feat(backend, clerk-js): Deprecate metadata updates in user update methods by brunol95 · Pull Request #8587 · clerk/javascript

brunol95 · 2026-05-18T19:13:02Z

Todo

update BAPI and FAPI api versions

Description

deprecates metadata fields in update user methods and refactors implementation to route to dedicated metadata endpoints
adds a new replaceUserMetadata method

Checklist

pnpm test runs as expected.
pnpm build runs as expected.
(If applicable) JSDoc comments have been added or updated for any package exports
(If applicable) Documentation has been updated

Type of change

changeset-bot · 2026-05-18T19:13:07Z

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: bf5b092

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 20 packages

Name	Type
@clerk/backend	Minor
@clerk/clerk-js	Patch
@clerk/shared	Patch
@clerk/astro	Patch
@clerk/express	Patch
@clerk/fastify	Patch
@clerk/hono	Patch
@clerk/nextjs	Patch
@clerk/nuxt	Patch
@clerk/react-router	Patch
@clerk/tanstack-react-start	Patch
@clerk/testing	Patch
@clerk/chrome-extension	Patch
@clerk/expo	Patch
@clerk/expo-passkeys	Patch
@clerk/localizations	Patch
@clerk/msw	Patch
@clerk/react	Patch
@clerk/ui	Patch
@clerk/vue	Patch

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vercel · 2026-05-18T19:13:08Z

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
clerk-js-sandbox	Ready	Preview, Comment	May 19, 2026 2:02pm

coderabbitai · 2026-05-18T19:18:26Z

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR refactors user metadata update paths across the Clerk JavaScript SDK: it deprecates metadata parameters on updateUser/user.update, adds an RFC 7396 computeMergePatch utility, makes frontend User.update async to conditionally route unsafeMetadata via merge-patch-aware updateMetadata (short-circuiting when unchanged), splits backend updateUser into conditional PATCH (non-metadata) and PUT (metadata), and adds replaceUserMetadata for full metadata replacement. Tests and API/version constant bumps accompany the changes.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~25 minutes

Possibly related PRs

clerk/javascript#8537: Introduces User.updateMetadata() on the frontend, which this PR uses as the target method for routing deprecated user.update({ unsafeMetadata }) calls.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 33.33% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and accurately summarizes the main change: deprecating metadata updates in user update methods across backend and clerk-js packages.
Description check	✅ Passed	The PR description clearly relates to the changeset: it describes deprecating metadata fields in user update methods, refactoring to route to dedicated metadata endpoints, and adding a new replaceUserMetadata method, all of which match the file changes.

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…update Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

pkg-pr-new · 2026-05-18T20:00:58Z

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@clerk/localizations

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@clerk/react

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@clerk/react-router

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@clerk/shared

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@clerk/tanstack-react-start

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commit: bf5b092

wobsoriano

Left a small suggestion and a question.

Also if possible, I think we should add an e2e test. We can place the test here https://github.com/clerk/javascript/blob/main/integration/tests/unsafeMetadata.test.ts

wobsoriano · 2026-05-19T17:19:24Z

Let's split this into separate changesets so each package changelog stays focused 👍🏼

for backend

for clerk-js and shared

wobsoriano · 2026-05-19T21:41:31Z

+      });
+    }
+
+    const patch = computeMergePatch(this.unsafeMetadata, unsafeMetadata);


Does this preserve replacement semantics if this.unsafeMetadata is not fresh at the moment of the call? Touch-on-focus can refresh the user in common tab-switching flows, but user.update({ unsafeMetadata }) previously sent the caller-provided value as the full replacement regardless of local cache state. With this client-side diff, a stale local value can produce an incomplete patch, or {} and skip the request entirely.

Correct me if Im wrong 😄

brunol95 added clerk-js do not merge labels May 18, 2026

github-actions Bot added the backend label May 18, 2026

brunol95 changed the title ~~deprecate metadata updates in user update methods~~ chore(clerk-js, backend):deprecate metadata updates in user update methods May 18, 2026

deprecate metadata updates via clerkClient.users.updateUser and user.…

16fdd04

…update Co-authored-by: Cursor <cursoragent@cursor.com>

brunol95 force-pushed the bruno/user-5312-deprecate-update-user-metadata-fields branch from 640692b to 16fdd04 Compare May 18, 2026 19:56

vercel Bot deployed to Preview May 18, 2026 19:56 View deployment

brunol95 changed the title ~~chore(clerk-js, backend):deprecate metadata updates in user update methods~~ feat(clerk-js, backend):deprecate metadata updates in user update methods May 19, 2026

update api version in test

bf5b092

vercel Bot deployed to Preview May 19, 2026 14:02 View deployment

brunol95 changed the title ~~feat(clerk-js, backend):deprecate metadata updates in user update methods~~ feat(backend, clerk-js): Deprecate metadata updates in user update methods May 19, 2026

brunol95 requested review from a team and wobsoriano May 19, 2026 14:14

wobsoriano requested changes May 19, 2026

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feat(backend, clerk-js): Deprecate metadata updates in user update methods#8587

feat(backend, clerk-js): Deprecate metadata updates in user update methods#8587
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