supabase/web/docs/guides/local-development.mdx

---
id: local-development
title: Local Development
description: How to use Supabase on your local development machine.
---

import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs';
import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem';

Supabase provides a CLI so that you can develop your application locally, rather than connecting to a live project.

## Before you begin

If you're using the CLI, please record your steps! You can help us improve by adding missing details and fixing errors. 

Our CLI is still under heavy development, and is missing some features:

- You cannot yet deploy your local changes to your live project using the CLI. You will need to take a "dump" of your database schema 
and run it on your live database.
- The self-hosted version of Supabase does not include a UI yet. 
We are working on this in stages, starting with our [UI library](https://github.com/supabase/ui) 
([more context](https://github.com/supabase/supabase/discussions/1001#discussioncomment-558696)).

In the meantime, here are some suggested tools for interacting with your Postgres Database:

- `pgadmin`: https://www.pgadmin.org 
- `dbeaver`: https://dbeaver.com 
- `BeeKeeper`: https://beekeeperstudio.io
- `HeidiSQL`: https://heidisql.com
- `Table Plus`: https://www.tableplus.io

## Prerequisites

Our CLI makes heavy use of [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/install), so make sure it is installed and configured to 
[run with elevated privileges](https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/#manage-docker-as-a-non-root-user).

You will also need to install [NPM](https://docs.npmjs.com/downloading-and-installing-node-js-and-npm).

## Install the CLI

```bash
npm install -g supabase
```


## Initialize your project

```bash
supabase init
```

You will be guided through a series of questions, and if everything goes well, you will see an output similar to this:

```txt
✔ Port for Supabase URL: · 8000
✔ Port for PostgreSQL database: · 5432
✔ Project initialized.
Supabase URL: http://localhost:8000
Supabase Key: eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJzdXBhYmFzZSIsImlhdCI6MTYwMzk2ODgzNCwiZXhwIjoyNTUwNjUzNjM0LCJhdWQiOiIiLCJzdWIiOiIiLCJSb2xlIjoicG9zdGdyZXMifQ.magCcozTMKNrl76Tj2dsM7XTl_YH0v0ilajzAvIlw3U
Database URL: postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres

Run supabase start to start local Supabase.
```

This command will create a `.supabase` folder which holds all the configuration for developing your project locally. You don't need to check this into version control. 


## Start


```bash
supabase start
```

This command uses Docker Compose to start all the open source [services](/docs/#how-it-works) of Supabase. This command will take a while to run, there are a lot of services to build.

Once this is running, you will see the healthy services in Docker Dashboard:

![Docker Supabase](/img/docker-supabase.png)


#### Accessing Services Directly


<Tabs
defaultValue="Postgres"
values={[
  {label: 'Postgres', value: 'Postgres'},
  {label: 'API Gateway', value: 'Kong'},
]}>
<TabItem value="Postgres">

```sh
# Default URL:
postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/postgres
```

The local Postgres instance can be accessed through [`psql`](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/app-psql.html) 
or any other Postgres client, such as [pgadmin](https://www.pgadmin.org/).

For example:

```bash
psql -h localhost -d postgres -U postgres -W

# Enter your password (default is "postgres")
```

</TabItem>
<TabItem value="Kong">

```sh
# Default URL:
http://localhost:8000/v1?apikey=SUPABASE_KEY
```

All of the services are accessible through the API Gateway [Kong](https://github.com/Kong/kong)). 
If you are accessing these services without the client libraries, you may need to pass the client keys as an `Authorization` header. 
You can learn more about these JWT headers in our [Resources](http://localhost:3005/docs/learn/auth-deep-dive/auth-deep-dive-jwts).


```sh
curl 'http://localhost:8000/v1' \
    -H "apikey: SUPABASE_KEY" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer SUPABASE_KEY"

http://localhost:8000/v1/rest/v1/           # REST (PostgREST)
http://localhost:8000/v1/realtime/v1/       # Realtime
http://localhost:8000/v1/storage/v1/        # Storage
http://localhost:8000/v1/auth/v1/           # Auth (GoTrue)
```


</TabItem>
</Tabs>


## Example application

Now that we've learned how to install and start Supabase locally, let's see how you can use it with a frontend application. 
This quick-start guide will show you, how you can configure a React app which uses the Supabase stack.

```bash
# create a fresh React app
npx create-react-app react-demo --use-npm

# move into the new folder
cd react-demo

# set up Supabase 
supabase init 

# Save the install supabase-js library
npm install --save @supabase/supabase-js
```

Now that your application is prepared, you can use Supabase anywhere in your application:

```js
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'

const SUPABASE_URL = 'http://localhost:8000'
const SUPABASE_ANON_KEY = 'eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJzdXBhYmFzZSIsImlhdCI6MTYwMzk2ODgzNCwiZXhwIjoyNTUwNjUzNjM0LCJhdWQiOiIiLCJzdWIiOiIiLCJSb2xlIjoicG9zdGdyZXMifQ.magCcozTMKNrl76Tj2dsM7XTl_YH0v0ilajzAvIlw3U'

const supabase = createClient(SUPABASE_URL, SUPABASE_ANON_KEY)
```

Copy this snippet into `App.js`, and then start the backend and the frontend:

```bash
supabase start  # Start Supabase
npm start       # Start the React app
```

If everything is working, you should have a React app running on `http://localhost:3000` and Supabase services running on `http://localhost:8000`

## Stop

```bash
supabase stop
```

When you're finished with Supabase, run `supabase stop` to stop the Docker services.

## Migrations

[Coming soon.](https://supabase.io/new/blog/2021/03/31/supabase-cli#migrations)


## Next steps

- Got a question? [Ask here](https://github.com/supabase/supabase/discussions).
- CLI repository: [GitHub](https://github.com/supabase/cli).
- Sign in: [app.supabase.io](https://app.supabase.io)