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Build a User Management App with React

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a basic user management app. The app authenticates and identifies the user, stores their profile information in the database, and allows the user to log in, update their profile details, and upload a profile photo. The app uses:

  • Supabase Database - a Postgres database for storing your user data and Row Level Security so data is protected and users can only access their own information.
  • Supabase Auth - users log in through magic links sent to their email (without having to set up passwords).
  • Supabase Storage - users can upload a profile photo.

Supabase User Management example

note

If you get stuck while working through this guide, refer to the full example on GitHub.

Project setup#

Before we start building we're going to set up our Database and API. This is as simple as starting a new Project in Supabase and then creating a "schema" inside the database.

Create a project#

  1. Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
  2. Enter your project details.
  3. Wait for the new database to launch.

Set up the database schema#

Now we are going to set up the database schema. We can use the "User Management Starter" quickstart in the SQL Editor, or you can just copy/paste the SQL from below and run it yourself.

  1. Go to the SQL Editor page in the Dashboard.
  2. Click User Management Starter.
  3. Click Run.

note

You can easily pull the database schema down to your local project by running the db pull command. Read the local development docs for detailed instructions.


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supabase link --project-ref <project-id>
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# You can get <project-id> from your project's dashboard URL: https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<project-id>
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supabase db pull

Get the API Keys#

Now that you've created some database tables, you are ready to insert data using the auto-generated API. We just need to get the Project URL and anon key from the API settings.

  1. Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
  2. Find your Project URL, anon, and service_role keys on this page.

Building the App#

Let's start building the React app from scratch.

Initialize a React app#

We can use Vite to initialize an app called supabase-react:


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npm create vite@latest supabase-react -- --template react
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cd supabase-react

Then let's install the only additional dependency: supabase-js.


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npm install @supabase/supabase-js

And finally we want to save the environment variables in a .env.local file. All we need are the API URL and the anon key that you copied earlier.

.env

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VITE_SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
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VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

Now that we have the API credentials in place, let's create a helper file to initialize the Supabase client. These variables will be exposed on the browser, and that's completely fine since we have Row Level Security enabled on our Database.

Create and edit src/supabaseClient.js:

src/supabaseClient.js

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import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
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const supabaseUrl = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_URL
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const supabaseAnonKey = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY
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export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey)

And one optional step is to update the CSS file src/index.css to make the app look nice. You can find the full contents of this file here.

Set up a Login component#

Let's set up a React component to manage logins and sign ups. We'll use Magic Links, so users can sign in with their email without using passwords.

Create and edit src/Auth.jsx:

src/Auth.jsx

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import { useState } from 'react'
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import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
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export default function Auth() {
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const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false)
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const [email, setEmail] = useState('')
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const handleLogin = async (event) => {
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event.preventDefault()
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setLoading(true)
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const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOtp({ email })
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if (error) {
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alert(error.error_description || error.message)
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} else {
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alert('Check your email for the login link!')
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}
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setLoading(false)
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}
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return (
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<div className="row flex flex-center">
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<div className="col-6 form-widget">
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<h1 className="header">Supabase + React</h1>
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<p className="description">Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
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<form className="form-widget" onSubmit={handleLogin}>
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<div>
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<input
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className="inputField"
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type="email"
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placeholder="Your email"
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value={email}
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required={true}
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onChange={(e) => setEmail(e.target.value)}
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/>
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</div>
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<div>
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<button className={'button block'} disabled={loading}>
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{loading ? <span>Loading</span> : <span>Send magic link</span>}
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</button>
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</div>
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</form>
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</div>
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</div>
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)
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}

Account page#

After a user is signed in we can allow them to edit their profile details and manage their account.

Let's create a new component for that called src/Account.jsx.

src/Account.jsx

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import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
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import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
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export default function Account({ session }) {
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const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true)
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const [username, setUsername] = useState(null)
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const [website, setWebsite] = useState(null)
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const [avatar_url, setAvatarUrl] = useState(null)
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useEffect(() => {
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async function getProfile() {
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setLoading(true)
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const { user } = session
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const { data, error } = await supabase
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.from('profiles')
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.select(`username, website, avatar_url`)
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.eq('id', user.id)
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.single()
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if (error) {
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console.warn(error)
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} else if (data) {
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setUsername(data.username)
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setWebsite(data.website)
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setAvatarUrl(data.avatar_url)
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}
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setLoading(false)
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}
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getProfile()
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}, [session])
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async function updateProfile(event, avatarUrl) {
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event.preventDefault()
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setLoading(true)
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const { user } = session
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const updates = {
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id: user.id,
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username,
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website,
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avatarUrl,
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updated_at: new Date(),
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}
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const { error } = await supabase.from('profiles').upsert(updates)
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if (error) {
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alert(error.message)
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} else {
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setAvatarUrl(avatarUrl)
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}
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setLoading(false)
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}
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return (
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<form onSubmit={updateProfile} className="form-widget">
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<div>
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<label htmlFor="email">Email</label>
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<input id="email" type="text" value={session.user.email} disabled />
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</div>
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<div>
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<label htmlFor="username">Name</label>
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<input
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id="username"
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type="text"
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required
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value={username || ''}
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onChange={(e) => setUsername(e.target.value)}
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/>
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</div>
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<div>
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<label htmlFor="website">Website</label>
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<input
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id="website"
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type="url"
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value={website || ''}
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onChange={(e) => setWebsite(e.target.value)}
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/>
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</div>
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<div>
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<button className="button block primary" type="submit" disabled={loading}>
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{loading ? 'Loading ...' : 'Update'}
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</button>
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</div>
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<div>
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<button className="button block" type="button" onClick={() => supabase.auth.signOut()}>
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Sign Out
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</button>
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</div>
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</form>
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)
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}

Launch!#

Now that we have all the components in place, let's update src/App.jsx:

src/App.jsx

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import './App.css'
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import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
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import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
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import Auth from './Auth'
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import Account from './Account'
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function App() {
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const [session, setSession] = useState(null)
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useEffect(() => {
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supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data: { session } }) => {
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setSession(session)
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})
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supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_event, session) => {
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setSession(session)
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})
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}, [])
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return (
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<div className="container" style={{ padding: '50px 0 100px 0' }}>
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{!session ? <Auth /> : <Account key={session.user.id} session={session} />}
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</div>
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)
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}
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export default App

Once that's done, run this in a terminal window:


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npm run dev

And then open the browser to localhost:5173 and you should see the completed app.

Supabase React

Bonus: Profile photos#

Every Supabase project is configured with Storage for managing large files like photos and videos.

Create an upload widget#

Let's create an avatar for the user so that they can upload a profile photo. We can start by creating a new component:

Create and edit src/Avatar.jsx:

src/Avatar.jsx

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import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
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import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
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export default function Avatar({ url, size, onUpload }) {
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const [avatarUrl, setAvatarUrl] = useState(null)
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const [uploading, setUploading] = useState(false)
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useEffect(() => {
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if (url) downloadImage(url)
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}, [url])
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async function downloadImage(path) {
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try {
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const { data, error } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path)
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if (error) {
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throw error
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}
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const url = URL.createObjectURL(data)
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setAvatarUrl(url)
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} catch (error) {
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console.log('Error downloading image: ', error.message)
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}
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}
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async function uploadAvatar(event) {
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try {
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setUploading(true)
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if (!event.target.files || event.target.files.length === 0) {
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throw new Error('You must select an image to upload.')
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}
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const file = event.target.files[0]
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const fileExt = file.name.split('.').pop()
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const fileName = `${Math.random()}.${fileExt}`
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const filePath = `${fileName}`
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const { error: uploadError } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').upload(filePath, file)
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if (uploadError) {
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throw uploadError
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}
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onUpload(event, filePath)
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} catch (error) {
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alert(error.message)
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} finally {
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setUploading(false)
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}
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}
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return (
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<div>
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{avatarUrl ? (
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<img
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src={avatarUrl}
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alt="Avatar"
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className="avatar image"
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style={{ height: size, width: size }}
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/>
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) : (
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<div className="avatar no-image" style={{ height: size, width: size }} />
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)}
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<div style={{ width: size }}>
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<label className="button primary block" htmlFor="single">
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{uploading ? 'Uploading ...' : 'Upload'}
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</label>
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<input
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style={{
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visibility: 'hidden',
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position: 'absolute',
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}}
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type="file"
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id="single"
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accept="image/*"
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onChange={uploadAvatar}
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disabled={uploading}
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/>
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</div>
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</div>
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)
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}

Add the new widget#

And then we can add the widget to the Account page at src/Account.jsx:

src/Account.jsx

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// Import the new component
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import Avatar from './Avatar'
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// ...
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return (
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<form onSubmit={updateProfile} className="form-widget">
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{/* Add to the body */}
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<Avatar
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url={avatar_url}
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size={150}
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onUpload={(event, url) => {
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updateProfile(event, url)
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}}
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/>
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{/* ... */}
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</div>
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)

Storage management#

If you upload additional profile photos, they'll accumulate in the avatars bucket because of their random names with only the latest being referenced from public.profiles and the older versions getting orphaned.

To automatically remove obsolete storage objects, extend the database triggers. Note that it is not sufficient to delete the objects from the storage.objects table because that would orphan and leak the actual storage objects in the S3 backend. Instead, invoke the storage API within Postgres via the http extension.

Enable the http extension for the extensions schema in the Dashboard. Then, define the following SQL functions in the SQL Editor to delete storage objects via the API:


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create or replace function delete_storage_object(bucket text, object text, out status int, out content text)
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returns record
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language 'plpgsql'
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security definer
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as $$
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declare
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project_url text := '<YOURPROJECTURL>';
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service_role_key text := '<YOURSERVICEROLEKEY>'; -- full access needed
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url text := project_url||'/storage/v1/object/'||bucket||'/'||object;
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begin
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select
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into status, content
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result.status::int, result.content::text
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FROM extensions.http((
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'DELETE',
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url,
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ARRAY[extensions.http_header('authorization','Bearer '||service_role_key)],
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NULL,
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NULL)::extensions.http_request) as result;
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end;
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$$;
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create or replace function delete_avatar(avatar_url text, out status int, out content text)
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returns record
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language 'plpgsql'
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security definer
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as $$
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begin
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select
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into status, content
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result.status, result.content
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from public.delete_storage_object('avatars', avatar_url) as result;
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end;
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$$;

Next, add a trigger that removes any obsolete avatar whenever the profile is updated or deleted:


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create or replace function delete_old_avatar()
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returns trigger
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language 'plpgsql'
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security definer
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as $$
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declare
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status int;
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content text;
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avatar_name text;
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begin
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if coalesce(old.avatar_url, '') <> ''
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and (tg_op = 'DELETE' or (old.avatar_url <> new.avatar_url)) then
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-- extract avatar name
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avatar_name := old.avatar_url;
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select
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into status, content
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result.status, result.content
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from public.delete_avatar(avatar_name) as result;
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if status <> 200 then
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raise warning 'Could not delete avatar: % %', status, content;
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end if;
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end if;
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if tg_op = 'DELETE' then
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return old;
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end if;
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return new;
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end;
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$$;
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create trigger before_profile_changes
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before update of avatar_url or delete on public.profiles
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for each row execute function public.delete_old_avatar();

Finally, delete the public.profile row before a user is deleted. If this step is omitted, you won't be able to delete users without first manually deleting their avatar image.


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create or replace function delete_old_profile()
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returns trigger
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language 'plpgsql'
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security definer
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as $$
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begin
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delete from public.profiles where id = old.id;
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return old;
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end;
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$$;
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create trigger before_delete_user
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before delete on auth.users
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for each row execute function public.delete_old_profile();

At this stage you have a fully functional application!