Supabase Auth With Docker: A Complete Guide

Oct 23, 2025 by Jhon Lennon 44 views

Hey guys! Ever wondered how to set up Supabase authentication using Docker? You're in the right place! This guide will walk you through the process step-by-step, ensuring you have a robust and scalable authentication system for your applications. Let's dive in!

Understanding Supabase and Docker

Before we get our hands dirty with the setup, it's essential to understand what Supabase and Docker are and why they're a powerful combination.

What is Supabase?

Supabase is an open-source Firebase alternative. It provides a suite of tools to build scalable and secure applications quickly. Think of it as your backend-as-a-service, offering features like a PostgreSQL database, authentication, real-time subscriptions, and storage. With Supabase, you can focus on building the frontend of your application without worrying about the complexities of backend infrastructure.

Supabase Authentication is a critical component that handles user registration, login, and authorization. It supports various authentication methods, including email/password, social logins (like Google, GitHub, etc.), and magic links. This flexibility makes it easy to integrate with different types of applications.

What is Docker?

Docker is a platform for developing, shipping, and running applications in containers. A container is a lightweight, standalone, executable package that includes everything needed to run a piece of software, including code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings. Docker ensures that your application runs the same way, regardless of where it's deployed.

Using Docker, you can encapsulate your Supabase authentication setup, making it easy to reproduce across different environments (development, staging, production). This eliminates the "it works on my machine" problem and ensures consistency.

Why Use Supabase with Docker?

Combining Supabase and Docker offers several advantages:

Consistency: Docker ensures that your Supabase authentication setup is consistent across all environments.
Isolation: Docker containers isolate your application, preventing conflicts with other software on the same machine.
Scalability: Docker makes it easy to scale your application by running multiple containers.
Reproducibility: Docker allows you to reproduce your Supabase authentication setup easily, making it ideal for development and testing.
Portability: Docker containers can run on any machine that has Docker installed, making your application highly portable.

Prerequisites

Before we start, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

Docker installed on your machine. You can download it from the official Docker website.
A Supabase account. If you don't have one, sign up for free at Supabase.
Basic knowledge of Docker and Supabase.
A code editor (like VSCode) and a terminal.

Setting Up Supabase Authentication with Docker

Now, let's get into the actual setup. We'll follow these steps:

Create a Supabase project.
Set up a Docker environment.
Configure Supabase authentication.
Run Supabase authentication in a Docker container.
Test the authentication setup.

Step 1: Create a Supabase Project

First, you need to create a Supabase project. Here's how:

Go to the Supabase dashboard and click on "New Project".
Choose a name for your project, select a region, and set a database password. Make sure to keep this password safe, as you'll need it later.
Wait for Supabase to provision your project. This might take a few minutes.
Once your project is ready, go to the "Authentication" section in the Supabase dashboard.

Step 2: Set Up a Docker Environment

Next, we'll set up a Docker environment for our Supabase authentication setup. Here’s how you can do it:

Create a new directory for your project:

mkdir supabase-auth-docker
cd supabase-auth-docker

Create a Dockerfile in the project directory. This file will contain the instructions for building our Docker image:

# Use an official Node.js runtime as the base image
FROM node:16

# Set the working directory in the container
WORKDIR /app

# Copy package.json and package-lock.json to the working directory
COPY package*.json ./

# Install dependencies
RUN npm install

# Copy the application code to the working directory
COPY . .

# Expose the port the app runs on
EXPOSE 3000

# Define the command to run the app
CMD ["npm", "start"]

Create a docker-compose.yml file. This file will define the services, networks, and volumes for our application:

version: "3.8"
services:
  app:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      - SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
      - SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY
    volumes:
      - .:/app
    depends_on:
      - supabase

  supabase:
    image: supabase/supabase:latest
    ports:
      - "8000:8000"
      - "5432:5432"
    environment:
      - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD
      - SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY
      - SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY
    volumes:
      - supabase_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data

volumes:
  supabase_data:

Replace YOUR_SUPABASE_URL, YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY, YOUR_POSTGRES_PASSWORD, and YOUR_SUPABASE_SERVICE_ROLE_KEY with your actual Supabase project credentials. You can find these in the Supabase dashboard under "Settings" > "API".

Step 3: Configure Supabase Authentication

Now, let's configure Supabase authentication for our application. We'll create a simple Node.js application to handle user registration and login.

Initialize a new Node.js project:
```
npm init -y
```
Install the supabase-js library:
```
npm install @supabase/supabase-js
```

Create an index.js file with the following code:

const { createClient } = require('@supabase/supabase-js');
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
const port = 3000;

// Supabase configuration
const supabaseUrl = process.env.SUPABASE_URL;
const supabaseAnonKey = process.env.SUPABASE_ANON_KEY;

const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey);

app.use(express.json());

app.post('/signup', async (req, res) => {
  const {
    email,
    password
  } = req.body;

  const { data, error } = await supabase.auth.signUp({
    email: email,
    password: password,
  });

  if (error) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: error.message });
  }

  return res.status(200).json({ data });
});

app.post('/login', async (req, res) => {
  const {
    email,
    password
  } = req.body;

  const { data, error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithPassword({
    email: email,
    password: password,
  });

  if (error) {
    return res.status(400).json({ error: error.message });
  }

  return res.status(200).json({ data });
});

app.listen(port, () => {
  console.log(`Server is running on port ${port}`);
});

Add a start script to your package.json file:

"scripts": {
  "start": "node index.js"
}

Step 4: Run Supabase Authentication in a Docker Container

Now that we've configured our Supabase authentication setup, we can run it in a Docker container. Here's how:

Build the Docker image:
```
docker-compose build
```
Run the Docker container:
```
docker-compose up
```
This command will start both the Supabase and application containers. You should see the application running on port 3000.

Step 5: Test the Authentication Setup

Finally, let's test our authentication setup. You can use a tool like Postman or curl to send requests to the /signup and /login endpoints.

Sign up a new user:

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"email": "test@example.com", "password": "password123"}' http://localhost:3000/signup

Log in the user:
```
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"email": "test@example.com", "password": "password123"}' http://localhost:3000/login
```
If everything is set up correctly, you should receive a JSON response with the user data upon successful signup and login. If you encounter any errors, double-check your Supabase credentials and Docker configuration.

Additional Tips and Best Practices

Here are some additional tips and best practices to keep in mind when setting up Supabase authentication with Docker:

Environment Variables: Always use environment variables to store sensitive information like API keys and passwords. This prevents them from being hardcoded in your application.
Secure Your Supabase Project: Follow Supabase's security best practices to protect your project from unauthorized access. This includes setting up row-level security (RLS) and enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA).
Monitor Your Application: Use logging and monitoring tools to track the performance and health of your application. This will help you identify and resolve issues quickly.
Use a Reverse Proxy: Consider using a reverse proxy like Nginx or Apache to handle SSL termination and load balancing. This can improve the security and performance of your application.
Regularly Update Dependencies: Keep your application dependencies up to date to patch security vulnerabilities and improve performance.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Here are some common issues you might encounter when setting up Supabase authentication with Docker and how to resolve them:

Supabase Connection Errors: If you're getting connection errors, make sure your Supabase URL and API key are correct. Also, check that your Docker container can access the Supabase server.
Authentication Errors: If you're getting authentication errors, double-check your email and password. Also, make sure you've enabled the authentication method in the Supabase dashboard.
Docker Container Errors: If your Docker container is crashing, check the logs for any error messages. This can help you identify the cause of the issue.
Port Conflicts: If you're getting port conflicts, make sure no other applications are using the same ports as your Docker container.

Conclusion

So, there you have it! Setting up Supabase authentication with Docker might seem daunting at first, but with this guide, you should be well on your way to creating a secure and scalable authentication system. Remember to follow the best practices and troubleshoot any issues that arise. Happy coding, and may your authentication be ever secure!

By following this guide, you've not only set up Supabase authentication with Docker but also gained a deeper understanding of how these technologies work together. This knowledge will be invaluable as you continue to build and deploy more complex applications. Keep experimenting, keep learning, and keep building awesome stuff!