Welcome to the heart of your Supabase project: the Dashboard! Once you've created your new project, you'll be greeted by this intuitive interface. Think of it as your command center, where you'll manage everything from your database to authentication, storage, and edge functions. Let's take a tour of its key components so you can navigate it with confidence.
The Supabase Dashboard is designed to be user-friendly, providing a visual way to interact with your backend services. Even if you're new to backend development, you'll find yourself at home here. We'll break down the most important sections you'll be using frequently in these early stages.
- Project Overview: Upon entering your project, you'll see a dashboard summarizing key information like your database size, API usage, and recent activity. This gives you a quick snapshot of your project's health and performance.
- Database: This is where the magic happens for your data. You'll find several sub-sections here:
a. Tables Editor: This is your primary interface for creating, viewing, and editing your database tables. You can define columns, set data types, add constraints, and even write SQL queries directly. It's a powerful visual tool that simplifies database management.
b. SQL Editor: For those who prefer or need to write raw SQL, this editor provides a robust environment to execute queries, create functions, and manage your database schema programmatically. You can also save and run your frequently used queries here.
c. Database Functions: Here, you can define and manage PostgreSQL functions, which are reusable blocks of SQL code that can be executed on the server. This is invaluable for encapsulating complex logic.
d. Database Backups: Supabase automatically handles backups, but you can also manage them manually from this section, allowing you to restore your database to a previous state if needed.
- Authentication: This section is dedicated to managing user accounts and access control. You'll find:
a. Auth Providers: Configure various authentication methods like email and password, social logins (Google, GitHub, etc.), and magic links.
b. Users: View and manage all registered users in your application.
c. Policies: Define fine-grained access control for your database tables. This is crucial for ensuring that users can only access and modify data they are authorized to.
- Storage: This is where you'll manage file uploads and storage for your application, such as user avatars, images, or any other media.
- Edge Functions: For running serverless code directly within Supabase, this section allows you to create, deploy, and manage your serverless functions.
- API: This section provides crucial information about your project's API. You'll find your API URL, API keys, and documentation that shows you how to interact with your Supabase backend from your frontend applications.
- Settings: This is the hub for general project configurations, including renaming your project, changing its region, managing team members, and accessing project-specific keys.
graph TD
A[Supabase Dashboard] --> B{Database}
A --> C{Authentication}
A --> D{Storage}
A --> E{Edge Functions}
A --> F{API}
A --> G{Settings}
B --> B1[Tables Editor]
B --> B2[SQL Editor]
B --> B3[Database Functions]
B --> B4[Database Backups]
C --> C1[Auth Providers]
C --> C2[Users]
C --> C3[Policies]
Navigating these sections will become second nature as you build your application. For now, focus on the Database section, particularly the Tables Editor and SQL Editor, as you'll be spending most of your time here defining and interacting with your data.