chore(*): deprecate the keyless substrate ahead of removal

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: djgould

.changeset/keyless-substrate-deprecated.md

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+---
+'@clerk/shared': patch
+'@clerk/backend': patch
+---
+
+Mark the keyless substrate as deprecated ahead of removal in the next major: `resolveKeysWithKeylessFallback` in `@clerk/shared/keyless`, and the experimental accountless applications API in `@clerk/backend`. Both are kept functional for the claimed-keys migration path and for older published SDK versions.

packages/backend/src/api/endpoints/AccountlessApplicationsAPI.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,9 @@ type AccountlessApplicationParams = {
   source?: string;
 };
 
+/**
+ * @deprecated Keyless mode is no longer activated by the framework SDKs. Kept for the claimed-keys migration path and older published SDK versions; remove in the next major.
+ */
 export class AccountlessApplicationAPI extends AbstractAPI {
   public async createAccountlessApplication(params?: AccountlessApplicationParams): Promise<AccountlessApplication> {
     const headerParams = params?.requestHeaders ? Object.fromEntries(params.requestHeaders.entries()) : undefined;

packages/backend/src/api/factory.ts

@@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ export function createBackendApiClient(options: CreateBackendApiOptions) {
   const request = buildRequest(options);
 
   return {
+    /**
+     * @deprecated Keyless mode is no longer activated by the framework SDKs. Kept for the claimed-keys migration path and older published SDK versions; remove in the next major.
+     */
     __experimental_accountlessApplications: new AccountlessApplicationAPI(
       buildRequest({ ...options, requireSecretKey: false }),
     ),

packages/backend/src/api/resources/AccountlessApplication.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 import type { AccountlessApplicationJSON } from './JSON';
 
+/**
+ * @deprecated Keyless mode is no longer activated by the framework SDKs. Kept for the claimed-keys migration path and older published SDK versions; remove in the next major.
+ */
 export class AccountlessApplication {
   constructor(
     readonly publishableKey: string,

packages/shared/src/keyless/resolveKeysWithKeylessFallback.ts

@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@ export interface KeylessResult {
  * @param keylessService - The keyless service instance (or null if unavailable)
  * @param canUseKeyless - Whether keyless mode is enabled in the current environment
  * @returns The resolved keys (either configured or from keyless mode)
+ *
+ * @deprecated Keyless mode is no longer activated by the framework SDKs; kept for older published SDK versions. Remove in the next major.
  */
 export async function resolveKeysWithKeylessFallback(
   configuredPublishableKey: string | undefined,

packages/shared/src/keyless/service.ts

@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ export interface KeylessService {
    * @param configuredPublishableKey - The publishable key from options or environment
    * @param configuredSecretKey - The secret key from options or environment
    * @returns The resolved keys (either configured or from keyless mode)
+   *
+   * @deprecated Keyless mode is no longer activated by the framework SDKs; kept for older published SDK versions. Remove in the next major.
    */
   resolveKeysWithKeylessFallback: (
     configuredPublishableKey: string | undefined,