Build a User Management App with SolidJS

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

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.

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.

supabase link --project-ref <project-id>
# You can get <project-id> from your project's dashboard URL: https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<project-id>
supabase 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 SolidJS app from scratch.

Initialize a SolidJS app

We can use Degit to initialize an app called supabase-solid:

npx degit solidjs/templates/ts supabase-solid
cd supabase-solid

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

npm 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

VITE_SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

Now that we have the API credentials in place, let's create a helper file to initialize the Supabase client. These variables will be exposed on the browser, and that's completely fine since we have Row Level Security enabled on our Database.

src/supabaseClient.jsx

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)

App styling (optional)

An optional step is to update the CSS file src/index.css to make the app look nice. You can find the full contents of this file here.

Let's set up a SolidJS component to manage logins and sign ups. We'll use Magic Links, so users can sign in with their email without using passwords.

src/Auth.tsx

import { createSignal } from 'solid-js'
import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'

export default function Auth() {
  const [loading, setLoading] = createSignal(false)
  const [email, setEmail] = createSignal('')

  const handleLogin = async (e: SubmitEvent) => {
    e.preventDefault()

    try {
      setLoading(true)
      const { error } = await supabase.auth.signInWithOtp({ email: email() })
      if (error) throw error
      alert('Check your email for the login link!')
    } catch (error) {
      if (error instanceof Error) {
        alert(error.message)
      }
    } finally {
      setLoading(false)
    }
  }

  return (
    <div class="row flex-center flex">
      <div class="col-6 form-widget" aria-live="polite">
        <h1 class="header">Supabase + SolidJS</h1>
        <p class="description">Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
        <form class="form-widget" onSubmit={handleLogin}>
          <div>
            <label for="email">Email</label>
            <input
              id="email"
              class="inputField"
              type="email"
              placeholder="Your email"
              value={email()}
              onChange={(e) => setEmail(e.currentTarget.value)}
            />
          </div>
          <div>
            <button type="submit" class="button block" aria-live="polite">
              {loading() ? <span>Loading</span> : <span>Send magic link</span>}
            </button>
          </div>
        </form>
      </div>
    </div>
  )
}

Account page

After a user is signed in we can allow them to edit their profile details and manage their account.

Let's create a new component for that called Account.tsx.

src/Account.tsx

import { AuthSession } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
import { Component, createEffect, createSignal } from 'solid-js'
import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'

interface Props {
  session: AuthSession
}

const Account: Component<Props> = ({ session }) => {
  const [loading, setLoading] = createSignal(true)
  const [username, setUsername] = createSignal<string | null>(null)
  const [website, setWebsite] = createSignal<string | null>(null)
  const [avatarUrl, setAvatarUrl] = createSignal<string | null>(null)

  createEffect(() => {
    getProfile()
  })

  const getProfile = async () => {
    try {
      setLoading(true)
      const { user } = session

      const { 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) {
        setUsername(data.username)
        setWebsite(data.website)
        setAvatarUrl(data.avatar_url)
      }
    } catch (error) {
      if (error instanceof Error) {
        alert(error.message)
      }
    } finally {
      setLoading(false)
    }
  }

  const updateProfile = async (e: Event) => {
    e.preventDefault()

    try {
      setLoading(true)
      const { user } = session

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

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

      if (error) {
        throw error
      }
    } catch (error) {
      if (error instanceof Error) {
        alert(error.message)
      }
    } finally {
      setLoading(false)
    }
  }

  return (
    <div aria-live="polite">
      <form onSubmit={updateProfile} class="form-widget">
        <div>Email: {session.user.email}</div>
        <div>
          <label for="username">Name</label>
          <input
            id="username"
            type="text"
            value={username() || ''}
            onChange={(e) => setUsername(e.currentTarget.value)}
          />
        </div>
        <div>
          <label for="website">Website</label>
          <input
            id="website"
            type="text"
            value={website() || ''}
            onChange={(e) => setWebsite(e.currentTarget.value)}
          />
        </div>
        <div>
          <button type="submit" class="button primary block" disabled={loading()}>
            {loading() ? 'Saving ...' : 'Update profile'}
          </button>
        </div>
        <button type="button" class="button block" onClick={() => supabase.auth.signOut()}>
          Sign Out
        </button>
      </form>
    </div>
  )
}

export default Account

Launch!

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

src/App.tsx

import { Component, createEffect, createSignal } from 'solid-js'
import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'
import { AuthSession } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
import Account from './Account'
import Auth from './Auth'

const App: Component = () => {
  const [session, setSession] = createSignal<AuthSession | null>(null)

  createEffect(() => {
    supabase.auth.getSession().then(({ data: { session } }) => {
      setSession(session)
    })

    supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_event, session) => {
      setSession(session)
    })
  })

  return (
    <div class="container" style={{ padding: '50px 0 100px 0' }}>
      {!session() ? <Auth /> : <Account session={session()!} />}
    </div>
  )
}

export default App

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

npm start

And then open the browser to localhost:3000 and you should see the completed app.

Supabase SolidJS

Bonus: Profile photos

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

Let's create an avatar for the user so that they can upload a profile photo. We can start by creating a new component:

src/Avatar.tsx

import { Component, createEffect, createSignal, JSX } from 'solid-js'
import { supabase } from './supabaseClient'

interface Props {
  size: number
  url: string | null
  onUpload: (event: Event, filePath: string) => void
}

const Avatar: Component<Props> = (props) => {
  const [avatarUrl, setAvatarUrl] = createSignal<string | null>(null)
  const [uploading, setUploading] = createSignal(false)

  createEffect(() => {
    if (props.url) downloadImage(props.url)
  })

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

  const uploadAvatar: JSX.EventHandler<HTMLInputElement, Event> = async (event) => {
    try {
      setUploading(true)

      const target = event.currentTarget
      if (!target?.files || target.files.length === 0) {
        throw new Error('You must select an image to upload.')
      }

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

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

      if (uploadError) {
        throw uploadError
      }

      props.onUpload(event, filePath)
    } catch (error) {
      if (error instanceof Error) {
        alert(error.message)
      }
    } finally {
      setUploading(false)
    }
  }

  return (
    <div style={{ width: props.size }} aria-live="polite">
      {avatarUrl() ? (
        <img
          src={avatarUrl()!}
          alt={avatarUrl() ? 'Avatar' : 'No image'}
          class="avatar image"
          style={{ height: `${props.size}px`, width: `${props.size}px` }}
        />
      ) : (
        <div
          class="avatar no-image"
          style={{ height: `${props.size}px`, width: `${props.size}px` }}
        />
      )}
      <div style={{ width: `${props.size}px` }}>
        <label class="button primary block" for="single">
          {uploading() ? 'Uploading ...' : 'Upload avatar'}
        </label>
        <span style="display:none">
          <input
            type="file"
            id="single"
            accept="image/*"
            onChange={uploadAvatar}
            disabled={uploading()}
          />
        </span>
      </div>
    </div>
  )
}

export default Avatar

And then we can add the widget to the Account page:

src/Account.tsx

// Import the new component
import Avatar from './Avatar'

// ...

return (
  <form onSubmit={updateProfile} class="form-widget">
    {/* Add to the body */}
    <Avatar
      url={avatarUrl()}
      size={150}
      onUpload={(e: Event, url: string) => {
        setAvatarUrl(url)
        updateProfile(e)
      }}
    />
    {/* ... */}
  </div>
)

At this stage you have a fully functional application!

Edit this page on GitHub

Build a User Management App with SolidJS

Project setup

Create a project

Set up the database schema

Get the API Keys

Building the app

Initialize a SolidJS app

App styling (optional)

Account page

Launch!

Bonus: Profile photos

Create an upload widget

Add the new widget

Is this helpful?

Build a User Management App with SolidJS

Project setup#

Create a project#

Set up the database schema#

Get the API Keys#

Building the app#

Initialize a SolidJS app#

App styling (optional)#

Set up a login component#

Account page#

Launch!#

Bonus: Profile photos#

Create an upload widget#

Add the new widget#

Is this helpful?

Project setup

Create a project

Set up the database schema

Get the API Keys

Building the app

Initialize a SolidJS app

App styling (optional)

Set up a login component

Account page

Launch!

Bonus: Profile photos

Create an upload widget

Add the new widget