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

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

Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
Enter your project details.
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.

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.

Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
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:


_10npm create vite@latest supabase-react -- --template react
_10cd supabase-react

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


_10npm 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


_10VITE_SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
_10VITE_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


_10import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
_10
_10const supabaseUrl = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_URL
_10const supabaseAnonKey = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY
_10
_10export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey)

App styling (optional)

An 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.

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


_47import { useState } from 'react'
_47import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
_47
_47export default function Auth() {
_47  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(false)
_47  const [email, setEmail] = useState('')
_47
_47  const handleLogin = async (event) => {
_47    event.preventDefault()
_47
_47    setLoading(true)
_47    const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOtp({ email })
_47
_47    if (error) {
_47      alert(error.error_description || error.message)
_47    } else {
_47      alert('Check your email for the login link!')
_47    }
_47    setLoading(false)
_47  }
_47
_47  return (
_47    <div className="row flex flex-center">
_47      <div className="col-6 form-widget">
_47        <h1 className="header">Supabase + React</h1>
_47        <p className="description">Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
_47        <form className="form-widget" onSubmit={handleLogin}>
_47          <div>
_47            <input
_47              className="inputField"
_47              type="email"
_47              placeholder="Your email"
_47              value={email}
_47              required={true}
_47              onChange={(e) => setEmail(e.target.value)}
_47            />
_47          </div>
_47          <div>
_47            <button className={'button block'} disabled={loading}>
_47              {loading ? <span>Loading</span> : <span>Send magic link</span>}
_47            </button>
_47          </div>
_47        </form>
_47      </div>
_47    </div>
_47  )
_47}

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


_105import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
_105import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
_105
_105export default function Account({ session }) {
_105  const [loading, setLoading] = useState(true)
_105  const [username, setUsername] = useState(null)
_105  const [website, setWebsite] = useState(null)
_105  const [avatar_url, setAvatarUrl] = useState(null)
_105
_105  useEffect(() => {
_105    let ignore = false
_105    async function getProfile() {
_105      setLoading(true)
_105      const { user } = session
_105
_105      const { data, error } = await supabase
_105        .from('profiles')
_105        .select(`username, website, avatar_url`)
_105        .eq('id', user.id)
_105        .single()
_105
_105      if (!ignore) {
_105        if (error) {
_105          console.warn(error)
_105        } else if (data) {
_105          setUsername(data.username)
_105          setWebsite(data.website)
_105          setAvatarUrl(data.avatar_url)
_105        }
_105      }
_105
_105      setLoading(false)
_105    }
_105
_105    getProfile()
_105
_105    return () => {
_105      ignore = true
_105    }
_105  }, [session])
_105
_105  async function updateProfile(event, avatarUrl) {
_105    event.preventDefault()
_105
_105    setLoading(true)
_105    const { user } = session
_105
_105    const updates = {
_105      id: user.id,
_105      username,
_105      website,
_105      avatar_url: avatarUrl,
_105      updated_at: new Date(),
_105    }
_105
_105    const { error } = await supabase.from('profiles').upsert(updates)
_105
_105    if (error) {
_105      alert(error.message)
_105    } else {
_105      setAvatarUrl(avatarUrl)
_105    }
_105    setLoading(false)
_105  }
_105
_105  return (
_105    <form onSubmit={updateProfile} className="form-widget">
_105      <div>
_105        <label htmlFor="email">Email</label>
_105        <input id="email" type="text" value={session.user.email} disabled />
_105      </div>
_105      <div>
_105        <label htmlFor="username">Name</label>
_105        <input
_105          id="username"
_105          type="text"
_105          required
_105          value={username || ''}
_105          onChange={(e) => setUsername(e.target.value)}
_105        />
_105      </div>
_105      <div>
_105        <label htmlFor="website">Website</label>
_105        <input
_105          id="website"
_105          type="url"
_105          value={website || ''}
_105          onChange={(e) => setWebsite(e.target.value)}
_105        />
_105      </div>
_105
_105      <div>
_105        <button className="button block primary" type="submit" disabled={loading}>
_105          {loading ? 'Loading ...' : 'Update'}
_105        </button>
_105      </div>
_105
_105      <div>
_105        <button className="button block" type="button" onClick={() => supabase.auth.signOut()}>
_105          Sign Out
_105        </button>
_105      </div>
_105    </form>
_105  )
_105}

Launch!

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

src/App.jsx


_27import './App.css'
_27import { useState, useEffect } from 'react'
_27import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
_27import Auth from './Auth'
_27import Account from './Account'
_27
_27function App() {
_27  const [session, setSession] = useState(null)
_27
_27  useEffect(() => {
_27    supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data: { session } }) => {
_27      setSession(session)
_27    })
_27
_27    supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_event, session) => {
_27      setSession(session)
_27    })
_27  }, [])
_27
_27  return (
_27    <div className="container" style={{ padding: '50px 0 100px 0' }}>
_27      {!session ? <Auth /> : <Account key={session.user.id} session={session} />}
_27    </div>
_27  )
_27}
_27
_27export default App

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


_10npm 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.

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


_82import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
_82import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
_82
_82export default function Avatar({ url, size, onUpload }) {
_82  const [avatarUrl, setAvatarUrl] = useState(null)
_82  const [uploading, setUploading] = useState(false)
_82
_82  useEffect(() => {
_82    if (url) downloadImage(url)
_82  }, [url])
_82
_82  async function downloadImage(path) {
_82    try {
_82      const { data, error } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path)
_82      if (error) {
_82        throw error
_82      }
_82      const url = URL.createObjectURL(data)
_82      setAvatarUrl(url)
_82    } catch (error) {
_82      console.log('Error downloading image: ', error.message)
_82    }
_82  }
_82
_82  async function uploadAvatar(event) {
_82    try {
_82      setUploading(true)
_82
_82      if (!event.target.files || event.target.files.length === 0) {
_82        throw new Error('You must select an image to upload.')
_82      }
_82
_82      const file = event.target.files[0]
_82      const fileExt = file.name.split('.').pop()
_82      const fileName = `${Math.random()}.${fileExt}`
_82      const filePath = `${fileName}`
_82
_82      const { error: uploadError } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').upload(filePath, file)
_82
_82      if (uploadError) {
_82        throw uploadError
_82      }
_82
_82      onUpload(event, filePath)
_82    } catch (error) {
_82      alert(error.message)
_82    } finally {
_82      setUploading(false)
_82    }
_82  }
_82
_82  return (
_82    <div>
_82      {avatarUrl ? (
_82        <img
_82          src={avatarUrl}
_82          alt="Avatar"
_82          className="avatar image"
_82          style={{ height: size, width: size }}
_82        />
_82      ) : (
_82        <div className="avatar no-image" style={{ height: size, width: size }} />
_82      )}
_82      <div style={{ width: size }}>
_82        <label className="button primary block" htmlFor="single">
_82          {uploading ? 'Uploading ...' : 'Upload'}
_82        </label>
_82        <input
_82          style={{
_82            visibility: 'hidden',
_82            position: 'absolute',
_82          }}
_82          type="file"
_82          id="single"
_82          accept="image/*"
_82          onChange={uploadAvatar}
_82          disabled={uploading}
_82        />
_82      </div>
_82    </div>
_82  )
_82}

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

src/Account.jsx


_18// Import the new component
_18import Avatar from './Avatar'
_18
_18// ...
_18
_18return (
_18  <form onSubmit={updateProfile} className="form-widget">
_18    {/* Add to the body */}
_18    <Avatar
_18      url={avatar_url}
_18      size={150}
_18      onUpload={(event, url) => {
_18        updateProfile(event, url)
_18      }}
_18    />
_18    {/* ... */}
_18  </div>
_18)

At this stage you have a fully functional application!

Edit this page on GitHub

Build a User Management App with React

Project setup

Create a project

Set up the database schema

Get the API Keys

Building the app

Initialize a React app

App styling (optional)

Account page

Launch!

Bonus: Profile photos

Create an upload widget

Add the new widget

Build a User Management App with React

Project setup#

Create a project#

Set up the database schema#

Get the API Keys#

Building the app#

Initialize a React app#

App styling (optional)#

Set up a login component#

Account page#

Launch!#

Bonus: Profile photos#

Create an upload widget#

Add the new widget#

Project setup

Create a project

Set up the database schema

Get the API Keys

Building the app

Initialize a React app

App styling (optional)

Set up a login component

Account page

Launch!

Bonus: Profile photos

Create an upload widget

Add the new widget