fix(ui): pass boolean inert for interactive captcha

[alexcarpenter]

Description

Sign-in and sign-up start screens passed inert="" when the captcha became interactive. React 19 treats inert as a boolean, so that empty string warns and does not inert the form.

This wires those screens through inertProps() from @clerk/shared/inert, which already landed in #8820 for React 18/19.

Supersedes #9835 (original author @ArjunCodess, credited as co-author).

Fixes #9611

Checklist

• pnpm test runs as expected.
• pnpm build runs as expected.
• (If applicable) JSDoc comments have been added or updated for any package exports
• (If applicable) Documentation has been updated

Type of change

• Bug fix
• New feature
• Breaking change
• Refactoring / dependency upgrade / documentation
• other:

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: cb3336b

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 2 packages

Name	Type
@clerk/ui	Patch
@clerk/chrome-extension	Patch

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📒 Files selected for processing (5)

• .changeset/fix-ui-captcha-inert-boolean.md
• packages/ui/src/components/SignIn/SignInStart.tsx
• packages/ui/src/components/SignIn/__tests__/SignInStart.test.tsx
• packages/ui/src/components/SignUp/SignUpStart.tsx
• packages/ui/src/components/SignUp/__tests__/SignUpStart.test.tsx

🔗 Linked repositories identified

CodeRabbit considers these linked repositories for cross-repo context during reviews:

• clerk/clerk_go (manual)
• clerk/dashboard (manual)
• clerk/accounts (manual)
• clerk/backoffice (manual)
• clerk/clerk (manual)
• clerk/clerk-docs (manual)
• clerk/cloudflare-workers (manual)
• clerk/cli (auto-detected)
• clerk/clerk-ios (auto-detected)
• clerk/clerk-android (auto-detected)

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Sign-in and sign-up now use inertProps(captchaIsInteractive) on their main columns instead of inline inert attributes. Both flows retain their existing conditional display: none behavior. Their CAPTCHA spotlight tests now check for the inert attribute on an ancestor. A patch changeset records the change.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~8 minutes

Severity of issue fixed: Low

Suggested reviewers: wobsoriano

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to c0ddf

The CAPTCHA flows now use the boolean inert helper, and both tests check the interactive state. No actionable merge risk is evident in the supplied changes.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 4 files. (1 skipped: 1 …	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly identifies the UI bug fix: passing a boolean inert value for interactive CAPTCHA behavior. It is concise and matches the main changes.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description explains the React 19 warning, the inertProps() implementation, the affected sign-in and sign-up screens, and the linked issue. It is directly related to the changeset.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR satisfies [#9611]. SignInStart.tsx and SignUpStart.tsx replace inert={captchaIsInteractive ? '' : undefined} with inertProps(captchaIsInteractive). This removes the empty-string value a…
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The changes stay within [#9611]. They update the two affected start components, add focused assertions for both CAPTCHA flows, and add a package changeset that documents the React 19-safe fix. No unre…

Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 2 functions across 4 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.)

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commit: cb3336b

[github-actions]

API Changes Report

Generated by Break Check on 2026-09-25T20:47:03.465Z

Summary

Metric	Count
Packages analyzed	19
Packages with changes	1
🔴 Breaking changes	1
🟡 Non-breaking changes	0
🟢 Additions	0

Warning
1 breaking change(s) detected - Major version bump required

🤖 This report was reviewed by claude-sonnet-4-6.

🔴 Breaking changes index (1)

Every breaking change, up front. Full diffs are in the package sections below.

Package	Subpath	Change
@clerk/ui	./themes/experimental	createTheme

---

@clerk/ui

Current version: 1.36.0
Recommended bump: MAJOR → 2.0.0

Subpath ./themes/experimental

🔴 Breaking Changes (1)

Changed: createTheme

// ... 4 unchanged lines elided ...
      theme: InternalTheme;
    }) => Elements);
    theme?: (BaseTheme | BaseTheme[]) | undefined;
-   options?: Options | undefined;
-   variables?: Variables | undefined;
-   captcha?: CaptchaAppearanceOptions | undefined;
+   options?: import("@clerk/ui/internal").Options | undefined;
+   variables?: import("@clerk/ui/internal").Variables | undefined;
+   captcha?: import("@clerk/ui/internal").CaptchaAppearanceOptions | undefined;
    cssLayerName?: string | undefined;
  }

Static analyzer: Breaking change in function createTheme: Return type changed: {__type:"prebuilt_appearance";name?:string;elements?:((params:{theme:import("@clerk/ui").~InternalTheme;})=>import("@clerk/ui").~Elements)|import("@clerk/ui").~Elements;theme?:(import("@clerk/ui").~BaseTheme|import("@clerk/ui").~BaseTheme[])|undefined;options?:import("@clerk/ui").~Options|undefined;variables?:import("@clerk/ui").~Variables|undefined;captcha?:import("@clerk/ui").~CaptchaAppearanceOptions|undefined;cssLayerName?:string|undefined;} → {__type:"prebuilt_appearance";name?:string;elements?:!unknown|((params:{theme:import("@clerk/ui").~InternalTheme;})=>!unknown);theme?:(!unknown|!unknown[])|undefined;options?:import("@clerk/ui/internal").Options|undefined;variables?:import("@clerk/ui/internal").Variables|undefined;captcha?:import("@clerk/ui/internal").CaptchaAppearanceOptions|undefined;cssLayerName?:string|undefined;}

🤖 AI review (confirmed) (72%): The options, variables, and captcha fields of the return type now reference @clerk/ui/internal, which has "unknown" resolution status (package not found), meaning consumers cannot resolve these types — per rule 12, structural equivalence does not rescue a non-resolvable specifier.

Migration: If your code reads or types against options, variables, or captcha on the createTheme return value, update your imports to match whatever entry point @clerk/ui now exports those types from, or use ReturnType<typeof createTheme> to infer the type structurally.

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Report generated by Break Check

_{Last ran on cb3336b.}