We are planning to integrate Auth0 into our application and would like some guidance on the recommended approach for managing and deploying Auth0 configurations across environments.
Specifically, we have the following questions:
Recommended mechanism for maintaining and deploying Auth0 configurations:
For tasks such as creating/updating clients, creating/updating Actions, and managing other Auth0 resources, what is the suggested best‑practice approach?
Should we use the Auth0 Deploy CLI,
or is it recommended to implement custom automation/code using the Management API?
Auth0 Deploy CLI capabilities and limitations:
If we use the Deploy CLI, are there any known limitations we should be aware of? For example:
Can the Deploy CLI create new clients, or does it only support updates to existing clients?
Are there any restrictions for creating or updating Actions, rules, or other resources through the CLI?
We want to ensure we follow the recommended deployment strategy and properly automate our configuration management from the start. Any documentation or best‑practice guidance you can share would be greatly appreciated.
The Auth0 Deploy CLI is the standard tool for managing tenant configurations in a declarative way. It is specifically designed to allow you to treat your Auth0 configuration as code, enabling you to export settings from one tenant (like Dev) and import them into another (like Prod) through your CI/CD pipeline. It allows for both creating and updating new Clients, as well as the creation and update of any Actions, which are considered best practice at the moment, with the deprecation of Rules from a few years ago.
A few key recommendations on how to approach the Auth0 Deploy CLI would be:
The CLI is not limited to updates. If a client exists in your local files but not in the target tenant, the CLI will create it automatically.
The CLI uses the resource name as the unique identifier. If you rename a client in your YAML, the CLI treats it as a new resource and creates a duplicate.
To remove old resources, you must use the AUTH0_ALLOW_DELETE: true flag. Without this, the CLI remains non-destructive and will not delete anything.
Use the @@SECRET_VALUE@@ syntax for literal replacement or ##STRING_VALUE## for interpolation. This lets you store sensitive credentials as environment variables in your CI/CD runner rather than in Git.
Other key recommendations would also be against building custom automation with the Management API from scratch. While the API is robust, the Deploy CLI handles the complex logic of dependency ordering. Create separate Auth0 Tenants for each environment (e.g., myapp-dev.auth0.com, myapp-prod.auth0.com). You can use the Deploy CLI’s Directory Format (which separates Actions into .js files) rather than a single massive YAML file.
Terraform manages Auth0 configurations through a stateful provider that offers precise control over resource lifecycles. It allows you to run terraform plan to preview exactly which Actions or Clients will be modified or created before any changes are applied to your tenant.
This approach is highly effective for complex environments where Auth0 must be synchronized with other cloud infrastructure. Using the auth0_client resource, you can programmatically define application types and callbacks, while auth0_action allows you to deploy custom code and bind it to specific login triggers in one unified workflow.
I hope this helps, and if you have further questions please let me know!
Best regards,
Remus