Use Supabase with Next.js

1. Create a Supabase project#

To start, you need a Supabase project.

Create a new Supabase project from the Dashboard of any organization you belong to.

2. Set up your database#

When your Supabase project is up and running, create an instruments table with some sample data. Then set only the privileges each Postgres role needs, add Row Level Security (RLS) for enhanced security for database data by default, and create an RLS policy to make the data in the table publicly readable.

Do these steps within your project's dashboard by copying and running the snippet in your project's SQL Editor.

1
-- Create the table
2
create table instruments (
3
  id bigint primary key generated always as identity,
4
  name text not null
5
);
6
7
-- Insert sample data into the table
8
insert into instruments (name)
9
values
10
  ('violin'),
11
  ('viola'),
12
  ('cello');
13
14
-- Grant the privileges the role needs, which is read access
15
grant select on public.instruments to anon;
16
17
-- Enable row level security for the table
18
alter table instruments enable row level security;
19
20
-- Create a policy to allow the anon role to read from the instruments table
21
create policy "public can read instruments"
22
on public.instruments
23
for select to anon
24
using (true);

3. Create a Next.js app#

Use the create-next-app command and the with-supabase template, to create a Next.js app pre-configured with Cookie-based Auth, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS.

1
npx create-next-app@latest my-app -e with-supabase

4. Set up AI tooling (optional)#

Supabase provides two ways to give AI tools context about your project: Agent Skills, which give your AI coding agent procedural knowledge, and the MCP server, which connects AI assistants to your Supabase project directly.

Agent Skills#

Agent Skills is a curated set of instructions that give your AI agent procedural knowledge about working with Supabase.

Install them so your AI coding agent can produce more accurate, reliable code using current Supabase patterns, such as authentication, server-side rendering, and database migrations, rather than relying solely on training data.

Installing Agent Skills#

To install, run the following command in the root of your project:

1
npx skills add supabase/agent-skills

Supabase MCP server#

The Supabase MCP server connects AI assistants to Supabase, so they can inspect your schema and act on your projects on your behalf. Find out how to add it to your client in the MCP docs.

5. Declare Supabase environment variables#

Rename .env.example to .env.local and populate with your Supabase connection variables that you can get from the helper below, or from the project Connect panel.

1
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=<SUBSTITUTE_SUPABASE_URL>
2
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=<SUBSTITUTE_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY>

Get API details#

To interact with data in database tables, you use the client libraries that wrap the auto-generated Data API endpoints, authenticating using the Project URL and key from the project Connect dialog.

6. Allow public access to the instruments page#

The with-supabase template redirects unauthenticated visitors to the login page for most routes. The instruments table is publicly readable, so update lib/supabase/proxy.ts to skip that redirect for /instruments.

Find this if statement:

1
if (
2
    request.nextUrl.pathname !== "/" &&
3
    !user &&
4
    !request.nextUrl.pathname.startsWith("/login") &&
5
    !request.nextUrl.pathname.startsWith("/auth")
6
  ) {

Add a condition for /instruments:

1
if (
2
    request.nextUrl.pathname !== "/" &&
3
    !user &&
4
    !request.nextUrl.pathname.startsWith("/login") &&
5
    !request.nextUrl.pathname.startsWith("/auth") &&
6
    request.nextUrl.pathname !== "/instruments" &&
7
    !request.nextUrl.pathname.startsWith("/instruments/")
8
  ) {

7. Query Supabase data from Next.js#

The with-supabase template already installs @supabase/supabase-js and @supabase/ssr and creates the clients for you, in lib/supabase/client.ts for the browser and lib/supabase/server.ts for Server Components. The code below imports the server client from there.

Create a new file at app/instruments/page.tsx and populate with the following.

This selects all the rows from the instruments table you created earlier and renders them on the page.

1
import { createClient } from "@/lib/supabase/server";
2
import { Suspense } from "react";
3
4
async function InstrumentsData() {
5
  const supabase = await createClient();
6
  const { data: instruments, error } = await supabase.from("instruments").select();
7
8
  if (error) {
9
    return <p>Error loading instruments: {error.message}</p>;
10
  }
11
12
  return <pre>{JSON.stringify(instruments, null, 2)}</pre>;
13
}
14
15
export default function Instruments() {
16
  return (
17
    <Suspense fallback={<div>Loading instruments...</div>}>
18
      <InstrumentsData />
19
    </Suspense>
20
  );
21
}

8. Start the app#

Run the development server, go to http://localhost:3000/instruments in a browser and you should see the list of instruments.

1
npm run dev

Production requirements#

The quickstart procedure in this guide optimizes for getting you to a working app, not for production.

Before you deploy:

• If your app reads or writes through the Data API, review your Row Level Security policies. Any policy you added here is scoped to this quickstart's sample data, not to real user data.
• Set your Supabase credentials as environment variables on whatever platform you deploy to, rather than committing them to source control.
• Configure a custom domain for your Supabase project once you're ready to go live.

Next steps#

• Set up Auth for your app
• Insert more data into your database
• Upload and serve static files using Storage
• Explore drop-in UI components for your Supabase app