Supabase MCP Server

  

Let Cursor & Windsurf manage your Supabase and run SQL queries. Autonomously. In a safe way.

A feature-rich MCP server that enables Cursor and Windsurf to safely interact with Supabase databases. It provides tools for database management, SQL query execution, and Supabase Management API access with built-in safety controls.

Table of contents

Getting started • Feature overview • Troubleshooting • Roadmap

✨ Key features

• 💻 Compatible with Cursor, Windsurf, Cline and other MCP clients supporting stdio protocol
• 🔐 Control read-only and read-write modes of SQL query execution
• 🔄 Robust transaction handling for both direct and pooled database connections
• 💻 Manage your Supabase projects with Supabase Management API
• 🧑‍💻 Manage users with Supabase Auth Admin methods via Python SDK
• 🔨 Pre-built tools to help Cursor & Windsurf work with MCP more effectively
• 📦 Dead-simple install & setup via package manager (uv, pipx, etc.)

Getting Started

Prerequisites

Installing the server requires the following on your system:

• Python 3.12+
• PostgresSQL 16+

If you plan to install via uv, ensure it's installed.

PostgreSQL Installation

⚠️ Important: PostgreSQL must be installed BEFORE installing project dependencies, as psycopg2 requires PostgreSQL development libraries during compilation.

MacOS

brew install postgresql@16

Windows

• Download and install PostgreSQL 16+ from https://www.postgresql.org/download/windows/
• Ensure "PostgreSQL Server" and "Command Line Tools" are selected during installation

Step 1. MCP Server Installation

Since v0.2.0 I introduced support for package installation. You can use your favorite Python package manager to install the server via:

# if pipx is installed (recommended)
pipx install supabase-mcp-server

# if uv is installed
uv pip install supabase-mcp-server

pipx is recommended because it creates isolated environments for each package.

You can also install the server manually by cloning the repository and running pipx install -editable . from the root directory.

⚠️ If you run into psycopg2 compilation issues, you might be missing PostgreSQL development packages. See above.

Installing from source

If you would like to install from source, for example for local development:

uv venv
# On Mac
source .venv/bin/activate
# On Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate
# Install package in editable mode
uv pip install -e .

Installing via Smithery.ai

Please report any issues with Smithery, as I haven't tested it yet.

To install Supabase MCP Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @alexander-zuev/supabase-mcp --client claude

Step 2. Configuration

After installing the package, you'll need to configure your database connection settings. The server supports both local and remote Supabase instances.

Local Supabase instance (Default)

Server is pre-configured to connect to the local Supabase instance using default settings:

• Host: 127.0.0.1:54322
• Password: postgres

💡 As long as you didn't modify the default settings and you want to connect to the local instance, you don't need to set environment variables.

Remote Supabase instance

⚠️ IMPORTANT WARNING: Session pooling connections are not supported and there are no plans to support it yet. Let me know if you feel there is a use case for supporting this in an MCP server

For remote Supabase projects, you need to configure:

• SUPABASE_PROJECT_REF - Your project reference (found in project URL)
• SUPABASE_DB_PASSWORD - Your database password
• SUPABASE_REGION - (Optional) Defaults to us-east-1
• SUPABASE_ACCESS_TOKEN - (Optional) For Management API access

You can get your SUPABASE_PROJECT_REF from your project's dashboard URL:

• https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<supabase-project-ref>

The server supports all Supabase regions:

• us-west-1 - West US (North California)
• us-east-1 - East US (North Virginia) - default
• us-east-2 - East US (Ohio)
• ca-central-1 - Canada (Central)
• eu-west-1 - West EU (Ireland)
• eu-west-2 - West Europe (London)
• eu-west-3 - West EU (Paris)
• eu-central-1 - Central EU (Frankfurt)
• eu-central-2 - Central Europe (Zurich)
• eu-north-1 - North EU (Stockholm)
• ap-south-1 - South Asia (Mumbai)
• ap-southeast-1 - Southeast Asia (Singapore)
• ap-northeast-1 - Northeast Asia (Tokyo)
• ap-northeast-2 - Northeast Asia (Seoul)
• ap-southeast-2 - Oceania (Sydney)
• sa-east-1 - South America (São Paulo)

Method of MCP configuration differs between Cursor and Windsurf. Read the relevant section to understand how to configure connection.

Cursor

Since v0.46 there are two ways to configure MCP servers in Cursor:

• per project basis -> create mcp.json in your project / repo folder and .env to configure connection
• globally -> create an MCP server in Settings and configure using .env which is supported by this MCP server only

You can create project-specific MCP by:

• creating .cursor folder in your repo, if doesn't exist
• creating or updating mcp.json file with the following settings

⚠ Environment variables: If you are configuring MCP server on a per-project basis you still need to create .env file for connection settings to be picked up. I wasn't able to configure mcp.json to pick up my env vars 😔

{
	"mcpServers": {
	  "filesystem": {
		"command": "supabase-mcp-server",
	  }
	}
  }

Alternatively, if you want to configure MCP servers globally (i.e. not for each project), you can use configure connection settings by updating an .env file in a global config folder by running the following commands:

# Create config directory and navigate to it
# On macOS/Linux
mkdir -p ~/.config/supabase-mcp
cd ~/.config/supabase-mcp

# On Windows (in PowerShell)
mkdir -Force "$env:APPDATA\supabase-mcp"
cd "$env:APPDATA\supabase-mcp"

This creates the necessary config folder where your environment file will be stored.

# Create and edit .env file
# On macOS/Linux
nano ~/.config/supabase-mcp/.env

# On Windows (PowerShell)
notepad "$env:APPDATA\supabase-mcp\.env"

This will open the .env file. Once the file is open, copy & paste the following:

SUPABASE_PROJECT_REF=your-project-ref
SUPABASE_DB_PASSWORD=your-db-password
SUPABASE_REGION=us-east-1  # optional, defaults to us-east-1
SUPABASE_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-access-token  # optional, for management API

Verify the file exists - you should see the values you have just set:

# On macOS/Linux
cat ~/.config/supabase-mcp/.env

# On Windows (PowerShell)
Get-Content "$env:APPDATA\supabase-mcp\.env"

You can find global config file:

• Windows: %APPDATA%/supabase-mcp/.env
• macOS/Linux: ~/.config/supabase-mcp/.env

Windsurf

Windsurf supports de facto standard .json format for MCP Servers configuration. You can configure the server in mcp_config.json file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
      "supabase": {
        "command": "/Users/username/.local/bin/supabase-mcp-server",  // update path
        "env": {
          "SUPABASE_PROJECT_REF": "your-project-ref",
          "SUPABASE_DB_PASSWORD": "your-db-password",
          "SUPABASE_REGION": "us-east-1",  // optional, defaults to us-east-1
          "SUPABASE_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-access-token"  // optional, for management API
        }
      }
    }
}

💡 Finding the server path:

• macOS/Linux: Run which supabase-mcp-server
• Windows: Run where supabase-mcp-server

Configuration Precedence

The server looks for configuration in this order:

1. Environment variables (highest priority)
2. Local .env file in current directory
3. Global config file:
   • Windows: %APPDATA%/supabase-mcp/.env
   • macOS/Linux: ~/.config/supabase-mcp/.env
4. Default settings (local development)

Step 3. Running MCP Server in Cursor/Windsurf

In general, any MCP client that supports stdio protocol should work with this MCP server (Cline, for example) but I haven't tested it with anything except Cursor/Windsurf.

Cursor

Go to Settings -> Features -> MCP Servers and add a new server with this configuration:

# can be set to any name
name: supabase
type: command
# if you installed with pipx
command: supabase-mcp-server
# if you installed with uv
command: uv run supabase-mcp-server

If configuration is correct, you should see a green dot indicator and the number of tools exposed by the server.

Windsurf

Go to Cascade -> Click on the hammer icon -> Configure -> Fill in the configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
      "supabase": {
        "command": "/Users/username/.local/bin/supabase-mcp-server",  // update path
        "env": {
          "SUPABASE_PROJECT_REF": "your-project-ref",
          "SUPABASE_DB_PASSWORD": "your-db-password",
          "SUPABASE_REGION": "us-east-1",  // optional, defaults to us-east-1
          "SUPABASE_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-access-token"  // optional, for management API
        }
      }
    }
}

If configuration is correct, you should see green dot indicator and clickable supabase server in the list of available servers.

Troubleshooting

Here are some tips & tricks that might help you:

• Debug installation - run supabase-mcp-server directly from the terminal to see if it works. If it doesn't, there might be an issue with the installation.
• MCP Server configuration - if the above step works, it means the server is installed and configured correctly. As long as you provided the right command, IDE should be able to connect. Make sure to provide the right path to the server executable.
• Environment variables - to connect to the right database, make sure you either set env variables in mcp_config.json or in .env file placed in a global config directory (~/.config/supabase-mcp/.env on macOS/Linux or %APPDATA%\supabase-mcp\.env on Windows).
• Accessing logs - The MCP server writes detailed logs to a file:
  • Log file location:
    • macOS/Linux: ~/.local/share/supabase-mcp/mcp_server.log
    • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.local\share\supabase-mcp\mcp_server.log
  • Logs include connection status, configuration details, and operation results
  • View logs using any text editor or terminal commands:

    # On macOS/Linux
    cat ~/.local/share/supabase-mcp/mcp_server.log
    
    # On Windows (PowerShell)
    Get-Content "$env:USERPROFILE\.local\share\supabase-mcp\mcp_server.log"

If you are stuck or any of the instructions above are incorrect, please raise an issue.

MCP Inspector

A super useful tool to help debug MCP server issues is MCP Inspector. If you installed from source, you can run supabase-mcp-inspector from the project repo and it will run the inspector instance. Coupled with logs this will give you complete overview over what's happening in the server.

📝 Running supabase-mcp-inspector, if installed from package, doesn't work properly - I will validate and fix in the cominng release.

Feature Overview

Database query tools

Since v0.3.0 server supports both read-only and data modification operations:

• Read operations: SELECT queries for data retrieval
• Data Manipulation Language (DML): INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE operations for data changes
• Data Definition Language (DDL): CREATE, ALTER, DROP operations for schema changes*

*Note: DDL operations require:

1. Read-write mode enabled via live_dangerously
2. Sufficient permissions for the connected database role

Transaction Handling

The server supports two approaches for executing write operations:

1. Explicit Transaction Control (Recommended):

   BEGIN;
   CREATE TABLE public.test_table (id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT);
   COMMIT;

2. Single Statements:

   CREATE TABLE public.test_table (id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY, name TEXT);

For DDL operations (CREATE/ALTER/DROP), tool description appropriately guides Cursor/Windsurft to use explicit transaction control with BEGIN/COMMIT blocks.

Connection Types

This MCP server uses::

• Direct Database Connection: when connecting to a local Supabase instance
• Transaction Pooler Connections: when connecting to a remote Supabase instance

When connecting via Supabase's Transaction Pooler, some complex transaction patterns may not work as expected. For schema changes in these environments, use explicit transaction blocks or consider using Supabase migrations or the SQL Editor in the dashboard.

Available database tools:

• get_db_schemas - Lists all database schemas with their sizes and table counts

• get_tables - Lists all tables in a schema with their sizes, row counts, and metadata

• get_table_schema - Gets detailed table structure including columns, keys, and relationships

• execute_sql_query - Executes raw SQL queries with comprehensive support for all PostgreSQL operations:

  • Supports all query types (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, ALTER, DROP, etc.)
  • Handles transaction control statements (BEGIN, COMMIT, ROLLBACK)

• Supported modes:

  • read-only - only read-only queries are allowed (default mode)
  • read-write - all SQL operations are allowed when explicitly enabled

• Safety features:

  • Starts in read-only mode by default
  • Requires explicit mode switch for write operations
  • Automatically resets to read-only mode after write operations
  • Intelligent transaction state detection to prevent errors
  • SQL query validation [TODO]

Management API tools

Since v0.3.0 server supports sending arbitrary requests to Supabase Management API with auto-injection of project ref and safety mode control:

• Includes the following tools:
  • send_management_api_request to send arbitrary requests to Supabase Management API, with auto-injection of project ref and safety mode control
  • get_management_api_spec to get the enriched API specification with safety information
  • get_management_api_safety_rules to get all safety rules including blocked and unsafe operations with human-readable explanations
  • live_dangerously to switch between safe and unsafe modes
• Safety features:
  • Divides API methods into safe, unsafe and blocked categories based on the risk of the operation
  • Allows to switch between safe and unsafe modes dynamically
  • Blocked operations (delete project, delete database) are not allowed regardless of the mode

Auth Admin tools

I was planning to add support for Python SDK methods to the MCP server. Upon consideration I decided to only add support for Auth admin methods as I often found myself manually creating test users which was prone to errors and time consuming. Now I can just ask Cursor to create a test user and it will be done seamlessly. Check out the full Auth Admin SDK method docs to know what it can do.

Since v0.3.6 server supports direct access to Supabase Auth Admin methods via Python SDK:

• Includes the following tools:
  • get_auth_admin_methods_spec to retrieve documentation for all available Auth Admin methods
  • call_auth_admin_method to directly invoke Auth Admin methods with proper parameter handling
• Supported methods:
  • get_user_by_id: Retrieve a user by their ID
  • list_users: List all users with pagination
  • create_user: Create a new user
  • delete_user: Delete a user by their ID
  • invite_user_by_email: Send an invite link to a user's email
  • generate_link: Generate an email link for various authentication purposes
  • update_user_by_id: Update user attributes by ID
  • delete_factor: Delete a factor on a user (currently not implemented in SDK)

Why use Auth Admin SDK instead of raw SQL queries?

The Auth Admin SDK provides several key advantages over direct SQL manipulation:

• Functionality: Enables operations not possible with SQL alone (invites, magic links, MFA)

• Accuracy: More reliable then creating and executing raw SQL queries on auth schemas

• Simplicity: Offers clear methods with proper validation and error handling

  • Response format:
    • All methods return structured Python objects instead of raw dictionaries
    • Object attributes can be accessed using dot notation (e.g., user.id instead of user["id"])
  • Edge cases and limitations:
    • UUID validation: Many methods require valid UUID format for user IDs and will return specific validation errors
    • Email configuration: Methods like invite_user_by_email and generate_link require email sending to be configured in your Supabase project
    • Link types: When generating links, different link types have different requirements:
      • signup links don't require the user to exist
      • magiclink and recovery links require the user to already exist in the system
    • Error handling: The server provides detailed error messages from the Supabase API, which may differ from the dashboard interface
    • Method availability: Some methods like delete_factor are exposed in the API but not fully implemented in the SDK

Roadmap

• 📦 Simplified installation via package manager - ✅ (v0.2.0)
• 🌎 Support for different Supabase regions - ✅ (v0.2.2)
• 🎮 Programmatic access to Supabase management API with safety controls - ✅ (v0.3.0)
• 👷‍♂️ Read and read-write database SQL queries with safety controls - ✅ (v0.3.0)
• 🔄 Robust transaction handling for both direct and pooled connections - ✅ (v0.3.2)
• 🐍 Support methods and objects available in native Python SDK - ✅ (v0.3.6)
• 🔍 Stronger SQL query validation (read vs write operations)
• 📝 Automatic versioning of DDL queries(?)
• 🪵 Tools / resources to more easily access database, edge functions logs (?)
• 👨‍💻 Supabase CLI integration (?)

Connect to Supabase logs

I'm planning to research, if it's possible to connect to Supabase db logs which might be useful for debugging (if not already supported.)

---

Enjoy! ☺️