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.

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#

1. Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
2. Enter your project details.
3. 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.

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.

1. Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
2. 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:

1# npm 6.x
2npm create vite@latest supabase-vue-3 --template vue
3
4# npm 7+, extra double-dash is needed:
5npm create vite@latest supabase-vue-3 -- --template vue
6
7cd supabase-vue-3

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

1npm 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.

1VITE_SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
2VITE_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.

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

const supabaseUrl = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_URL
const supabaseAnonKey = import.meta.env.VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey)

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

Set up a Login component#

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.

<script setup>
import { ref } from 'vue'
import { supabase } from '../supabase'

const loading = ref(false)
const email = ref('')

const handleLogin = async () => {
  try {
    loading.value = true
    const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOtp({
      email: email.value,
    })
    if (error) throw error
    alert('Check your email for the login link!')
  } catch (error) {
    if (error instanceof Error) {
      alert(error.message)
    }
  } finally {
    loading.value = false
  }
}
</script>

<template>
  <form class="row flex-center flex" @submit.prevent="handleLogin">
    <div class="col-6 form-widget">
      <h1 class="header">Supabase + Vue 3</h1>
      <p class="description">Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
      <div>
        <input class="inputField" required type="email" placeholder="Your email" v-model="email" />
      </div>
      <div>
        <input
          type="submit"
          class="button block"
          :value="loading ? 'Loading' : 'Send magic link'"
          :disabled="loading"
        />
      </div>
    </div>
  </form>
</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.

<script setup>
import { supabase } from '../supabase'
import { onMounted, ref, toRefs } from 'vue'

const props = defineProps(['session'])
const { session } = toRefs(props)

const loading = ref(true)
const username = ref('')
const website = ref('')
const avatar_url = ref('')

onMounted(() => {
  getProfile()
})

async function getProfile() {
  try {
    loading.value = true
    const { user } = session.value

    let { data, error, status } = await supabase
      .from('profiles')
      .select(`username, website, avatar_url`)
      .eq('id', user.id)
      .single()

    if (error && status !== 406) throw error

    if (data) {
      username.value = data.username
      website.value = data.website
      avatar_url.value = data.avatar_url
    }
  } catch (error) {
    alert(error.message)
  } finally {
    loading.value = false
  }
}

async function updateProfile() {
  try {
    loading.value = true
    const { user } = session.value

    const updates = {
      id: user.id,
      username: username.value,
      website: website.value,
      avatar_url: avatar_url.value,
      updated_at: new Date(),
    }

    let { error } = await supabase.from('profiles').upsert(updates)

    if (error) throw error
  } catch (error) {
    alert(error.message)
  } finally {
    loading.value = false
  }
}

async function signOut() {
  try {
    loading.value = true
    let { error } = await supabase.auth.signOut()
    if (error) throw error
  } catch (error) {
    alert(error.message)
  } finally {
    loading.value = false
  }
}
</script>

<template>
  <form class="form-widget" @submit.prevent="updateProfile">
    <div>
      <label for="email">Email</label>
      <input id="email" type="text" :value="session.user.email" disabled />
    </div>
    <div>
      <label for="username">Name</label>
      <input id="username" type="text" v-model="username" />
    </div>
    <div>
      <label for="website">Website</label>
      <input id="website" type="website" v-model="website" />
    </div>

    <div>
      <input
        type="submit"
        class="button primary block"
        :value="loading ? 'Loading ...' : 'Update'"
        :disabled="loading"
      />
    </div>

    <div>
      <button class="button block" @click="signOut" :disabled="loading">Sign Out</button>
    </div>
  </form>
</template>

Launch!#

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

<script setup>
import { onMounted, ref } from 'vue'
import Account from './components/Account.vue'
import Auth from './components/Auth.vue'
import { supabase } from './supabase'

const session = ref()

onMounted(() => {
  supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data }) => {
    session.value = data.session
  })

  supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_, _session) => {
    session.value = _session
  })
})
</script>

<template>
  <div class="container" style="padding: 50px 0 100px 0">
    <Account v-if="session" :session="session" />
    <Auth v-else />
  </div>
</template>

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

1npm run dev

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

Bonus: Profile photos#

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

Create an upload widget#

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

<script setup>
import { ref, toRefs, watch } from 'vue'
import { supabase } from '../supabase'

const prop = defineProps(['path', 'size'])
const { path, size } = toRefs(prop)

const emit = defineEmits(['upload', 'update:path'])
const uploading = ref(false)
const src = ref('')
const files = ref()

const downloadImage = async () => {
  try {
    const { data, error } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path.value)
    if (error) throw error
    src.value = URL.createObjectURL(data)
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error downloading image: ', error.message)
  }
}

const uploadAvatar = async (evt) => {
  files.value = evt.target.files
  try {
    uploading.value = true
    if (!files.value || files.value.length === 0) {
      throw new Error('You must select an image to upload.')
    }

    const file = files.value[0]
    const fileExt = file.name.split('.').pop()
    const filePath = `${Math.random()}.${fileExt}`

    let { error: uploadError } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').upload(filePath, file)

    if (uploadError) throw uploadError
    emit('update:path', filePath)
    emit('upload')
  } catch (error) {
    alert(error.message)
  } finally {
    uploading.value = false
  }
}

watch(path, () => {
  if (path.value) downloadImage()
})
</script>

<template>
  <div>
    <img
      v-if="src"
      :src="src"
      alt="Avatar"
      class="avatar image"
      :style="{ height: size + 'em', width: size + 'em' }"
    />
    <div v-else class="avatar no-image" :style="{ height: size + 'em', width: size + 'em' }" />

    <div :style="{ width: size + 'em' }">
      <label class="button primary block" for="single">
        {{ uploading ? 'Uploading ...' : 'Upload' }}
      </label>
      <input
        style="visibility: hidden; position: absolute"
        type="file"
        id="single"
        accept="image/*"
        @change="uploadAvatar"
        :disabled="uploading"
      />
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

Add the new widget#

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

<script>
// Import the new component
import Avatar from './Avatar.vue'
</script>

<template>
  <form class="form-widget" @submit.prevent="updateProfile">
    <!-- Add to body -->
    <Avatar v-model:path="avatar_url" @upload="updateProfile" size="10" />

    <!-- Other form elements -->
  </form>
</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:

create or replace function delete_storage_object(bucket text, object text, out status int, out content text)
returns record
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
declare
  project_url text := '<YOURPROJECTURL>';
  service_role_key text := '<YOURSERVICEROLEKEY>'; --  full access needed
  url text := project_url||'/storage/v1/object/'||bucket||'/'||object;
begin
  select
      into status, content
           result.status::int, result.content::text
      FROM extensions.http((
    'DELETE',
    url,
    ARRAY[extensions.http_header('authorization','Bearer '||service_role_key)],
    NULL,
    NULL)::extensions.http_request) as result;
end;
$$;

create or replace function delete_avatar(avatar_url text, out status int, out content text)
returns record
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
begin
  select
      into status, content
           result.status, result.content
      from public.delete_storage_object('avatars', avatar_url) as result;
end;
$$;

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

create or replace function delete_old_avatar()
returns trigger
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
declare
  status int;
  content text;
begin
  if coalesce(old.avatar_url, '') <> ''
      and (tg_op = 'DELETE' or (old.avatar_url <> new.avatar_url)) then
    select
      into status, content
      result.status, result.content
      from public.delete_avatar(old.avatar_url) as result;
    if status <> 200 then
      raise warning 'Could not delete avatar: % %', status, content;
    end if;
  end if;
  if tg_op = 'DELETE' then
    return old;
  end if;
  return new;
end;
$$;

create trigger before_profile_changes
  before update of avatar_url or delete on public.profiles
  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.

create or replace function delete_old_profile()
returns trigger
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
begin
  delete from public.profiles where id = old.id;
  return old;
end;
$$;

create trigger before_delete_user
  before delete on auth.users
  for each row execute function public.delete_old_profile();

At this stage you have a fully functional application!