Supabase Auth with Next.js & Prisma: A Complete Guide

Hey everyone! 👋 Today, we’re diving deep into the world of Supabase, authentication, Next.js, and Prisma . We’ll walk you through setting up user authentication using Supabase in your Next.js application and seamlessly integrating it with Prisma for database interactions. This guide is designed for developers of all levels, from those just starting out to seasoned pros looking to streamline their workflow. So, grab your favorite beverage, buckle up, and let’s get started! We will explore a powerful combination for building modern web applications. This stack provides a robust foundation for handling user authentication and managing data efficiently. Get ready to learn how to implement secure and scalable authentication with Supabase, leverage the power of Next.js for a performant front-end experience, and utilize Prisma to interact with your database in a type-safe and intuitive manner. This guide covers everything from initial setup to advanced techniques, ensuring you have the knowledge and tools to create compelling web applications.

Setting the Stage: Why Supabase, Next.js, and Prisma?

So, why this specific tech stack, you ask? Well, it’s a powerhouse combination! Supabase offers a fantastic, open-source alternative to Firebase, providing features like authentication, real-time databases, and storage. It’s built on top of PostgreSQL, which is a relational database known for its reliability and scalability. Next.js , on the other hand, is a React framework that simplifies building server-side rendered (SSR) and statically generated (SSG) websites and web applications. It’s super fast, SEO-friendly, and offers a great developer experience. Finally, Prisma is an open-source ORM (Object-Relational Mapper) that makes it easy to interact with your database. It provides a type-safe and intuitive way to query and manipulate data, reducing the boilerplate and potential for errors. Using these tools together allows you to build a complete web application that is performant, secure, and easy to maintain. Supabase handles authentication and database, and Prisma manages your data interactions. Let’s delve into why each component is vital for this setup. Supabase , with its focus on authentication, simplifies user management, including signup, login, and access control. This frees you from the complexities of building these features from scratch. Next.js ensures your application is fast, scalable, and provides an excellent user experience. Its features, such as server-side rendering and static site generation, improve SEO and initial load times. Finally, Prisma acts as the bridge between your application and database, making it easier to manage data, write type-safe queries, and avoid common database pitfalls. Together, they create a development environment that focuses on developer productivity, ensuring your application is not only functional but also efficient and scalable.

Prerequisites: Before We Begin

Before we jump in, here’s what you’ll need:

• Node.js and npm (or yarn) : Make sure you have these installed on your machine. You can download them from the official Node.js website.
• A Supabase account : If you don’t have one, sign up at Supabase .
• Basic knowledge of JavaScript and React : Familiarity with these will be helpful.
• A code editor : VSCode or any other editor you prefer.

With these prerequisites in place, we’re ready to start building! This guide assumes a basic understanding of web development concepts. Make sure you’ve installed Node.js and npm or yarn, and have a Supabase account. We’ll be using these tools extensively throughout the tutorial. If you’re new to React or JavaScript, don’t worry. This guide provides step-by-step instructions. Now that you’ve got everything ready, let’s create a Supabase project, initialize a Next.js application, install the necessary dependencies, and set up the connection between these tools. This preparation stage is essential to set the foundation for a seamless development experience.

Project Setup: Creating Your Next.js App and Supabase Project

Let’s kick things off by creating a new Next.js project and setting up your Supabase project. This involves initializing your Next.js application and creating a Supabase project. We’ll start with the Next.js setup. Open your terminal and run the following command to create a new Next.js project:

npx create-next-app my-supabase-app --typescript
cd my-supabase-app

Replace my-supabase-app with your desired project name. This command will scaffold a new Next.js application with TypeScript support, which we highly recommend for type safety. Next, let’s set up your Supabase project. Head over to the Supabase dashboard and create a new project. You’ll need to choose a name, a region, and set up your database password. Once your project is created, you’ll find your API keys and project URL in the project’s settings. You’ll need these later to connect your Next.js application to Supabase. Now, we’ll install all the necessary dependencies to get our project ready. This includes setting up Supabase client, NextAuth and Prisma client. Let’s install them using npm or yarn, and get them configured.

Installing Dependencies: Bringing in the Heavy Hitters

Now, let’s install the packages that we will need to build our app:

npm install @supabase/supabase-js @prisma/client prisma next-auth
npm install --save-dev @types/node @types/react @types/react-dom

• @supabase/supabase-js : The official JavaScript client for Supabase.
• @prisma/client : The Prisma client for interacting with your database.
• prisma : Prisma CLI to manage your schema and migrations.
• next-auth : A complete open-source solution for authentication in Next.js applications.
• @types/node , @types/react , @types/react-dom : TypeScript typings for your project.

Make sure to install these dependencies within your project directory. This command installs the Supabase client, Prisma client, and Prisma CLI tools, along with type definitions for Node.js, React, and React DOM. After installing these dependencies, you’ll have everything you need to connect your Next.js application to Supabase, set up Prisma, and handle authentication with NextAuth. The correct setup and configuration of these dependencies are essential. The installation of these packages is the foundation for our authentication process and database interactions. Now, let’s configure Supabase within our application.

Supabase Configuration: Connecting to Your Supabase Project

To connect your Next.js app to Supabase, you’ll need to configure the Supabase client. Create a new file called supabase.ts (or any name you prefer) in the utils directory of your project. This will hold your Supabase client configuration. If you don’t have a utils directory, create one. Add the following code:

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

const supabaseUrl = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL || ''
const supabaseAnonKey = process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY || ''

export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey)

In this code, we’re importing createClient from @supabase/supabase-js and initializing the Supabase client using your project’s URL and anon key, which you can find in your Supabase dashboard. Important Note: Never expose your service role key (the one starting with service_role ) in your client-side code . Use the anon key (starting with eyJ ) for client-side operations. This configuration will allow us to authenticate users and interact with the database using the Supabase client. After setting up the Supabase client, you’ll need to configure environment variables in your .env.local file to store your Supabase URL and anon key. This prevents your keys from being hardcoded into your application. Then, you can use Supabase client in your Next.js components to handle user authentication, real-time data synchronization, and storage operations. Once you’ve configured your Supabase client, it’s time to generate the Prisma client to interact with your database.

Prisma Setup: Setting Up Your Database Schema and Client

Next, let’s set up Prisma. First, initialize Prisma in your project:

npx prisma init --datasource-provider postgresql

This command will create a prisma directory with a schema.prisma file and a .env file in the root of your project. Open schema.prisma and configure your database connection string and define your data models. Replace the connection string in the datasource block with your Supabase database connection string. You can find this in your Supabase dashboard under