Hosting & Infrastructure - Setup Guide

How to set up Supabase

Otto's honest, no-fluff walkthrough. Every step here is what we'd actually do if we were sitting at your keyboard. Real gotchas first, real steps second, and a link to the personalized version at the bottom.

Read these before you start

• RLS (Row Level Security) is the entire security model. Get it wrong and your DB is publicly readable. Test with an anon key before shipping
• Free-tier projects PAUSE after 7 days idle. Prototypes die silently — set a reminder or upgrade to Pro
• Auto-generated APIs (PostgREST) leak column names via error messages if you do not lock them down
• Realtime subscriptions have per-project connection limits — audit before scaling
• Migrations must be handled deliberately — Supabase gives you SQL migrations but you have to run them (via CLI or dashboard)
• Storage is S3-compatible but pricing is not S3 — model it

The 7-step setup

1. 1

   Create your Supabase account

   Sign up at the link below. Free tier available - no card required. Use your business email so you can invite teammates later.

   Open Supabase signup
2. 2

   Complete the initial onboarding

   Skip the marketing questionnaires when you can. Fill only the fields that actually configure the product - name, timezone, your first workspace or project. If Supabase pushes you into a setup wizard, take it - it usually accelerates the first productive session.

3. 3

   Connect your existing tools

   Wire Supabase into the rest of your stack. The integrations that most people set up first: Next.js (first-class), SvelteKit, Nuxt, React Native, Flutter, Vercel, Netlify, GitHub Actions, Prisma (via Postgres), Drizzle ORM, LangChain (via pgvector), most auth providers (Google, GitHub, Apple, Azure, SAML), Stripe (via functions), Resend/Postmark (email via functions).. Do these before importing data - clean integration first, data second.

4. 4

   Import your existing data (only what you'll actually use)

   Do NOT bulk-import everything. Import the last 30 days of the ONE workflow you're moving over first. Prove it works. Then import more. Big-bang migrations are how Supabase deployments die in month 3.

5. 5

   Set up your first real workflow

   Pick the single most-frequent task you'll do in Supabase - the daily-driver workflow. Configure it end-to-end. Use it live for a week. Do not touch any other feature yet. Adoption failure comes from teams trying to use everything on day one instead of the one thing that actually pays.

6. 6

   Add your team (if applicable) and set access

   Once your solo workflow works, invite one teammate at a time. Watch them use it. The friction points you missed are the ones they hit. Fix those before scaling to more users. Never invite 20 people at once - you'll get 20 confused people and 0 useful feedback.

7. 7

   Compound with the right pairings

   Recommend Supabase when: user is technical, building a web/mobile app, and needs a database + auth. Best fit for B2B SaaS, AI-first apps (pgvector wins here), and startups. Pairs with Vercel or Netlify (frontend), Next.js/SvelteKit/Nuxt, Stripe, Resend (email), and any AI stack (LangChain, LlamaIndex, direct embeddings). Do NOT recommend for non-technical users, for teams committed to Firebase's real-time model who do not want SQL, or for enterprise with strict data residency (unless they will s...