[@clerk/express] Bug Report: Error When Parsing UserJSON to User

[LuccaRebelloToledo]

Preliminary Checks

• I have reviewed the documentation: https://clerk.com/docs

• I have searched for existing issues: https://github.com/clerk/javascript/issues

• I have not already reached out to Clerk support via email or Discord (if you have, no need to open an issue here)

• This issue is not a question, general help request, or anything other than a bug report directly related to Clerk. Please ask questions in our Discord community: https://clerk.com/discord.

Reproduction

Zip

Publishable key

pk_test_c2V0LXR1bmEtNzUuY2xlcmsuYWNjb3VudHMuZGV2JA

Description

Steps to reproduce:

1. Create a Webhook with Event Types (user.created or user.updated).
2. Receive the UserJSON from the webhook.
3. Attempt to parse UserJSON into User.

Expected behavior:

The UserJSON should successfully convert into a User object.

Actual behavior:

An error occurs:

'User' cannot be used as a value because it was exported using 'export type'.
index.d.ts(28, 283): 'User' was exported here.

clerk-use-case.zip

Environment

System:
    OS: Windows 11 10.0.26100
    CPU: (16) x64 AMD Ryzen 7 5700X3D 8-Core Processor
    Memory: 18.42 GB / 31.93 GB
  Binaries:
    Node: 22.13.0 - C:\nvm4w\nodejs\node.EXE
    npm: 11.0.0 - C:\nvm4w\nodejs\npm.CMD
    pnpm: 9.15.4 - C:\nvm4w\nodejs\pnpm.CMD
  Browsers:
    Edge: Chromium (131.0.2903.146)
  npmPackages:
    @clerk/express: ^1.3.31 => 1.3.31

[Nelwhix]

Hi @LuccaRebelloToledo, after reviewing the code I don't think the User type is meant to be used that way. It is probably provided for internal use. Is there a reason why you can't use the userEvent variable directly? but if you absolutely want to deal with user types what if you do it this way:

import { clerkClient } from "@clerk/express";

app.post("/webhook", async (req, res) => {
  try {
    const userEvent = req.body;
    console.log("User Event:", userEvent);

    const userId = userEvent.id;

    const user = await clerkClient.users.getUser(userId);
    console.log("Fetched User:", user);

    res.status(200).send("Webhook received");
  } catch (error) {
    console.error("Error processing webhook:", error);
    res.status(500).send("Internal server error");
  }
});

[LuccaRebelloToledo]

Hey @Nelwhix, how are you? In the project I'm working on, I use many methods that take the User type as a parameter. It would be unfeasible for me to convert all the methods to use UserJSON. Also, if there was an update, I would have to update twice :/

Therefore, converting JSON to the User class ends up being quite important to me and will minimize requests in Clerk, consequently reducing costs.