Why JWT?

JWT M2M tokens offer several advantages over opaque tokens:

• Networkless verification — JWTs can be verified locally using your instance's public key, without making a network request to Clerk's servers
• No verification cost — Opaque token verification costs $0.00001 per request, while JWT verification is free since it happens locally
• Self-contained — All necessary information (machine ID, claims, expiration) is embedded in the token itself
• Lower latency — Local verification is significantly faster than a network round-trip

When to use opaque tokens

Opaque tokens remain valuable for security-sensitive scenarios:

• Instant revocation — Opaque tokens can be invalidated immediately, while JWTs remain valid until they expire
• Maximum security — Opaque tokens do not contain any embedded information. Server-side verification is required to access payload data.

Getting Started

Dashboard

To generate your M2M token format:

1. Navigate to Machines in the Clerk Dashboard
2. Select the machine you want to generate the token for.
3. Select Generate token
4. Toggle Generate token as JWT
5. Select Create

SDK