Supabase
Supabase is an open-source backend platform built on Postgres, providing auth, storage, realtime subscriptions, and edge functions.
In plain English
Supabase is the open-source Firebase alternative built on Postgres. Instead of locking you into a proprietary document database, Supabase gives you a real SQL database and layers on the things SaaS app developers need: auth with row-level security, file storage, realtime subscriptions over websockets, and edge functions for serverless compute. You can start with their managed cloud and later self-host the same stack.
The appeal is pragmatic. Postgres is already the database most teams would choose; Supabase adds the surrounding plumbing without changing the core. Schema migrations stay in plain SQL files you can version in git. Row-level security is built in, which is the right default for multi-tenant apps. And because it is open source, the exit door is always available.
Why it matters for Black Box
Black Box's Supabase migrations live in apps/api/supabase/migrations/. The schema is defined; row-level security policies are in place. The product is currently using filesystem storage during the web pivot and will switch to Supabase when ready, carrying over the same schema.
Examples
- Using Supabase Auth to sign users in with Google OAuth.
- Writing RLS policies so each tenant only sees their own rows.
- Subscribing to realtime changes on a table to power a live UI.