Convex Better Auth User Management

Problem

Better Auth stores user data in Convex component tables that can't be accessed through normal Convex queries/mutations. When you need to manually verify a user's email, modify auth data, or debug authentication issues, standard approaches don't work.

Context / Trigger Conditions

• "Email not verified" error when trying to log in
• Need to bypass email verification in local development
• Can't send verification emails (no email service configured)
• Writing a mutation to access Better Auth tables fails with errors like:
  • "Identifier betterAuth:user has invalid character ':'"
  • "getComponentContext is not a function"
• Need to inspect or modify user, session, or account data

Solution

1. View Better Auth Component Tables

List available tables in the component:

npx convex data --component betterAuth

Common tables:

user

,

session

,

account

,

verification

2. View User Data

npx convex data user --component betterAuth --limit 20

As JSON for processing:

npx convex data user --component betterAuth --format jsonl > users.jsonl

3. Modify User Data (Export/Import Workflow)

Since you can't write mutations to access component tables directly, use export/import:

# Export current data
npx convex data user --component betterAuth --format jsonl > /tmp/ba-users.jsonl

# Modify the file (e.g., set emailVerified: true)
sed -i 's/"emailVerified": false/"emailVerified": true/g' /tmp/ba-users.jsonl

# Or for a specific user:
sed -i 's/"email": "user@example.com", "emailVerified": false/"email": "user@example.com", "emailVerified": true/g' /tmp/ba-users.jsonl

# Reimport (replaces all data in the table)
npx convex import --component betterAuth --table user --replace /tmp/ba-users.jsonl --yes

4. Alternative: Disable Email Verification in Dev

In your Better Auth config (e.g.,

convex/betterAuth.ts

):

emailAndPassword: {
  enabled: true,
  requireEmailVerification: process.env.NODE_ENV === "production",
  // ...
}

Note: This only affects NEW signups. Existing unverified users still need manual verification.

Verification

After modification:

npx convex data user --component betterAuth | grep "email@example.com"

Verify

emailVerified

shows

true

, then try logging in again.

Example

Scenario: User signed up but email verification failed. Need to verify manually.

# Check current state
npx convex data user --component betterAuth --format pretty | grep -A2 "me@example.com"
# Shows: emailVerified: false

# Export, modify, reimport
npx convex data user --component betterAuth --format jsonl > /tmp/users.jsonl
sed -i 's/"email": "me@example.com", "emailVerified": false/"email": "me@example.com", "emailVerified": true/g' /tmp/users.jsonl
npx convex import --component betterAuth --table user --replace /tmp/users.jsonl --yes

# Verify
npx convex data user --component betterAuth | grep "me@example.com"
# Shows: emailVerified: true

Notes

• Import replaces ALL data: The

  --replace

  flag deletes all existing rows before import. Export the full table first, modify, then reimport.
• Can't write mutations for components: Convex component tables use a different namespace. Direct DB queries like

  ctx.db.query("betterAuth:user")

  won't work from your app's mutations.
• Session/Account tables: Same pattern works for

  session

  and

  account

  tables if you need to debug auth sessions.
• Production warning: Only use this for development/debugging. In production, use proper email verification flows.

Related

• Cloudflare Turnstile test keys for development: Use site key

  1x00000000000000000000AA

  to bypass CAPTCHA in automated testing/development.
• Admin email auto-grant: Set

  ADMIN_EMAIL

  env var to automatically grant admin to that user on first login sync.