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Getting Started

Use Supabase with iOS and SwiftUI

Learn how to create a Supabase project, add some sample data to your database, and query the data from an iOS app.

1. Create a Supabase project#

Before you can use Supabase, you need a Supabase project. You can create a project visually in the Dashboard or programmatically using the Management API.

Create a new Supabase project from the Dashboard of any organization you belong to.

2. Install agent skills (optional)#

Agent Skills are curated instruction sets that give your AI agent procedural knowledge about working with Supabase.

Install them in your project with:

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npx skills add supabase/agent-skills

3. Set up your database#

When your Supabase project is up and running, create an instruments table with some sample data. Then set only the privileges each Postgres role needs, add Row Level Security (RLS) for enhanced security for database data by default, and create an RLS policy to make the data in the table publicly readable.

Or do this manually in your project's SQL Editor, by pasting the SQL below, and clicking Run.

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-- Create the table
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create table instruments (
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  id bigint primary key generated always as identity,
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  name text not null
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);
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-- Insert sample data into the table
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insert into instruments (name)
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values
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  ('violin'),
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  ('viola'),
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  ('cello');
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-- Grant the privileges the role needs, which is read access
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grant select on public.instruments to anon;
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-- Enable row level security for the table
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alter table instruments enable row level security;
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-- Create a policy to allow the anon role to read from the instruments table
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create policy "public can read instruments"
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on public.instruments
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for select to anon
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using (true);

4. Create an iOS SwiftUI app with Xcode#

Select the Xcode > New Project > iOS > App menu item.

5. Install the Supabase client library#

Add the supabase-swift package to your app using the Swift Package Manager.

In Xcode, navigate to File > Add Package Dependencies... and enter the repository URL https://github.com/supabase/supabase-swift in the search bar. For detailed instructions, see Apple's tutorial on adding package dependencies.

Make sure to add Supabase product package as a dependency to your application target.

Get API details#

To interact with data in database tables, you use the client libraries that wrap the auto-generated Data API endpoints, authenticating using the Project URL and key from the project Connect dialog.

Project URL
Publishable key

6. Initialize the Supabase client#

Create a new Supabase.swift file add a new Supabase instance using your project URL and publishable key, which you can get from the helper above, or from the project Connect panel:

Open Connect panel
Supabase.swift
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import Supabase
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let supabase = SupabaseClient(
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  supabaseURL: URL(string: "YOUR_SUPABASE_URL")!,
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  supabaseKey: "YOUR_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY"
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)

7. Create a data model for instruments#

Create a decodable struct to deserialize the data from the database.

Add the following code to a new file named Instrument.swift.

Instrument.swift
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struct Instrument: Decodable, Identifiable {
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  let id: Int
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  let name: String
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}

8. Query data from the app#

Use a task to fetch the data from the database and display it using a List.

Replace the default ContentView with the following code.

ContentView.swift
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import SwiftUI
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struct ContentView: View {
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  @State var instruments: [Instrument] = []
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  var body: some View {
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    List(instruments) { instrument in
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      Text(instrument.name)
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    }
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    .overlay {
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      if instruments.isEmpty {
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        ProgressView()
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      }
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    }
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    .task {
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      do {
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        instruments = try await supabase.from("instruments").select().execute().value
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      } catch {
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        dump(error)
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      }
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    }
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  }
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}

9. Start the app#

Run the app on a simulator or a physical device by hitting Cmd + R on Xcode.

If you want to implement authentication features like magic links or OAuth, you need to set up deep links to redirect users back to your app. For instructions on configuring custom URL schemes for your iOS app, see the deep linking guide.

Next steps#