Supabase

Supabase

Supabase is an open source Firebase alternative. It provides a dedicated PostgreSQL database, packaged with Authentication, Realtime subscriptions, Storage, and Edge Functions.

When to Use

• Rapid Application Development: Get Auth + DB + APIs in 5 minutes.
• Postgres Power: Unlike Firebase, you have full SQL power (JOINs, aggregation).
• Realtime: Subscribe to DB changes via WebSockets.
• Vector/AI: Highly integrated pgvector support for AI apps.

Quick Start (JS)

import { createClient } from "@supabase/supabase-js";

const supabase = createClient("https://xyz.supabase.co", "public-anon-key");

// Listen to changes
const subscription = supabase
  .channel("public:messages")
  .on(
    "postgres_changes",
    { event: "INSERT", schema: "public", table: "messages" },
    (payload) => {
      console.log("New message:", payload);
    },
  )
  .subscribe();

Core Concepts

Row Level Security (RLS)

Supabase exposes the DB directly to the frontend (via PostgREST). RLS is critical to secure data.

CREATE POLICY "Users can see own data" ON "profiles"
FOR SELECT USING (auth.uid() = user_id);

PostgREST

Automatically turns your Database Tables into RESTful APIs.

Extensions

Supabase makes enabling Postgres extensions easy (PostGIS, pgvector, pg_cron).

Best Practices (2025)

Do:

• Enable RLS immediately: Never launch without RLS policies.
• Use Supabase CLI: For local development and migrations. Develop locally, push to prod.
• Use Generated Types: supabase gen types typescript generates accurate TS definitions from your DB schema.

Don't:

• Don't access service_role key in client: Allows bypassing RLS. Server-side only.
• Don't put business logic in triggers: Hard to debug. Use Database Webhooks or Edge Functions.

References

• Supabase Docs