Supabase for your backend

To actively follow this chapter and create the application, ensure that both Node.js and npm are installed on your local computer. Alternatives such as yarn and pnpm can also be used. pnpm might be a preferred choice due to its efficiency and several advantages. In fact, with pnpm, when a package is installed, it is stored in a global folder on your computer. Therefore, for each version of a module, there is always only one copy stored on the disk because it creates symbolic links and does not re-download the packages. When using npm or yarn, for example, if there are 10 projects that use "package A", there will be 10 copies of "package A" on the disk. So, pnpm saves a lot of disk space and installation time, let's use it.

You can also view the full code for this module in the Replit below:

The code snippets included in the chapter are deliberately minimal to focus attention on the fundamental steps, while in the GitHub repository, you can find the complete version.

Supabase for Your Backend#

After some evaluations, it's clear that the most interesting database to use for your application is Supabase. Below are the advantages:

• Highly integrated with Qwik: In fact, it is included in the official integrations of the framework, so compatibility is guaranteed by the team that oversees the project, as well as by the maintainers and the large community present.

• Supabase configuration: It's very simple and fast. In fact, in just a few minutes, you can obtain a working solution. All this is thanks to the UI interface that facilitates operations.

• Authentication and authorization: These operations are highly integrated with the ability to securely manage user accounts, roles, and permissions, ensuring safety and security for your data.

• Postgres support: This allows you to manage complex data relationships and queries effortlessly. This is a significant advantage over other platforms that often offer limited database capabilities.

• Supabase SDK: Managing the connection and all database operations is very simple thanks to the provided SDK.

• Real-time status: This supports listening to Postgres database changes, monitoring, and synchronizing shared state between clients or sending temporary messages from client to client with low latency. These features are not obvious for this kind of service, and knowing that you can use them effortlessly is very nice.

• Environments: It is possible to have multiple environments for your use. You can have the production environment, the test environment, and you can create all the environments you need.

• Migrations: Having multiple environments and evolving your database feature after feature, it is possible to automatically migrate the database schema. This guarantees consistency and saves you the burden of managing everything manually, avoiding human errors.

To be able to use Supabase's features, you must create an account, and you can do this directly from their site. You can also use your GitHub account to create the user very quickly.

Once the user has been created, it will be sufficient to create your project via the dashboard. Call it qwik-e-commerce.

In addition to the name, you are asked to set a password for your database and the region where to create your database for maximum performance. It is also possible to consult the service's prices, but it doesn't make much sense to list the current prices because this information could change over time. What is important, however, is that you are on the free plan.

Let's create a test table and add a new column test_column.