Triggering tasks from Supabase database webhooks

This guide will show you how to trigger a task when a row is added to a table using a Supabase database webhook and edge function.

Overview

Database webhooks allow you to send realtime data from your database to another system whenever an event occurs in your table e.g. when a row is inserted, updated, or deleted, or when a specific column is updated.

This guide shows you how to set up a Supabase database webhook and deploy a simple edge function that triggers a “Hello world” task every time a new row is inserted into your table.

Prerequisites

• Ensure you have the Supabase CLI installed
• Ensure TypeScript is installed
• Create a Trigger.dev account
• Create a new Trigger.dev project

Initial setup

1. Optional step 1: create a new Supabase project

   If you already have a Supabase project on your local machine you can skip this step.

   You can create a new project by running the following command in your terminal using the Supabase CLI:

   supabase init
   

   If you are using VS Code, ensure to answer ‘y’ when asked to generate VS Code settings for Deno, and install any recommended extensions.

2. Optional step 2: create package.json and tsconfig.json files

   If your project does not already have package.json or/and tsconfig.json files (e.g. if you are using Deno), create them manually and add them to your project root folder.

   If your project has these files you can skip this step.

   Both of these files are required for the Trigger.dev SDK to work correctly.

   package.json

   {
     "devDependencies": {
       // This should be the version of typescript you are using
       "typescript": "^5.6.2"
     }
   }
   

   tsconfig.json

   {
     "compilerOptions": {
       "target": "esnext",
       "module": "NodeNext",
       "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
       "esModuleInterop": true,
       "strict": true,
       "outDir": "dist",
       "skipLibCheck": true,
       "lib": ["DOM", "DOM.Iterable"],
       "noEmit": true
     },
     "include": ["./src/**/*.ts", "trigger.config.ts"]
   }
   

3. Run the CLI `init` command

   The easiest way to get started is to use the CLI. It will add Trigger.dev to your existing project, create a /trigger folder and give you an example task.

   Run this command in the root of your project to get started:

   npm

   npx trigger.dev@latest init
   

   It will do a few things:

   1. Log you into the CLI if you’re not already logged in.
   2. Create a trigger.config.ts file in the root of your project.
   3. Ask where you’d like to create the /trigger directory.
   4. Create the /trigger directory with an example task, /trigger/example.[ts/js].

   Install the “Hello World” example task when prompted. We’ll use this task to test the setup.

4. Run the CLI `dev` command

   The CLI dev command runs a server for your tasks. It watches for changes in your /trigger directory and communicates with the Trigger.dev platform to register your tasks, perform runs, and send data back and forth.

   It can also update your @trigger.dev/* packages to prevent version mismatches and failed deploys. You will always be prompted first.

   npm

   npx trigger.dev@latest dev
   

5. Perform a test run using the dashboard

   The CLI dev command spits out various useful URLs. Right now we want to visit the Test page .

   You should see our Example task in the list , select it. Most tasks have a “payload” which you enter in the JSON editor , but our example task doesn’t need any input.

   Press the “Run test” button .

   

6. View your run

   Congratulations, you should see the run page which will live reload showing you the current state of the run.

   

   If you go back to your terminal you’ll see that the dev command also shows the task status and links to the run log.

   

Create and deploy a new Supabase edge function and create a new database webhook

1. Add your Trigger.dev prod secret key in Supabase

   First, go to your Trigger.dev project dashboard and copy the prod secret key from the API keys page.

   

   Then, in Supabase, select the project you want to use, navigate to ‘Project settings’ , click ‘Edge functions’ in the configurations menu, and then click the ‘Add new secret’ button.

   Add TRIGGER_SECRET_KEY with the pasted value of your Trigger.dev prod secret key.

   

2. Create a new edge function using the Supabase CLI

   Now create a new edge function using the Supabase CLI. We will call it database-webhook.

   supabase functions new database-webhook
   

3. Update the edge function code

   Replace the database-webhook placeholder code with the following code:

   functions/database-webhook/index.ts

   import "jsr:@supabase/functions-js/edge-runtime.d.ts";
   // Import the Trigger.dev SDK - replace "<your-sdk-version>" with the version of the SDK you are using, e.g. "3.0.0". You can find this in your package.json file.
   import { tasks } from "npm:@trigger.dev/sdk@3.0.0/v3";
   // Import your task type from your /trigger folder
   import type { helloWorldTask } from "../../../src/trigger/example.ts";
   //     👆 **type-only** import
   
   console.log("Hello from 'database-webhook' function!");
   
   Deno.serve(async (req) => {
     // Listens for incoming JSON requests
     const payload = await req.json();
     // Triggers the "hello-world" task with the payload
     await tasks.trigger<typeof helloWorldTask>(
       // Your task id
       "hello-world",
       // Your task payload. This will be the data you receive from the database webhook
       payload
     );
     return new Response("ok");
   });
   

   This code sets up a Deno server that listens for incoming JSON requests, triggers a “hello-world” task, logs the received payload, and responds with “ok”. This setup is typical for a webhook endpoint that processes incoming data and triggers some action (in this case, the “hello-world” task) based on that data.

   You can only import the type from the task.

   Tasks in the trigger folder use Node, so they must stay in there or they will not run, especially if you are using a different runtime like Deno. Also do not add “npm:” to imports inside your task files, for the same reason.

4. Deploy your edge function using the Supabase CLI

   Now deploy your edge function with the following command:

   supabase functions deploy database-webhook
   

   Follow the CLI instructions, selecting the same project you added your prod secret key to, and once complete you should see your new edge function deployment in your Supabase edge functions dashboard.

   There will be a link to the dashboard in your terminal output, or you can find it at this URL:

   https://supabase.com/dashboard/project/<your-project-id>/functions

   Replace your-project-id with your actual project ID.
5. Create a new table

   Next, in your Supabase project dashboard, click on ‘Table Editor’ in the left-hand menu and create a new table.

   

   In this example we will call our table skynet.

   Add a new column called name with the type text.

   

6. Configure JWT settings

   By default, Supabase edge functions require a JSON Web Token JWT in the authorization header. This is to ensure that only authorized users can access your edge functions.

   In your Supabase project dashboard, click ‘Project settings’ , then the ‘API’ tab , and copy the anon public API key from the table .

   

   Then, go to ‘Database’ click on ‘Webhooks’ , and then click ‘Create a new hook’ .

   

   Call the hook edge-function-hook.

   Select the new table you have created: public skynet.

   Choose the insert event.

   

   Under ‘Webhook configuration’, select ‘Supabase Edge functions’

   Under ‘Edge function’, choose POST and select the edge function you have created: database-webhook.

   Under ‘HTTP Headers’, add a new header with the key Authorization and the value Bearer <your-api-key> (replace <your-api-key> with the anon public API key you copied earlier).

   Click ‘Create webhook’.

   

   Your database webhook is now ready to use.

Deploy your task and trigger it from your new database-webhook edge function

1. Deploy your 'Hello World' task

   The next step is to deploy your hello-world task to Trigger.dev cloud.

   To do this, run the following command in the terminal:

   npm

   npx trigger.dev@latest deploy
   

2. Trigger the task from your edge function

   Your database-webhook edge function is now set up to trigger the hello-world task every time a new row is inserted into your skynet table.

   To do this, go back to your Supabase project dashboard, click on ‘Table Editor’ in the left-hand menu, click on the skynet table , and then click ‘Insert’, ‘Insert Row’ .

   

   Add a new item under name, with the value Sarah Connor (this can be any string).

   

   Go back to your edge function dashboard , and under ‘Logs’ you should see a new run of your database-webhook edge function.

   

   Then, check your cloud.trigger.dev project ‘Runs’ list and you should see a successful hello-world task which has been triggered when you added a new row with the name Sarah Connor to your skynet Supabase table.

   Inside that run you will see the payload that was sent from the database webhook, including the name and other table information.

   

   Congratulations, you have successfully triggered a task from a Supabase edge function using a database webhook!

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