Use Supabase with TanStack Start

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 TanStack Start app#

Create a TanStack Start app using the official CLI.

1
npx @tanstack/cli@latest create my-app

4. Install Agent Skills (optional)#

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

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

1
npx skills add supabase/agent-skills

5. Install the Supabase client libraries#

Navigate to the TanStack Start app and install supabase-js and @supabase/ssr, the helper package that manages cookie-based sessions for server-side rendering.

1
cd my-app && npm install @supabase/supabase-js @supabase/ssr

6. Declare Supabase environment variables#

Create a .env.local file in the root of your project and populate it with your Supabase connection variables. Get the values from the helper below, or from the project Connect panel.

1
VITE_SUPABASE_URL=<SUBSTITUTE_SUPABASE_URL>
2
VITE_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.

7. Create Supabase client utilities#

TanStack Start needs two Supabase clients: a browser client for components that run in the browser, and a server client for loaders and server functions. Create a src/lib/supabase folder with a file for each client.

1
/// <reference types="vite/types/importMeta.d.ts" />
2
import { createBrowserClient } from '@supabase/ssr'
3
4
export function createClient() {
5
  return createBrowserClient(
6
    import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_URL!,
7
    import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY!
8
  )
9
}

1
import { createServerClient } from '@supabase/ssr'
2
import { getCookies, setCookie, setResponseHeader } from '@tanstack/react-start/server'
3
4
export function createClient() {
5
  return createServerClient(
6
    process.env.VITE_SUPABASE_URL!,
7
    process.env.VITE_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY!,
8
    {
9
      cookies: {
10
        getAll() {
11
          return Object.entries(getCookies()).map(([name, value]) => ({ name, value }))
12
        },
13
        setAll(cookies, headers) {
14
          cookies.forEach(({ name, value, options }) => {
15
            setCookie(name, value, options)
16
          })
17
18
          Object.entries(headers).forEach(([name, value]) => {
19
            setResponseHeader(name, value)
20
          })
21
        },
22
      },
23
    }
24
  )
25
}

8. Query Supabase data from TanStack Start#

Replace the contents of src/routes/index.tsx with the following to add a loader that queries the instruments table through the server client. The loader runs on the server, so the data is part of the initial server-rendered response.

1
import { createFileRoute } from '@tanstack/react-router'
2
3
import { createClient } from '@/lib/supabase/server'
4
5
export const Route = createFileRoute('/')({
6
  loader: async () => {
7
    const supabase = createClient()
8
    const { data: instruments } = await supabase.from('instruments').select()
9
    return { instruments }
10
  },
11
  component: Home,
12
})
13
14
function Home() {
15
  const { instruments } = Route.useLoaderData()
16
17
  return (
18
    <ul>
19
      {instruments?.map((instrument) => (
20
        <li key={instrument.name}>{instrument.name}</li>
21
      ))}
22
    </ul>
23
  )
24
}

9. Start the app#

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

1
npm run dev

Next steps#

• Learn how to protect routes and check sessions with the server client
• Set up a complete login and sign-up flow from the Supabase UI Library
• Explore drop-in UI components for your Supabase app
• Insert more data into your database
• Upload and serve static files using Storage