FastAPI Clerk Starter
A FastAPI starting point with Clerk-backed sign-in for your API
This template wires a FastAPI service to Clerk so requests can carry a validated JWT, with user-related routes and SQLAlchemy for persistence. The default database is SQLite, with a path to swap in something else; interactive API docs ship with the app as described in the repository.
When it is useful
You are standing up a Python API and want hosted auth (Clerk) instead of hand-rolling login, you need a small pattern for protected handlers and user records, or you are onboarding a team to FastAPI plus a mainstream identity provider. It is a developer starter, not a finished product with billing or admin UX.
What you can do
- Create and look up users via the documented endpoints, using a Clerk-issued token as described in the README.
- Rely on the included JWT validation and route protection pattern rather than inventing token parsing from scratch.
- Configure Clerk keys and database URL from the project’s environment template, manage dependencies with the documented uv workflow, and extend routes or models from there.
Limits
- You still need a Clerk project, correct environment values, and your own deployment and HTTPS story; the repo does not replace security review or threat modeling.
- Features are narrow by design (auth + user plumbing); multi-tenant dashboards, roles, and compliance workflows are out of scope unless you build them.
