Supabase REST API

Use the Supabase REST API via direct curl calls to perform database CRUD operations.

Supabase auto-generates a RESTful API from your PostgreSQL database schema using PostgREST.

Official docs: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/api

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

Read data from Supabase tables with filtering and pagination
Insert rows into tables (single or bulk)
Update rows based on conditions
Delete rows from tables
Upsert data (insert or update)
Query with complex filters using PostgREST operators

Prerequisites

Create a Supabase project at https://supabase.com
Go to Project Settings → API Keys
Click Create new API Keys if needed
Copy the Project URL and keys

export SUPABASE_URL="https://your-project-ref.supabase.co"
export SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY="sb_publishable_..."
export SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY="sb_secret_..."

API Keys:

Key Type	Format	Use Case
Publishable	`sb_publishable_...`	Client-side, respects Row Level Security (RLS)
Secret	`sb_secret_...`	Server-side only, bypasses RLS

Note: Legacy anon and service_role JWT keys still work but are deprecated. Use the new sb_publishable_ and sb_secret_ keys instead.

Important: When using $VAR in a command that pipes to another command, wrap the command containing $VAR in bash -c '...'. Due to a Claude Code bug, environment variables are silently cleared when pipes are used directly.
bash -c 'curl -s "https://api.example.com" -H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY"' | jq .

How to Use

Base URL: ${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1

All requests require the apikey header with your API key.

1. Read All Rows

Get all rows from a table:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?select=*" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

2. Select Specific Columns

Get only specific columns:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?select=id,name,email" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

3. Filter with Operators

Filter rows using PostgREST operators.

Equal to:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?status=eq.active" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Greater than:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/products?price=gt.100" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Multiple conditions (AND):

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?age=gte.18&status=eq.active" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Available Operators:

Operator	Meaning	Example
`eq`	Equals	`?status=eq.active`
`neq`	Not equals	`?status=neq.deleted`
`gt`	Greater than	`?age=gt.18`
`gte`	Greater than or equal	`?age=gte.21`
`lt`	Less than	`?price=lt.100`
`lte`	Less than or equal	`?price=lte.50`
`like`	Pattern match (use `*` for `%`)	`?name=like.john`
`ilike`	Case-insensitive pattern	`?name=ilike.john`
`in`	In list	`?id=in.(1,2,3)`
`is`	Is null/true/false	`?deleted_at=is.null`

4. OR Conditions

Use or for OR logic:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?or=(status.eq.active,status.eq.pending)" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

5. Ordering

Sort results.

Ascending:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?order=created_at.asc" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Descending:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?order=created_at.desc" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Multiple columns:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?order=status.asc,created_at.desc" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

6. Pagination

Use limit and offset.

First 10 rows:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?limit=10" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Page 2 (rows 11-20):

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?limit=10&offset=10" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

7. Get Row Count

Use Prefer: count=exact header:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?select=*" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}" -H "Prefer: count=exact" -I' | grep -i content-range

8. Insert Single Row

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Prefer: return=representation" -d '"'"'{"name": "John Doe", "email": "john@example.com"}'"'"'' | jq .

9. Insert Multiple Rows

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Prefer: return=representation" -d '"'"'[{"name": "John", "email": "john@example.com"}, {"name": "Jane", "email": "jane@example.com"}]'"'"'' | jq .

10. Update Rows

Update rows matching a filter:

bash -c 'curl -s -X PATCH "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?id=eq.1" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Prefer: return=representation" -d '"'"'{"status": "inactive"}'"'"'' | jq .

11. Upsert (Insert or Update)

Use Prefer: resolution=merge-duplicates:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Prefer: resolution=merge-duplicates,return=representation" -d '"'"'{"id": 1, "name": "John Updated", "email": "john@example.com"}'"'"'' | jq .

12. Delete Rows

Delete rows matching a filter:

bash -c 'curl -s -X DELETE "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?id=eq.1" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY}" -H "Prefer: return=representation"' | jq .

13. Query Related Tables

Embed related data using foreign keys.

Get posts with their author:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/posts?select=*,author:users(*)" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

Get users with their posts:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/users?select=*,posts(*)" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

14. Full-Text Search

Search text columns:

bash -c 'curl -s "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/posts?title=fts.hello" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY}"' | jq .

15. Call RPC Functions

Call PostgreSQL functions:

bash -c 'curl -s -X POST "${SUPABASE_URL}/rest/v1/rpc/my_function" -H "apikey: ${SUPABASE_SECRET_KEY}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '"'"'{"param1": "value1"}'"'"'' | jq .

Response Headers

Header	Description
`Content-Range`	Row range and total count (e.g., `0-9/100`)
`Preference-Applied`	Confirms applied preferences

Guidelines

Use publishable key for read operations with RLS enabled
Use secret key only server-side for write operations or admin access
Enable RLS on tables for security when using publishable key
Use select to limit returned columns for better performance
Add indexes on frequently filtered columns
Use Prefer: return=representation to get inserted/updated rows back
Avoid full-table operations without filters to prevent accidental data loss

API Reference

Supabase API Docs: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/api
API Keys Guide: https://supabase.com/docs/guides/api/api-keys
PostgREST Docs: https://postgrest.org/en/stable/
API Settings: https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/_/settings/api-keys

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