Variables

The variables property is used to adjust the general styles of the component's base theme, like colors, backgrounds, typography.

Usage

You can customize Clerk components by passing an object of variables to the variables property of the appearance prop. You can pass it to the <ClerkProvider> component to apply it to all Clerk components in your app or you can pass it to a single Clerk component.

Pass `variables` to `<ClerkProvider>`

To customize all Clerk components, pass the variables property to the appearance prop to the <ClerkProvider> component.

In the example below, the primary color is set to red and the text color is set to white. Because these styles are applied to the <ClerkProvider>, which wraps the entire application, these styles will be applied to all Clerk components that use the primary color and text color.

/src/app/layout.tsx
import { ClerkProvider } from '@clerk/nextjs';
 
export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode
}) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider
      appearance={{
        variables: {
          colorPrimary: "red",
          colorText: "white"
        }
      }}
    >
      <html lang="en">
        <body>{children}</body>
      </html>
    </ClerkProvider>
  )
}

_app.tsx
import { ClerkProvider } from '@clerk/nextjs';
import type { AppProps } from "next/app";
 
function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider
      appearance={{
        variables: {
          colorPrimary: "red",
          colorText: "white"
        }
      }}
    >
      <Component {...pageProps}/>
    </ClerkProvider>
  )
}
 
export default MyApp;

app.tsx
import React from "react";
import "./App.css";
import { ClerkProvider } from "@clerk/clerk-react";
 
if (!process.env.REACT_APP_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY) {
  throw new Error("Missing Publishable Key")
}
const clerkPubKey = process.env.REACT_APP_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY;
 
function App() {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider 
      appearance={{
        variables: {
          colorPrimary: "red",
          colorText: "white"
        }
      }} 
      publishableKey={clerkPubKey}
    >
      <div>Hello from clerk</div>
    </ClerkProvider>
  );
}
 
export default App;

app/root.tsx
// Import ClerkApp
import { ClerkApp } from "@clerk/remix";
import type { MetaFunction,LoaderFunction } from "@remix-run/node";
 
import {
  Links,
  LiveReload,
  Meta,
  Outlet,
  Scripts,
  ScrollRestoration,
} from "@remix-run/react";
 
import { rootAuthLoader } from "@clerk/remix/ssr.server";
 
export const meta: MetaFunction = () => ({
  charset: "utf-8",
  title: "New Remix App",
  viewport: "width=device-width,initial-scale=1",
});
 
export const loader: LoaderFunction = (args) => rootAuthLoader(args);
 
function App() {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <head>
        <Meta />
        <Links />
      </head>
      <body>
        <Outlet />
        <ScrollRestoration />
        <Scripts />
        <LiveReload />
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}
 
export default ClerkApp(App, {
  appearance: {
    variables: {
      colorPrimary: "red",
      colorText: "white"
    }
  },
});

You can customize all instances of a Clerk component by passing the component to the appearance prop of the <ClerkProvider>. The appearance prop accepts the name of the Clerk component you want to style as a key.

In the example below, the primary color is set to red and the text color is set to white for all instances of the <SignIn /> component.

/src/app/layout.tsx
import { ClerkProvider } from '@clerk/nextjs';
 
export default function RootLayout({
  children,
}: {
  children: React.ReactNode
}) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider
      appearance={{
        signIn: { 
          variables: {
            colorPrimary: "red",
            colorText: "white"
          } 
        },
      }}
    >
      <html lang="en">
        <body>{children}</body>
      </html>
    </ClerkProvider>
  )
}

_app.tsx
import { ClerkProvider } from "@clerk/nextjs";
import type { AppProps } from "next/app";
 
function MyApp({ Component, pageProps }: AppProps) {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider
      appearance={{
        signIn: { 
          variables: {
            colorPrimary: "red",
            colorText: "white"
          } 
        },
      }}
    >
      <Component {...pageProps} />
    </ClerkProvider>
  );
}
 
export default MyApp;

app.tsx
import React from "react";
import "./App.css";
import { ClerkProvider } from "@clerk/clerk-react";
 
if (!process.env.REACT_APP_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY) {
  throw new Error("Missing Publishable Key")
}
const clerkPubKey = process.env.REACT_APP_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEY;
 
function App() {
  return (
    <ClerkProvider 
      appearance={{
        signIn: { 
          variables: {
            colorPrimary: "red",
            colorText: "white"
          } 
        },
      }}
      publishableKey={clerkPubKey}
    >
      <div>Hello from clerk</div>
    </ClerkProvider>
  );
}
 
export default App;

app/root.tsx
// Import ClerkApp
import { ClerkApp } from "@clerk/remix";
import type { MetaFunction,LoaderFunction } from "@remix-run/node";
 
import {
  Links,
  LiveReload,
  Meta,
  Outlet,
  Scripts,
  ScrollRestoration,
} from "@remix-run/react";
 
import { rootAuthLoader } from "@clerk/remix/ssr.server";
 
export const meta: MetaFunction = () => ({
  charset: "utf-8",
  title: "New Remix App",
  viewport: "width=device-width,initial-scale=1",
});
 
export const loader: LoaderFunction = (args) => rootAuthLoader(args);
 
function App() {
  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <head>
        <Meta />
        <Links />
      </head>
      <body>
        <Outlet />
        <ScrollRestoration />
        <Scripts />
        <LiveReload />
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}
 
export default ClerkApp(App, {
  appearance: {
    signIn: { 
      variables: {
        colorPrimary: "red",
        colorText: "white"
      } 
    },
  },
});

Pass `variables` to a single component

To customize a single Clerk component, pass the variables property to the appearance prop to the Clerk component.

/app/sign-in/[[...sign-in]]/page.tsx
import { SignIn } from "@clerk/nextjs";
 
export default function Page() {
  return <SignIn 
    appearance={{
      variables: {
        colorPrimary: "red",
        colorText: "white"
      }
    }}
    path="/sign-in" 
  />;
}

/pages/sign-in/[[...index]].tsx
import { SignIn } from "@clerk/nextjs";
 
const SignInPage = () => (
  <SignIn 
    appearance={{
      variables: {
        colorPrimary: "red",
        colorText: "white"
      }
    }}
    path="/sign-in" 
  />
);
 
export default SignInPage;

/src/sign-in/[[...index]].tsx
import { SignIn } from "@clerk/clerk-react";
 
const SignInPage = () => (
  <SignIn 
    appearance={{
      variables: {
        colorPrimary: "red",
        colorText: "white"
      }
    }}
    path="/sign-in" 
  />
);
 
export default SignInPage;

app/routes/sign-in/$.tsx
import { SignIn } from "@clerk/remix";
 
export default function SignInPage() {
  return (
    <div style={{ border: "2px solid blue", padding: "2rem" }}>
      <h1>Sign In route</h1>
      <SignIn 
        appearance={{
          variables: {
            colorPrimary: "red",
            colorText: "white"
          }
        }}
        path="/sign-in"  
      />
    </div>
  );
}

Properties

Name	Type	Description
`colorPrimary`	`string`	The primary color used throughout the components.
`colorDanger`	`string`	The color used for error states.
`colorSuccess`	`string`	The color used for success states.
`colorWarning`	`string`	The color used for warning states.
`colorNeutral`	`string`	The color that will be used for all to generate the neutral shades the components use. This option applies to borders, backgrounds for hovered elements, hovered dropdown options.
`colorTextOnPrimaryBackground`	`string`	The color used for text on the primary background.
`colorTextSecondary`	`string`	The color used for secondary text.
`colorBackground`	`string`	The background color for the card container.
`colorInputText`	`string`	The color used for text in input fields.
`colorInputBackground`	`string`	The background color used for input fields.
`colorShimmer`	`string`	The color of the avatar shimmer.
`fontFamily`	`string`	The font family used throughout the components. By default, it is set to `inherit`.
`fontFamilyButtons`	`string`	The font family used for buttons. By default, it is set to `inherit`.
`fontSize`	`string`	The font size used throughout the components. By default, this is set to `0.8125rem`.
`fontWeight`	`{normal: number, medium: number, semibold: number, bold: number}`	The font weight used throughout the components. By default, this is set to `{normal: 400, medium: 500, semibold: 600, bold: 700}`.
`borderRadius`	`string`	The border radius used throughout the components. By default, this is set to `0.375rem`.
`spacingUnit`	`string`	The spacing unit used throughout the components. By default, this is set to `1rem`.

Last updated on December 15, 2023

Usage

Pass variables to <ClerkProvider>

Pass variables to a single component

Properties

Pass `variables` to `<ClerkProvider>`

Pass `variables` to a single component