Are the Express JS examples still valid?

[talonx]

Re: https://clerk.com/blog/how-to-authenticate-api-requests-with-clerk-express - and the related source code - https://github.com/argotdev/express-authentication/tree/main

I've been trying to get these examples to work, but invariably run into a "Missing Clerk Secret Key" even though it's in my .env.local file with the key CLERK_API_KEY.

What am I missing?

[talonx]

So I figured out that the Clerk SDK version is

"@clerk/clerk-sdk-node": "^5.0.8",

in my local (it's the latest AFAIK)

whereas the examples have

"@clerk/clerk-sdk-node": "^4.10.3",

The latter works, so it's most likely a change in the env var names. Can anybody point me towards the correct vars?

[LekoArts]

https://clerk.com/docs/upgrade-guides/core-2/node

[talonx]

https://clerk.com/docs/upgrade-guides/core-2/node

Thank you. That is helpful. However, the example now also needs CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY in the env, although I am not sure why. This is supposed to be required in the frontend only.

When I add both CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY and CLERK_SECRET_KEY the backend works.

[manuelpoelzl]

@talonx stumbled across the same thing during the setup of my express app. I also wondered about the need of the publishable key in the backend, maybe it is needed to verify that the backend belongs to a certain frontend app or something like that?

[talonx]

@manuelpoelzl I'm not sure but it worked for me. I wish the maintainers would respond with a clear answer here. The docs/examples clearly need an update.