Cloud Stack for AI Apps — Mastery3 / 8
Supabase — Postgres, Auth & Storage in One
Real Postgres, auth, file storage and pgvector behind one SDK. For an AI product, having your data and your vectors in the same database is a quiet superpower.
Supabase is Postgres with the batteries attached: auth, storage, realtime, and pgvector — all behind one SDK. For an AI product that means your users, your billing, and your embeddings live in the same database.
Postgres + Row Level Security
It's real Postgres — joins, transactions, constraints. Row Level Security pushes access rules into the database: a policy like "users see only their own rows" is enforced no matter which client calls. Get RLS right and a leaky API route can't leak data.
Auth that's already wired
Email, OAuth, magic links — issued as JWTs your RLS policies read. You skip building the single most security-sensitive component yourself.
Storage with signed URLs
Files (PDFs, uploads, generated assets) go in buckets. Serve private files via short-lived signed URLs so access is gated, not public.
pgvector keeps RAG close
Because embeddings live in the same Postgres, retrieval can filter by metadata with plain SQL ("this user's docs, vector-similar to the query") in one query. No syncing a separate vector DB.
Next: getting paid — Stripe.
Series — Cloud Stack for AI Apps — Mastery
- Part 01The Opinionated AI Product StackChoosing infrastructure is where weeks vanish. Here is a default stack that lets a small team ship an AI product in days — and when to deviate.
- Part 02Next.js on Vercel — The App LayerOne framework for UI, API and server rendering; one platform that deploys on git push. The app layer should be the part you never think about.
- Part 03Supabase — Postgres, Auth & Storage in One — you are hereReal Postgres, auth, file storage and pgvector behind one SDK. For an AI product, having your data and your vectors in the same database is a quiet superpower.
- Part 04Stripe — Payments & SubscriptionsCharging money is a solved problem — if you let Stripe solve it. Checkout, subscriptions, and the webhook that is the real source of truth.
- Part 05Resend — Transactional Email That LandsThe receipt, the download link, the password reset — if they hit spam, your product feels broken. Deliverability is a feature.
- Part 06AWS — When You Outgrow the Managed PathThe managed stack covers 90% of an AI product. AWS is the escape hatch for the other 10% — long jobs, GPU inference, large files. Use it surgically.
- Part 07Secrets, Env & Config Across EnvironmentsFive services, three environments, one leaked key away from a bad week. Config discipline is unglamorous and non-negotiable.
- Part 08Shipping in Days — The Wiring PlaybookThe whole stack assembled into a build order: from empty repo to a paid, emailing, AI-powered product in a working week.