Mobile

Skill 18 of 22

Clerk Android

Implement Clerk authentication for native Android apps using Kotlin and Jetpack Compose with clerk-android source-guided patterns.

4 minutes · 902 words · 12 sections

Install

$ npx skills add clerk/skills --skill clerk-android

$ npx skills add clerk/skills

» /plugin marketplace add clerk/skills

The first command installs just this skill, by the name in its SKILL.md; the second installs the whole repository.

Clerk Android (Native)

This skill implements Clerk in native Android projects by following current clerk-android SDK and docs patterns.

Task	Reference
Prebuilt AuthView / UserButton (fastest)	references/prebuilt.md
Custom API-driven auth flows (full control)	references/custom.md

Clerk Android · clerk/skills · Skills Docs

Step	Action
1	Confirm project type is native Android and not Expo/React Native
2	Determine flow type (`prebuilt` or `custom`) and load the matching reference file
3	Ensure a real Clerk publishable key exists (or ask developer)
4	Ensure correct Clerk artifacts are installed for the selected flow
5	Read official Android quickstart and verify required setup (Native API, min SDK/Java, manifest, initialization)
6	Inspect `clerk-android` source/sample patterns relevant to selected flow
7	Implement flow by following only the selected reference checklist

User asks for Clerk in Android/Kotlin
    |
    +-- Expo/React Native project detected?
    |     |
    |     +-- YES -> Do not use this skill
    |     |
    |     +-- NO -> Continue
    |
    +-- Existing auth UI detected?
    |     |
    |     +-- Prebuilt views detected -> Load references/prebuilt.md
    |     |
    |     +-- Custom flow detected -> Load references/custom.md
    |     |
    |     +-- New implementation -> Ask developer prebuilt/custom, then load matching reference
    |
    +-- Ensure publishable key and SDK initialization path
    |
    +-- Ensure correct Android artifacts are installed
    |
    +-- Verify quickstart prerequisites in project
    |
    +-- Implement using selected flow reference

Use Case	Source of Truth
SDK artifacts and dependency split (`clerk-android-api` vs `clerk-android-ui`)	`clerk-android` README and Android install docs
SDK initialization and publishable key wiring	Android quickstart and `source/api/.../Clerk.kt`
Prebuilt auth and profile behavior	`source/ui/.../AuthView.kt`, `source/ui/.../UserButton.kt`, and prebuilt sample
Custom auth sequencing and factor handling	`source/ui/auth/`, `source/api/auth/`, and custom-flows sample
Capability/feature gating from instance settings	`Clerk` public fields (for example `enabledFirstFactorAttributes`, `socialProviders`, `isGoogleOneTapEnabled`, `mfaIsEnabled`) and environment model source
Required Android setup checklist	Official Android quickstart (`/docs/android/getting-started/quickstart`)

Level	Issue	Prevention
CRITICAL	Not asking for missing flow choice before implementation	Ask for `prebuilt` vs `custom` and wait before edits
CRITICAL	Not asking for missing publishable key before implementation	Ask for key and wait before edits
CRITICAL	Starting implementation before flow type is confirmed	Confirm flow first and load matching reference
CRITICAL	Skipping Android quickstart prerequisites	Verify and apply required setup from official Android quickstart
CRITICAL	Missing app-level `Clerk.initialize(...)` call	Initialize Clerk from `Application` startup path
HIGH	Wrong artifact for chosen flow	Prebuilt: `clerk-android-ui`; custom: `clerk-android-api`
HIGH	Rendering auth UI before SDK initialization completes	Gate UI with `Clerk.isInitialized` state
HIGH	Hardcoding auth factors/social providers	Drive behavior from Clerk runtime capability fields
HIGH	Using this skill for Expo/React Native	Detect and route away before implementation

Colophon for this issue

Colophon

How this issue was made

Source

github.com/clerk/skills, branch main, last pushed 23 September 2026.

Licence

Discovery

22 skills found by walking the repository tree for SKILL.md, not by matching a directory convention. 5 distinct layouts observed: .agents/skills/*/SKILL.md, skills/core/*/SKILL.md, skills/features/*/SKILL.md, skills/frameworks/*/SKILL.md, skills/mobile/*/SKILL.md.

Authorship

2 of 22 skills are installed into the repository rather than published from it. They are shelved in the closing “Credited skills” part and remain the work of their own authors. A skill counts as credited when its only copy lives under one agent’s dot directory; visible directories, per-agent mirror sets, and skills installable from this repository on skills.sh all count as published.

Issue colours

Resolved from the owner’s published design.md — hue 284°, chroma 0.190. Two accent tones are generated per issue and each is proven against its own ground before it ships: a single accent that passes AA on both light and dark paper is arithmetically impossible.

Typefaces

Display: Suisse Intl is not available to us; set in Inter.
Body: Suisse Intl is not available to us; set in Inter.
Mono: Söhne Mono is not available to us; set in JetBrains Mono.

We never load a typeface at request time from a third-party origin, so a brand face we do not already self-host is substituted rather than fetched.

Heading repairs

1 repair applied to this skill so the document has one h1 and no skipped levels:

Shifted “12 headings” from h1 to h2 so the skill title is the only h1.

Spec compliance

Every skill satisfies the Agent Skills specification’s frontmatter rules.

Images

Images inside a skill come from the upstream repository. Where the author gave no alternative text we mark the image decorative rather than inventing a description — a plausible caption we made up is worse than none for the reader who depends on it.

Marketplace

A plugin manifest is published at .claude-plugin/marketplace.json by Clerk, declaring 4 plugins. It is read for editorial metadata only — never as the skill index, which is always the repository tree.

Signal

Install counts come from skills.sh. They measure downloads, not quality, and an unranked repository is not an unread one.

Agent surfaces

The whole issue is available as one markdown document at /clerk/skills.md, and each skill at its own .md URL.

Publication

Set by Skills Docs from the source repository. Body text is Literata at the reader’s chosen size and measure; code is Geist Mono. Nothing on this page was written by us except this paragraph.

Clerk Android

Clerk Android (Native)

Clerk Android

Clerk Android (Native)

Activation Rules

What Do You Need?

Quick Start

Decision Tree

Flow References

Interaction Contract

Source-Driven Templates

Execution Gates (Do Not Skip)

Workflow

Common Pitfalls

See Also

Appendix 18.1–18.2

ReferencesMarkdown · 2 files

About this skill

Trigger

Colophon

Appendix 18.1–18.2

ReferencesMarkdown · 2 files