Use Supabase MCP - AnalyticDB - Alibaba Cloud Documentation Center

During development, you can use Lingma or Cursor in your IDE to call the Supabase Model Context Protocol (MCP) tool with natural language. This lets you create, query, and delete Supabase projects without leaving your coding environment, which significantly improves development and Operations and Maintenance (O&M) efficiency.

Introduction to Supabase MCP

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard protocol that provides a standard way for large language models (LLMs) to integrate external tools and context. The Supabase MCP tool combines Alibaba Cloud Supabase project management with large model agents. This enables full lifecycle management of Alibaba Cloud Supabase projects through natural language interaction. The core advantages are:

Natural language interaction: Complete complex cloud resource operations using everyday language.
Context awareness: Lingma understands the conversational context, which simplifies instructions for consecutive operations.
All-in-one IDE experience: Eliminates the need to frequently switch between your IDE and the console.

Prerequisites

In your IDE, such as Visual Studio Code, you have installed and logged on to the Lingma plugin. Alternatively, you have a model in Cursor that can call agents.
You have obtained an AccessKey.

Configure the Supabase MCP tool

Visual Studio Code + Lingma

In Visual Studio Code, open Lingma, switch to the Agent mode, and click MCP Tools.
In the upper-right corner of the MCP service management interface, click the + icon and select Add From Profile.

Copy the following content into the lingma_mcp.json file editor. Replace yourAccessKeyID and yourAccessKeySecret with your actual values.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "supabase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@aliyun-supabase/mcp-server-supabase@latest",
        "--features=aliyun",
        "--read-only" // Optional parameter. If added, the database is in read-only mode.
      ],
      "env": {
        "ALIYUN_ACCESS_TOKEN": "yourAccessKeyID|yourAccessKeySecret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the lingma_mcp.json file.
The Supabase service and a set of related tools are available in the My Services list. These tools include the official Alibaba Cloud Supabase API, which provides all core project management features. You can also call the MCP tools to execute SQL directly.

Cursor

Note

You can click aliyun-supabase to quickly install MCP in Cursor, or you can follow these steps to complete the configuration.

In Cursor, navigate to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations > MCP Tools. Click New MCP Server to open the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Copy the following content into the file. Replace yourAccessKeyID and yourAccessKeySecret with your actual values.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "supabase": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@aliyun-supabase/mcp-server-supabase@latest",
        "--features=aliyun",
        "--read-only" // Optional parameter. If added, the database is in read-only mode.
      ],
      "env": {
        "ALIYUN_ACCESS_TOKEN": "yourAccessKeyID|yourAccessKeySecret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the .cursor/mcp.json file.
The Supabase service and available tools now appear in the Cursor Setting > Tools & Integrations > MCP Tools list.

Usage examples

After you configure the Supabase MCP tool, you can use natural language to manage Supabase projects in the Lingma dialog box.

Query a list of Supabase projects

User instruction: List all my supabase projects on Alibaba Cloud

Lingma automatically parses your intent and calls the supabase/list_aliyun_supabase_projects MCP tool. If required parameters, such as the region ID, are missing, Tongyi LingmaLingma intelligently infers them and returns a formatted list of projects.

Get details of a single project

User instruction: Query the details of this project, do not show sensitive information

Lingma retrieves the project ID from the previous conversation, calls the supabase/get_supabase_project tool, and returns the detailed configuration of the project.

Create a new project in the same VPC

User instruction: Create another supabase project in the same vpc

Lingma automatically retrieves network information, such as the VPC ID, from the previous context. It then calls the supabase/create_supabase_project tool to create the project.

Delete the newly created project

User instruction: Delete the project just created

Lingma accurately identifies "the project just created" and calls the supabase/delete_supabase_project tool to delete it.

Practical scenario: A frontend developer configures the backend in minutes

For frontend developers, quickly building user interfaces and interaction logic is a core task. However, at the beginning of a project, configuring backend services, such as database connections, is often tedious and time-consuming. This process can easily interrupt the coding flow.

This section describes a practical development scenario that shows how a frontend developer can use Supabase MCP to build a warehouse and logistics management system without leaving the IDE. Using a few simple natural language commands, the developer can complete the entire process, from discovering the Supabase cloud service to successfully configuring the local project connection, in minutes.

Scenario description

A frontend developer is building a warehouse and logistics management system. The developer has finished the user interface (UI) but needs to connect the frontend application to a cloud-based Supabase project. This connection is necessary for dynamic data loading and management.

Efficient configuration with Supabase MCP

Using the following natural language instructions, the developer can complete the entire process, from discovering the Supabase cloud service to configuring the local project, in minutes:

List all my supabase projects on Alibaba Cloud
Select project sbp-5qo2zxpowmhlxxxx, retrieve VITE_SUPABASE_URL and VITE_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY, and apply them to the .env file of the warehouse and logistics inventory management system
Lingma retrieves the project ID from the conversation, calls the supabase/get_supabase_project tool to retrieve configuration information, and automatically writes it to the local project's .env file.

Advantages

Supabase MCP offers the following benefits for frontend developers:

Focus on frontend development: Allows frontend developers to avoid tedious backend configuration, so they can focus on the UI and business logic.
Simplified workflow: Simplifies complex tasks that previously required multiple applications and steps into one or two natural language commands within the IDE.
Eliminate configuration errors: Automates the retrieval and writing of credentials. This process eliminates basic errors caused by manual copy and paste operations, which saves significant debugging time.
Accelerated development: Significantly shortens the time from project startup to a running "Hello World" application. The efficiency gain is especially noticeable in scenarios that require frequent switching between and setting up of different backend environments.

Supabase MCP changes the collaboration model between the frontend and backend. Backend configuration is no longer an obstacle but a simple task that can be completed through natural language commands.

FAQ

Why can't I execute MCP tools in Visual Studio Code?

If you have configured the Supabase MCP tool in Visual Studio Code but the agent still cannot automatically execute MCP tools, check your Visual Studio Code settings. Ensure that the agent is enabled to automatically execute MCP tools.

To enable it, open the Visual Studio Code settings page, search for Mcp Tools In Agent Mode, and enable Allow Agent mode to auto-execute MCP tools.

How do I resolve the Supabase MCP installation error "No matching version found for @mjackson/multipart-parser@^0.10.1."?

This error may be related to your npm version. If you are using npm v11.4.x, update it and then try the installation again.

How do I resolve the Supabase MCP runtime error "User not authorized to operate on the specified resource or this API doesn't support RAM"?

Ensure that your Alibaba Cloud account has the AliyunGPDBFullAccess access policy.

For more information about issues during the installation and operation of the MCP service, see the MCP FAQ.