How to set up VibeFast with Supabase backend—database, auth, Edge Functions, and storage.

This guide covers manual setup for the Supabase-based VibeFast project. If you used vf init and chose Supabase, most of this is done for you.

Prerequisites

Node.js 18+ and pnpm installed
Supabase CLI installed:
```
npm install -g supabase
```

1. Create a new Supabase Project

Before setting up the codebase, you need a project in the Supabase cloud:

Log in to supabase.com.
Create a new project, choose a name, and set a secure database password.
Select the region closest to your users.

Supabase dashboard showing the Create New Project form.

2. Get your Supabase credentials

Once your project is ready, click the Connect button in the dashboard header:

Supabase dashboard header with the Connect button highlighted.

Project URLs and Keys

In the Connect modal, navigate to the App Frameworks (for Web) and Mobile Frameworks tabs to easily find your public and secret keys:

The NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL and NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY can be found here:

Supabase Connect modal with Web (Next.js) API keys.

The EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL and EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_KEY can be found here:

Supabase Connect modal with Mobile (Expo) API keys.

Credential	Where to find
Project URL	`https://xxxxx.supabase.co`
anon public key	Safe for client-side use
service_role key	Server-side only, bypasses RLS
Project Reference	In URL or General settings

3. Configure environment variables

cd packages/backend
cp .env.example .env.local

Edit .env.local with your values:

SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project-ref.supabase.co
SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=your-anon-key
SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY=your-service-role-key
SUPABASE_PROJECT_ID=your-project-ref
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key
GEMINI_API_KEY=your-gemini-key

4. Run the setup script

# Login to Supabase CLI
supabase login

# Run full setup
pnpm setup

This will:

Link to your Supabase project
Apply all database migrations (tables, RLS policies)
Create storage buckets (avatars, chat-attachments, recordings)
Generate TypeScript types
Deploy Edge Functions (chat-stream, generate-image, analyze-image)
Configure secrets

5. Configure native app environment

Copy the native app env files:

cd apps/native
cp .env.example .env.local

Add your Supabase URLs:

EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project-ref.supabase.co
EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-anon-key

6. Run the servers

Target	Command	Notes
Backend setup	`pnpm setup`	One-time: migrations, functions, secrets
Native app	`pnpm dev:native`	Starts Expo Router (use dev build, not Expo Go)
Web	`pnpm dev:web`	Starts Next.js in dev mode
Full workspace	`pnpm dev`	Runs everything via Turborepo

Edge Functions

VibeFast Supabase includes three Edge Functions:

Function	Purpose
`chat-stream`	AI chat with streaming (SSE)
`generate-image`	DALL-E / Gemini image generation
`analyze-image`	AI image analysis

Deploy individually:

pnpm functions:deploy:chat
pnpm functions:deploy:image
pnpm functions:deploy:analyze

Database Schema

The setup creates these tables with Row-Level Security:

users — User profiles (extends auth.users)
conversations — Chat conversations
messages — Chat messages
purchases — Credit purchases
device_grants — Initial credit grants
recordings — Audio recordings
image_analyses — Image analysis results
generated_images — AI-generated images

Troubleshooting

"Project not linked"

supabase login
supabase link --project-ref YOUR_PROJECT_ID

Edge Functions not working

Check secrets: pnpm secrets:list
Check logs in Supabase Dashboard > Edge Functions
Redeploy: pnpm functions:deploy

RLS blocking queries Ensure you're using an authenticated client. The anon key alone won't pass RLS policies that require auth.uid().

Keep the CLI option open

Even after manual setup, you can use the CLI:

vf login --token YOUR_LICENSE_KEY
vf add chatbot
vf remove tracker-app

Supabase Setup