Build a User Management App with Vue 3

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a basic user management app. The app authenticates and identifies the user, stores their profile information in the database, and allows the user to log in, update their profile details, and upload a profile photo. The app uses:

Supabase Database - a Postgres database for storing your user data and Row Level Security so data is protected and users can only access their own information.
Supabase Auth - users log in through magic links sent to their email (without having to set up passwords).
Supabase Storage - users can upload a profile photo.

Supabase User Management example

note

If you get stuck while working through this guide, refer to the full example on GitHub.

Project setup#

Before we start building we're going to set up our Database and API. This is as simple as starting a new Project in Supabase and then creating a "schema" inside the database.

Create a project#

Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
Enter your project details.
Wait for the new database to launch.

Set up the database schema#

Now we are going to set up the database schema. We can use the "User Management Starter" quickstart in the SQL Editor, or you can just copy/paste the SQL from below and run it yourself.

Go to the SQL Editor page in the Dashboard.
Click User Management Starter.
Click Run.

note

You can easily pull the database schema down to your local project by running the db pull command. Read the local development docs for detailed instructions.


_10supabase link --project-ref <project-id>
_10# You can get <project-id> from your project's dashboard URL: https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<project-id>
_10supabase db pull

Get the API Keys#

Now that you've created some database tables, you are ready to insert data using the auto-generated API. We just need to get the Project URL and anon key from the API settings.

Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
Find your Project URL, anon, and service_role keys on this page.

Building the App#

Let's start building the Vue 3 app from scratch.

Initialize a Vue 3 app#

We can quickly use Vite with Vue 3 Template to initialize an app called supabase-vue-3:


_10# npm 6.x
_10npm create vite@latest supabase-vue-3 --template vue
_10
_10# npm 7+, extra double-dash is needed:
_10npm create vite@latest supabase-vue-3 -- --template vue
_10
_10cd supabase-vue-3

Then let's install the only additional dependency: supabase-js


_10npm install @supabase/supabase-js

And finally we want to save the environment variables in a .env. All we need are the API URL and the anon key that you copied earlier.

.env


_10VITE_SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
_10VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

With the API credentials in place, create an src/supabase.js helper file to initialize the Supabase client. These variables are exposed on the browser, and that's completely fine since we have Row Level Security enabled on our Database.

src/supabase.js


_10import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
_10
_10const supabaseUrl = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_URL
_10const supabaseAnonKey = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY
_10
_10export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey)

Optionally, update src/style.css to style the app.

Set up an src/components/Auth.vue component to manage logins and sign ups. We'll use Magic Links, so users can sign in with their email without using passwords.

/src/components/Auth.vue


_44<script setup>
_44import { ref } from 'vue'
_44import { supabase } from '../supabase'
_44
_44const loading = ref(false)
_44const email = ref('')
_44
_44const handleLogin = async () => {
_44  try {
_44    loading.value = true
_44    const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOtp({
_44      email: email.value,
_44    })
_44    if (error) throw error
_44    alert('Check your email for the login link!')
_44  } catch (error) {
_44    if (error instanceof Error) {
_44      alert(error.message)
_44    }
_44  } finally {
_44    loading.value = false
_44  }
_44}
_44</script>
_44
_44<template>
_44  <form class="row flex-center flex" @submit.prevent="handleLogin">
_44    <div class="col-6 form-widget">
_44      <h1 class="header">Supabase + Vue 3</h1>
_44      <p class="description">Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
_44      <div>
_44        <input class="inputField" required type="email" placeholder="Your email" v-model="email" />
_44      </div>
_44      <div>
_44        <input
_44          type="submit"
_44          class="button block"
_44          :value="loading ? 'Loading' : 'Send magic link'"
_44          :disabled="loading"
_44        />
_44      </div>
_44    </div>
_44  </form>
_44</template>

Account page#

After a user is signed in we can allow them to edit their profile details and manage their account. Create a new src/components/Account.vue component to handle this.

src/components/Account.vue


_106<script setup>
_106import { supabase } from '../supabase'
_106import { onMounted, ref, toRefs } from 'vue'
_106
_106const props = defineProps(['session'])
_106const { session } = toRefs(props)
_106
_106const loading = ref(true)
_106const username = ref('')
_106const website = ref('')
_106const avatar_url = ref('')
_106
_106onMounted(() => {
_106  getProfile()
_106})
_106
_106async function getProfile() {
_106  try {
_106    loading.value = true
_106    const { user } = session.value
_106
_106    const { data, error, status } = await supabase
_106      .from('profiles')
_106      .select(`username, website, avatar_url`)
_106      .eq('id', user.id)
_106      .single()
_106
_106    if (error && status !== 406) throw error
_106
_106    if (data) {
_106      username.value = data.username
_106      website.value = data.website
_106      avatar_url.value = data.avatar_url
_106    }
_106  } catch (error) {
_106    alert(error.message)
_106  } finally {
_106    loading.value = false
_106  }
_106}
_106
_106async function updateProfile() {
_106  try {
_106    loading.value = true
_106    const { user } = session.value
_106
_106    const updates = {
_106      id: user.id,
_106      username: username.value,
_106      website: website.value,
_106      avatar_url: avatar_url.value,
_106      updated_at: new Date(),
_106    }
_106
_106    const { error } = await supabase.from('profiles').upsert(updates)
_106
_106    if (error) throw error
_106  } catch (error) {
_106    alert(error.message)
_106  } finally {
_106    loading.value = false
_106  }
_106}
_106
_106async function signOut() {
_106  try {
_106    loading.value = true
_106    const { error } = await supabase.auth.signOut()
_106    if (error) throw error
_106  } catch (error) {
_106    alert(error.message)
_106  } finally {
_106    loading.value = false
_106  }
_106}
_106</script>
_106
_106<template>
_106  <form class="form-widget" @submit.prevent="updateProfile">
_106    <div>
_106      <label for="email">Email</label>
_106      <input id="email" type="text" :value="session.user.email" disabled />
_106    </div>
_106    <div>
_106      <label for="username">Name</label>
_106      <input id="username" type="text" v-model="username" />
_106    </div>
_106    <div>
_106      <label for="website">Website</label>
_106      <input id="website" type="url" v-model="website" />
_106    </div>
_106
_106    <div>
_106      <input
_106        type="submit"
_106        class="button primary block"
_106        :value="loading ? 'Loading ...' : 'Update'"
_106        :disabled="loading"
_106      />
_106    </div>
_106
_106    <div>
_106      <button class="button block" @click="signOut" :disabled="loading">Sign Out</button>
_106    </div>
_106  </form>
_106</template>

Launch!#

Now that we have all the components in place, let's update App.vue:

src/App.vue


_25<script setup>
_25import { onMounted, ref } from 'vue'
_25import Account from './components/Account.vue'
_25import Auth from './components/Auth.vue'
_25import { supabase } from './supabase'
_25
_25const session = ref()
_25
_25onMounted(() => {
_25  supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data }) => {
_25    session.value = data.session
_25  })
_25
_25  supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_, _session) => {
_25    session.value = _session
_25  })
_25})
_25</script>
_25
_25<template>
_25  <div class="container" style="padding: 50px 0 100px 0">
_25    <Account v-if="session" :session="session" />
_25    <Auth v-else />
_25  </div>
_25</template>

Once that's done, run this in a terminal window:


_10npm run dev

And then open the browser to localhost:5173 and you should see the completed app.

Supabase Vue 3

Bonus: Profile photos#

Every Supabase project is configured with Storage for managing large files like photos and videos.

Create a new src/components/Avatar.vue component that allows users to upload profile photos:

src/components/Avatar.vue


_77<script setup>
_77import { ref, toRefs, watch } from 'vue'
_77import { supabase } from '../supabase'
_77
_77const prop = defineProps(['path', 'size'])
_77const { path, size } = toRefs(prop)
_77
_77const emit = defineEmits(['upload', 'update:path'])
_77const uploading = ref(false)
_77const src = ref('')
_77const files = ref()
_77
_77const downloadImage = async () => {
_77  try {
_77    const { data, error } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path.value)
_77    if (error) throw error
_77    src.value = URL.createObjectURL(data)
_77  } catch (error) {
_77    console.error('Error downloading image: ', error.message)
_77  }
_77}
_77
_77const uploadAvatar = async (evt) => {
_77  files.value = evt.target.files
_77  try {
_77    uploading.value = true
_77    if (!files.value || files.value.length === 0) {
_77      throw new Error('You must select an image to upload.')
_77    }
_77
_77    const file = files.value[0]
_77    const fileExt = file.name.split('.').pop()
_77    const filePath = `${Math.random()}.${fileExt}`
_77
_77    const { error: uploadError } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').upload(filePath, file)
_77
_77    if (uploadError) throw uploadError
_77    emit('update:path', filePath)
_77    emit('upload')
_77  } catch (error) {
_77    alert(error.message)
_77  } finally {
_77    uploading.value = false
_77  }
_77}
_77
_77watch(path, () => {
_77  if (path.value) downloadImage()
_77})
_77</script>
_77
_77<template>
_77  <div>
_77    <img
_77      v-if="src"
_77      :src="src"
_77      alt="Avatar"
_77      class="avatar image"
_77      :style="{ height: size + 'em', width: size + 'em' }"
_77    />
_77    <div v-else class="avatar no-image" :style="{ height: size + 'em', width: size + 'em' }" />
_77
_77    <div :style="{ width: size + 'em' }">
_77      <label class="button primary block" for="single">
_77        {{ uploading ? 'Uploading ...' : 'Upload' }}
_77      </label>
_77      <input
_77        style="visibility: hidden; position: absolute"
_77        type="file"
_77        id="single"
_77        accept="image/*"
_77        @change="uploadAvatar"
_77        :disabled="uploading"
_77      />
_77    </div>
_77  </div>
_77</template>

And then we can add the widget to the Account page in src/components/Account.vue:

src/components/Account.vue


_13<script>
_13// Import the new component
_13import Avatar from './Avatar.vue'
_13</script>
_13
_13<template>
_13  <form class="form-widget" @submit.prevent="updateProfile">
_13    <!-- Add to body -->
_13    <Avatar v-model:path="avatar_url" @upload="updateProfile" size="10" />
_13
_13    <!-- Other form elements -->
_13  </form>
_13</template>

Storage management#

If you upload additional profile photos, they'll accumulate in the avatars bucket because of their random names with only the latest being referenced from public.profiles and the older versions getting orphaned.

To automatically remove obsolete storage objects, extend the database triggers. Note that it is not sufficient to delete the objects from the storage.objects table because that would orphan and leak the actual storage objects in the S3 backend. Instead, invoke the storage API within Postgres via the http extension.

Enable the http extension for the extensions schema in the Dashboard. Then, define the following SQL functions in the SQL Editor to delete storage objects via the API:


_34create or replace function delete_storage_object(bucket text, object text, out status int, out content text)
_34returns record
_34language 'plpgsql'
_34security definer
_34as $$
_34declare
_34  project_url text := '<YOURPROJECTURL>';
_34  service_role_key text := '<YOURSERVICEROLEKEY>'; --  full access needed
_34  url text := project_url||'/storage/v1/object/'||bucket||'/'||object;
_34begin
_34  select
_34      into status, content
_34           result.status::int, result.content::text
_34      FROM extensions.http((
_34    'DELETE',
_34    url,
_34    ARRAY[extensions.http_header('authorization','Bearer '||service_role_key)],
_34    NULL,
_34    NULL)::extensions.http_request) as result;
_34end;
_34$$;
_34
_34create or replace function delete_avatar(avatar_url text, out status int, out content text)
_34returns record
_34language 'plpgsql'
_34security definer
_34as $$
_34begin
_34  select
_34      into status, content
_34           result.status, result.content
_34      from public.delete_storage_object('avatars', avatar_url) as result;
_34end;
_34$$;

Next, add a trigger that removes any obsolete avatar whenever the profile is updated or deleted:


_32create or replace function delete_old_avatar()
_32returns trigger
_32language 'plpgsql'
_32security definer
_32as $$
_32declare
_32  status int;
_32  content text;
_32  avatar_name text;
_32begin
_32  if coalesce(old.avatar_url, '') <> ''
_32      and (tg_op = 'DELETE' or (old.avatar_url <> new.avatar_url)) then
_32    -- extract avatar name
_32    avatar_name := old.avatar_url;
_32    select
_32      into status, content
_32      result.status, result.content
_32      from public.delete_avatar(avatar_name) as result;
_32    if status <> 200 then
_32      raise warning 'Could not delete avatar: % %', status, content;
_32    end if;
_32  end if;
_32  if tg_op = 'DELETE' then
_32    return old;
_32  end if;
_32  return new;
_32end;
_32$$;
_32
_32create trigger before_profile_changes
_32  before update of avatar_url or delete on public.profiles
_32  for each row execute function public.delete_old_avatar();

Finally, delete the public.profile row before a user is deleted. If this step is omitted, you won't be able to delete users without first manually deleting their avatar image.


_14create or replace function delete_old_profile()
_14returns trigger
_14language 'plpgsql'
_14security definer
_14as $$
_14begin
_14  delete from public.profiles where id = old.id;
_14  return old;
_14end;
_14$$;
_14
_14create trigger before_delete_user
_14  before delete on auth.users
_14  for each row execute function public.delete_old_profile();

At this stage you have a fully functional application!

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Build a User Management App with Vue 3

Project setup#

Create a project#

Set up the database schema#

Get the API Keys#

Building the App#

Initialize a Vue 3 app#

Account page#

Launch!#

Bonus: Profile photos#

Create an upload widget#

Add the new widget#

Storage management#

Build a User Management App with Vue 3

Project setup#

Create a project#

Set up the database schema#

Get the API Keys#

Building the App#

Initialize a Vue 3 app#

Set up a Login component#

Account page#

Launch!#

Bonus: Profile photos#

Create an upload widget#

Add the new widget#

Storage management#