LMS (learning platform) on React Router v8, MySQL 8 and Clerk
Type-checked against the real SDKs, migration applied to a live MySQL 8, connection clients load-tested, then tracked for upstream drift and re-verified when it moves. How we verify
session validation runs in server components and route handlers, not at the edge
What you're getting
React Router v8 (framework mode) — SSR, config/file routes under app/, loaders/actions, and resource routes for API endpoints.
MySQL 8 via Drizzle ORM and the mysql2 driver.
Clerk — hosted identity (sign-in UI, sessions, user management) mounted via middleware + provider.
Learning platform — course catalog (courses → modules → lessons), enrollment join, and per-lesson learner progress tracking.
Setup
bun add react-router react react-dom drizzle-orm mysql2 @clerk/nextjsDATABASE_URLMySQL connection string (mysql://…)NEXT_PUBLIC_CLERK_PUBLISHABLE_KEYCLERK_SECRET_KEYCLERK_WEBHOOK_SECRETsvix secret that verifies Clerk webhook signaturesApply the schema with bunx drizzle-kit push
Initialization
Database client
LMS schema: courses, modules, lessons, enrollments & progress
Courses & instructorscatalog root with slug unique index, status CHECK, and FK to the Better Auth instructor user
Modules & lessonsordered curriculum units — modules by position within a course, lessons by position within a module with contentType CHECK
Enrollmentscourse↔student join with composite unique enforcing one enrollment per pair
Lesson progress trackingper-learner, per-lesson state rows with status CHECK and composite unique on (studentId, lessonId)
Verified identity sync (Clerk)
Deploy targets
Decisions and compatibility
Framework mode (not data/library mode): routes live under app/, declared in app/routes.ts. API endpoints are resource routes (a route module exporting loader/action but no default component).
mysql2's pool multiplexes connections; drizzle-orm/mysql2 wraps it. One module-level pool is right for a serverless/edge app — the runtime and the pool handle concurrency.
MySQL has no row-level security: multi-tenant isolation is enforced in application code via the forOrg helper (src/lib/tenant.ts), not by the database. See the tenant-scoping section on SaaS pages.
Hosted: Clerk owns identity and does NOT create a local `user` table. Store `clerk_user_id` as text without a foreign key, or sync Clerk users into a local table via webhook before relying on FKs to `user`.
Enrollments carry a composite unique on (courseId, studentId) — re-enrolling the same student in the same course is a constraint violation, not a duplicate row.
lessonProgress uses text + CHECK over pgEnum for status, keeping 'not_started'/'in_progress'/'completed' extensible without an ALTER TYPE migration.
Clerk is a hosted identity provider and does not create a local `user` table. This schema's foreign keys to `user` assume a local identity table (as Better Auth provides). With Clerk, store `clerk_user_id` as a text column without a foreign key, or sync Clerk users into a local `users` table via webhook before relying on these FKs.
MySQL provides no row-level security. On MySQL, multi-tenant isolation is APP-ENFORCED via the forOrg helper (src/lib/tenant.ts), not database-enforced like Postgres RLS. Every org-scoped query MUST go through forOrg — a missed query leaks across tenants. Postgres cells enforce this in the database itself (RLS), so it holds even for a query that forgets to scope.