Building a Full-Stack App with Supabase and React

Firebase has dominated the BaaS (Backend as a Service) space for years, but Supabase has emerged as a compelling open-source alternative.

Why Supabase?

When I started building my latest project, I was looking for a backend solution that would provide:

• Authentication with multiple providers
• Real-time database capabilities
• File storage
• Open-source architecture
• SQL-based querying

Supabase checked all these boxes and added the benefit of being built on PostgreSQL, giving me the full power of a relational database.

Setting Up Authentication in Minutes

The most impressive aspect of Supabase is how quickly you can implement complex features. Setting up authentication with multiple providers took less than an hour:

import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'

const supabase = createClient(
  'https://your-project.supabase.co',
  'your-anon-key'
)

// Sign up with email and password
const signUp = async () => {
  const { user, error } = await supabase.auth.signUp({
    email: 'example@email.com',
    password: 'example-password',
  })
}

// Sign in with third-party providers
const signInWithGoogle = async () => {
  const { user, error } = await supabase.auth.signIn({
    provider: 'google',
  })
}

Real-Time Features Without WebSockets

Implementing real-time features has traditionally required setting up WebSocket connections and managing complex state. With Supabase, it's as simple as:

// Subscribe to changes in the messages table
const messages = supabase
  .from('messages')
  .on('INSERT', payload => {
    // Update your UI with the new message
    console.log('New message:', payload.new)
  })
  .subscribe()

This has allowed me to build collaborative features that would have taken weeks to implement from scratch.

Storage Solutions for User Content

Handling user-generated content like images and files is another area where Supabase shines:

• Simple upload/download API
• Public/private bucket policies
• Image transformations
• Automatic CDN distribution

Conclusion

After using Supabase for several projects, I can confidently say it's become my go-to solution for building full-stack applications. The combination of powerful features, excellent documentation, and open-source architecture makes it a compelling choice for modern web development.

If you're starting a new project or considering migrating from Firebase, I highly recommend giving Supabase a try.