Tutorial-style integration guide for creating offline-first apps with Supabase and PowerSync, using a demo to-do list app in Flutter, React Native, Web, Kotlin and Swift.
Used in conjunction with Supabase, PowerSync enables developers to build local-first & offline-first apps that are robust in poor network conditions and that have highly responsive frontends while relying on Supabase for their backend. This guide provides instructions for how to configure PowerSync for use with your Supabase project.
Before you proceed, this guide assumes that you have already signed up for free accounts with both Supabase and PowerSync Cloud (our cloud-hosted offering). If you haven’t signed up for a PowerSync (Cloud) account yet, click here (and if you haven’t signed up for Supabase yet, click here).
For mobile/desktop apps, this guide assumes that you already have Flutter / React Native / Kotlin / Xcode set up.For web apps, this guide assumes that you have pnpm installed.
Upon successful integration of Supabase + PowerSync, your system architecture will look like this: (click to enlarge image)
The local SQLite database embedded in the PowerSync SDK is automatically kept in sync with the Supabase Postgres database (based on configured Sync Rules as you will see later in this guide). Client-side data modifications are persisted in the local SQLite database as well as stored in an upload queue that gets processed via the Supabase client library when network connectivity is available. Therefore reads and writes can happen in the app regardless of whether the user is online or offline, by using the local SQLite database.
For more details on PowerSync’s general architecture, see here.
To set up the Postgres database for our To-Do List demo app, we will create two new tables: lists and todos. The demo app will have access to these tables even while offline.Run the below SQL statements in your Supabase SQL Editor:
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create table public.lists ( id uuid not null default gen_random_uuid (), created_at timestamp with time zone not null default now(), name text not null, owner_id uuid not null, constraint lists_pkey primary key (id), constraint lists_owner_id_fkey foreign key (owner_id) references auth.users (id) on delete cascade ) tablespace pg_default;create table public.todos ( id uuid not null default gen_random_uuid (), created_at timestamp with time zone not null default now(), completed_at timestamp with time zone null, description text not null, completed boolean not null default false, created_by uuid null, completed_by uuid null, list_id uuid not null, constraint todos_pkey primary key (id), constraint todos_created_by_fkey foreign key (created_by) references auth.users (id) on delete set null, constraint todos_completed_by_fkey foreign key (completed_by) references auth.users (id) on delete set null, constraint todos_list_id_fkey foreign key (list_id) references lists (id) on delete cascade ) tablespace pg_default;
PowerSync uses the Postgres Write Ahead Log (WAL) to replicate data changes in order to keep PowerSync SDK clients up to date.Run the below SQL statement in your Supabase SQL Editor to create a Postgres role/user with replication privileges:
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-- Create a role/user with replication privileges for PowerSyncCREATE ROLE powersync_role WITH REPLICATION BYPASSRLS LOGIN PASSWORD 'myhighlyrandompassword';-- Set up permissions for the newly created role-- Read-only (SELECT) access is requiredGRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO powersync_role; -- Optionally, grant SELECT on all future tables (to cater for schema additions)ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT ON TABLES TO powersync_role;
To restrict read access to specific tables, explicitly list allowed tables for both the SELECT privilege, and for the publication mentioned in the next step (as well as for any other publications that may exist).
Run the below SQL statement in your Supabase SQL Editor to create a Postgres publication:
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-- Create a publication to replicate tables. The publication must be named "powersync"CREATE PUBLICATION powersync FOR ALL TABLES;
Note that the PowerSync Service has to read all updates present in the publication, regardless of whether the table is referenced in your Sync Streams / Sync Rules definitions. This can cause large spikes in memory usage or introduce replication delays, so if you’re dealing with large data volumes, you’ll want to specify a comma-separated subset of tables to replicate instead of FOR ALL TABLES.
The snippet above replicates all tables and is the simplest way to get started in a dev environment.
When creating a project in the PowerSync Dashboard, Development and Production instances of the PowerSync Service will be created by default. Select the instance you want to configure.If you need to create a new instance, follow the steps below.
In the dashboard, select your project and open the instance selection dropdown. Click Add Instance.
Give your instance a name, such as “Production”.
[Optional] You can change the default cloud region from US to EU, JP (Japan), AU (Australia) or BR (Brazil) if desired.
Note: Additional cloud regions will be considered on request, especially for customers on our Enterprise plan. Please contact us if you need a different region.
From your Supabase Dashboard, select Connect in the top navigation bar (or follow this link):
In the Direct connection section, copy the complete connection string (including the [YOUR-PASSWORD] placeholder):
In the PowerSync Dashboard, select your project and instance and go to Database Connections.
Click Connect to Source Database and ensure the Postgres tab is selected.
Paste the connection string into the URI field. PowerSync will automatically parse this URI to populate the database connection details.
Update the Username and Password fields to use the powersync_role and password you created when configuring your Supabase for PowerSync (see Source Database Setup).
Note: PowerSync includes Supabase’s CA certificate by default, so you can use verify-full SSL mode without additional configuration.
Verify your setup by clicking Test Connection and resolve any errors.
Click Save Connection.
PowerSync will now create an isolated cloud environment for your instance. This typically takes a minute or two.
After your database connection is configured, enable Supabase Auth:
In the PowerSync Dashboard, go to Client Auth for your instance.
Enable the Use Supabase Auth checkbox.
If your Supabase project uses the legacy JWT signing keys, copy your JWT Secret from your Supabase project’s settings (JWT Keys) and paste the secret into the Supabase JWT Secret (optional) Legacy field in the PowerSync Dashboard. If you’re using Supabase’s new JWT signing keys, you can leave this field empty (PowerSync will auto-configure the JWKS endpoint for your project).
Sync Rules allow developers to control which data gets synced to which user devices using a SQL-like syntax in a YAML file. For the demo app, we’re going to specify that each user can only see their own to-do lists and list items.
In the PowerSync Dashboard, select your project and instance and go to the Sync Rules view.
Edit the Sync Rules in the editor and replace the contents with the below:
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bucket_definitions: user_lists: # Separate bucket per To-Do list parameters: select id as list_id from lists where owner_id = request.user_id() data: - select * from lists where id = bucket.list_id - select * from todos where list_id = bucket.list_id
Click “Validate” and ensure there are no errors. This validates your Sync Rules against your Postgres database.
Click “Deploy” to deploy your Sync Rules.
For additional information on PowerSync’s Sync Rules, refer to the Sync Rules documentation.
If you’re wondering how Sync Rules relate to Supabase Postgres RLS, see this subsection.
Configure the demo app to use your PowerSync instance
Locate the relevant config file for your framework:
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cp lib/app_config_template.dart lib/app_config.dart# Edit `lib/app_config.dart` and insert the necessary credentials as detailed below.
In the relevant config file, replace the values for supabaseUrl (from the Project URL section in the Supabase dashboard) and supabaseAnonKey (from the API Keys section in the Supabase dashboard)
For the value of powersyncUrl, click Connect in the top bar of the PowerSync Dashboard and copy the instance URL from the dialog.
# Ensure you have [melos](https://melos.invertase.dev/~melos-latest/getting-started) installed.melos bootstrapflutter run
For ease of use of the demo app, you can disable email confirmation in your Supabase Auth settings. In your Supabase project, go to “Authentication” -> “Providers” -> “Email” and then disable “Confirm email”. If you keep email confirmation enabled, the Supabase user confirmation email will reference the default Supabase Site URL of http://localhost:3000 — you can ignore this.
Once signed in to the demo app, you should see a blank list of to-do lists, so go ahead and create a new list. Try placing your device into airplane mode to test out the offline capabilities. Once the device is back online, you should see the data automatically appear in your Supabase dashboard (e.g. in the Table Editor).For more information, explore the PowerSync docs or join us on our community Discord where our team is always available to answer questions.
If you plan on sharing this demo app with other people, you may want to set up demo data triggers so that new user signups don’t see an empty screen.It’s useful to have some data when a user signs up to the demo app. The below trigger automatically creates some sample data when a user registers (you can run it in the Supabase SQL Editor). See Supabase: Managing User Data for more details.
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create function public.handle_new_user_sample_data()returns trigger as $$declare new_list_id uuid;begin insert into public.lists (name, owner_id) values ('Shopping list', new.id) returning id into new_list_id; insert into public.todos(description, list_id, created_by) values ('Bread', new_list_id, new.id); insert into public.todos(description, list_id, created_by) values ('Apples', new_list_id, new.id); return new;end;$$ language plpgsql security definer;create trigger new_user_sample_data after insert on auth.users for each row execute procedure public.handle_new_user_sample_data();