CursorSupabaseIntermediate10 min read

How to Connect Supabase Database in Cursor

Set up a Supabase Postgres database in your Cursor project with type-safe queries, migrations, and AI-generated data layers.

Before you start

✓Cursor IDE installed
✓A Supabase account
✓A Next.js or Node.js project open in Cursor

Step by step

Install the Supabase client

Open Cursor's terminal and install the Supabase JS client library.

npm install @supabase/supabase-js

Create your environment variables

Create a .env.local file in your project root with your Supabase credentials.

NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://your-project.supabase.co
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=eyJhbG...your-key
SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=eyJhbG...your-service-key

Generate a typed Supabase client

Use Cursor's AI to create a properly typed client that matches your database schema.

Paste this into Cursor:

Create a lib/supabase.ts file that:
1. Creates a Supabase client using createClient from @supabase/supabase-js
2. Exports it as a named export
3. Uses environment variables for the URL and anon key
4. Add a separate createServerClient for server-side usage with the service role key

Generate TypeScript types from your schema

Use the Supabase CLI to auto-generate TypeScript types from your database schema.

npx supabase gen types typescript --project-id your-project-id > src/types/database.ts

Build your data access layer

Ask Cursor to generate functions for all your CRUD operations, using the generated types.

Paste this into Cursor:

Using the Database types from src/types/database.ts and the Supabase client from lib/supabase.ts, create a data access layer in lib/db.ts with:
1. getAllPosts() - fetches all posts ordered by created_at desc
2. getPostById(id) - fetches a single post
3. createPost(data) - inserts a new post
4. updatePost(id, data) - updates a post
5. deletePost(id) - deletes a post
All functions should be fully typed and handle errors.

Create a database migration

Define your schema in SQL and run it via the Supabase dashboard or CLI.

-- In Supabase SQL Editor:
CREATE TABLE posts (
  id uuid DEFAULT gen_random_uuid() PRIMARY KEY,
  title text NOT NULL,
  content text,
  user_id uuid REFERENCES auth.users(id),
  created_at timestamptz DEFAULT now()
);

ALTER TABLE posts ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;