER': 'X-Organization-ID',

    # Webhooks
    'WEBHOOK_SECRET': 'whsec_...',
    'WEBHOOK_TOLERANCE': 300,
}

Architecture

Pattern 2: Minimal User Model (Recommended)

# Your User model stores ONLY app-specific data
class User(ClerkUser):
    clerk_id = models.CharField(primary_key=True)  # Inherited
    stripe_customer_id = models.CharField(null=True)
    subscription_tier = models.CharField(default='free')

# Clerk stores ALL authentication data:
# - Email, password, name
# - Organization roles and memberships
# - Public/private metadata

# Benefits:
# - Normal Django ForeignKey relationships
# - Single source of truth (Clerk)
# - Automatic user creation on first auth
# - No password management in your app

API Reference

Authentication Classes

• ClerkAuthentication: DRF authentication class
• ClerkJWTBackend: Django authentication backend

Permission Classes

• HasRole(role): Check organization role
• HasAnyRole(*roles): Check any of the roles
• HasPermission(permission): Check permission string
• HasAllPermissions(*permissions): Check all permissions
• IsOrgMember: Verify org membership
• IsOrgAdmin: Admin role shortcut

Decorators

• @require_auth: Require authentication
• @require_role(role): Require specific role
• @require_permission(perm): Require permission

Models

• ClerkUser: Abstract base model for minimal user records

Management Commands

# Sync users from Clerk API
python manage.py sync_clerk_users

# Verify Clerk configuration
python manage.py verify_clerk_setup

Testing

# Run tests
poetry run pytest

# With coverage
poetry run pytest --cov=clerk_auth --cov-report=html

# Type checking
poetry run mypy src/clerk_auth

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Links

• Documentation
• GitHub Repository
• Issue Tracker
• Clerk Documentation