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Refactoring our frontend API key: Familiar DX is the best DX

Blog post from Clerk

Post Details
Company
Date Published
Author
Colin Sidoti
Word Count
536
Language
English
Hacker News Points
-
Summary

Clerk initially used a hostname as a frontend key for their SDK to optimize performance, which confused developers due to its unfamiliarity. Despite the performance benefits, this approach led to frequent developer misunderstandings, prompting Clerk to adopt a more conventional key format similar to those used by other companies like Stripe. By base64-encoding the original hostname key and adding a stop character, Clerk created a new publishable key that maintains performance while improving the developer experience. This change has resulted in smoother integration and setup for developers without sacrificing the efficiency of their authentication API.