In the continuation of a series on Next.js, this article focuses on creating protected routes using React Context and highlights how Clerk simplifies this process. Initially, it involves setting up a starter app from GitHub, which illustrates how to implement JWT authentication for API routes, specifically protecting the `/api/posts` and `/posts` routes. The article introduces AuthContext, a React Context tool, to share authenticated sessions across pages, making JWT verification more efficient through a `withAuth` wrapper. It also describes building a login page using Formik and Yup to streamline user authentication. To further simplify the process, the article discusses replacing manual authentication with Clerk, a third-party service that handles authentication seamlessly. By integrating Clerk, developers can avoid the complexities of building authentication from scratch, allowing them to concentrate on developing the core functionalities of their web apps.