Walkthrough · Project build
Add a database with Supabase
Plan
Decide what to save before you touch a database. Five minutes here saves an evening later.
So far your project forgets everything the moment someone closes the page. A database is where it remembers things: messages, scores, sign-ups, packing lists. Think of it as a spreadsheet that lives online. Each table is a sheet, each row is one thing (one message), and each column is a detail about it (the text, when it was sent).
This walkthrough builds a guestbook: a page where visitors leave a short message and everyone can read them. It is small on purpose. Once it works, you swap in your own idea using the same steps. You will use Supabase, which gives you a real Postgres database with a free plan, and works well with Next.js.
Pick a prompt to plan your own data
I am a beginner building my first app with a database (Supabase, which is Postgres). My app idea: [your one-sentence idea] Design the smallest set of tables it needs: 1. Each table, with its columns and what type each one is 2. Who should be able to read, add, change and delete rows in each table 3. Anything I should leave out of the first version Keep it to as few tables as possible, and explain your choices in plain words.
Open it in your AI tool. Clicking copies the prompt, and ChatGPT and Grok open with it already filled in.
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More tools
App builders, in your browser:
Code editors on your computer. Open app only works once it is installed, so use Get it first if you do not have it.
- CursorOpen appGet it(opens in a new tab)
- VS CodeOpen appGet it(opens in a new tab)
- Antigravity IDEOpen appGet it(opens in a new tab)
- Antigravity 2.0Open appGet it(opens in a new tab)
Want the full list? Browse all app builders and coding editors (IDEs).
- Understood what a table, a row and a column are
- Know why Row Level Security matters before I start
- Sign in to tick these off and pick up where you left them.
Tools used in this build
Everything this walkthrough reaches for, with the directory entry for each.