Supabase Patterns Skill

Universal patterns for working with Supabase in any project. Covers RLS policies, realtime, storage, edge functions, and migrations.

Design Principle

This skill is framework-generic. It provides universal Supabase patterns:

• NOT tailored to Book-Vetting, ocr-service, or any specific project
• Covers common patterns applicable across all Supabase projects
• Project-specific configurations go in project-specific skills

Variables

Variable	Default	Description
SUPABASE_DIR	supabase	Directory for Supabase config
ENFORCE_RLS	true	Require RLS on all tables
REALTIME_ENABLED	auto	Auto-detect realtime tables

Instructions

MANDATORY - Follow the Workflow steps below in order.

1. Check Supabase project configuration
2. Review existing RLS policies
3. Follow security-first patterns
4. Keep migrations organized

Red Flags - STOP and Reconsider

If you're about to:

• Create a table without RLS policies
• Use service role key in client-side code
• Skip migrations for schema changes
• Expose sensitive data in realtime

STOP -> Add RLS policies -> Use appropriate keys -> Then proceed

Cookbook

RLS Policies

• IF: Creating or modifying RLS policies
• THEN: Read and execute ./cookbook/rls-policies.md

Realtime Subscriptions

• IF: Setting up realtime features
• THEN: Read and execute ./cookbook/realtime-subscriptions.md

Storage Patterns

• IF: Working with Supabase Storage
• THEN: Read and execute ./cookbook/storage-patterns.md

Quick Reference

Project Structure

supabase/
├── config.toml           # Project config
├── migrations/           # SQL migrations
│   ├── 20231201000000_initial.sql
│   └── 20231202000000_add_users.sql
├── seed.sql             # Seed data
└── functions/           # Edge functions
    └── hello/
        └── index.ts

Key Commands

# Initialize project
supabase init

# Start local development
supabase start

# Generate migration
supabase migration new my_migration

# Push to remote
supabase db push

# Generate types
supabase gen types typescript --local > types/supabase.ts

RLS Policy Patterns

-- Enable RLS
ALTER TABLE posts ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;

-- User owns row
CREATE POLICY "Users can view own posts"
  ON posts FOR SELECT
  USING (auth.uid() = user_id);

-- User can insert own
CREATE POLICY "Users can create posts"
  ON posts FOR INSERT
  WITH CHECK (auth.uid() = user_id);

-- Public read
CREATE POLICY "Public read"
  ON posts FOR SELECT
  USING (is_public = true);

Client Patterns

// Initialize client
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';
import type { Database } from './types/supabase';

const supabase = createClient<Database>(
  process.env.SUPABASE_URL!,
  process.env.SUPABASE_ANON_KEY!
);

// Query with types
const { data, error } = await supabase
  .from('posts')
  .select('*')
  .eq('user_id', userId);

// Insert
const { data, error } = await supabase
  .from('posts')
  .insert({ title, content, user_id: userId })
  .select()
  .single();

Realtime Pattern

// Subscribe to changes
const subscription = supabase
  .channel('posts')
  .on(
    'postgres_changes',
    { event: '*', schema: 'public', table: 'posts' },
    (payload) => {
      console.log('Change:', payload);
    }
  )
  .subscribe();

// Cleanup
subscription.unsubscribe();

Storage Pattern

// Upload file
const { data, error } = await supabase.storage
  .from('avatars')
  .upload(`${userId}/avatar.png`, file, {
    upsert: true,
    contentType: 'image/png'
  });

// Get public URL
const { data: { publicUrl } } = supabase.storage
  .from('avatars')
  .getPublicUrl(`${userId}/avatar.png`);

Security Checklist

Before Production

• [ ] RLS enabled on ALL tables
• [ ] Service role key NOT in client code
• [ ] Anon key for public operations only
• [ ] Storage buckets have policies
• [ ] Sensitive columns excluded from realtime
• [ ] API rate limiting configured
• [ ] CORS properly configured

RLS Checklist

• [ ] Every table has RLS enabled
• [ ] SELECT policies defined
• [ ] INSERT/UPDATE/DELETE policies defined
• [ ] Policies tested with different roles
• [ ] No overly permissive policies

Integration

With Schema Alignment

Supabase migrations should align with ORM models:

-- supabase/migrations/20231201000000_users.sql
CREATE TABLE users (
  id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
  email TEXT UNIQUE NOT NULL,
  name TEXT,
  created_at TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT now()
);

Should match:

# SQLAlchemy model
class User(Base):
    id: Mapped[uuid.UUID] = mapped_column(primary_key=True, default=uuid.uuid4)
    email: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(unique=True)
    name: Mapped[str | None]
    created_at: Mapped[datetime] = mapped_column(server_default=func.now())

Type Generation

# Generate TypeScript types from local schema
supabase gen types typescript --local > types/supabase.ts

# Use in client
import type { Database } from './types/supabase';
type Post = Database['public']['Tables']['posts']['Row'];

Best Practices

1. RLS first: Always add RLS policies when creating tables
2. Migrations for everything: Never modify schema directly
3. Type safety: Generate and use TypeScript types
4. Key hygiene: Use anon key client-side, service key server-side only
5. Test policies: Test RLS with actual user contexts
6. Realtime carefully: Only enable for tables that need it