postgrest-js uses the cross-fetch library to make HTTP requests, but an alternative fetch implementation can be provided as an option. This is most useful in environments where cross-fetch is not compatible, for instance Cloudflare Workers:
# Build (from monorepo root)
npx nx build postgrest-js
# Build with watch mode for development
npx nx build:watch postgrest-js
# TypeScript type checking
npx nx type-check postgrest-js
# Generate documentation
npx nx docs postgrest-js
Testing
Supabase CLI Required! The postgrest-js tests use the Supabase CLI to run a local PostgreSQL database and PostgREST server.
Quick Start
# Run all tests (from monorepo root)
npx nx test:ci:postgrest postgrest-js
This single command automatically:
Stops any existing Supabase CLI containers
Starts PostgreSQL database and PostgREST server via Supabase CLI
Resets and seeds the database
Runs all Jest unit tests with coverage
Cleans up containers
Individual Test Commands
# Run Jest tests with coverage (requires infrastructure running)
npx nx test:run postgrest-js
# Run type tests with tstyche
npx nx test:types postgrest-js
# Run smoke tests (CommonJS and ESM imports)
npx nx test:smoke postgrest-js
# Format code
npx nx format postgrest-js
# Check formatting
npx nx format:check postgrest-js
Test Infrastructure
The tests use Supabase CLI to spin up:
PostgreSQL - Database with test schema and seed data (port 54322)
PostgREST - REST API server that the client connects to (port 54321)
cd packages/core/postgrest-js
npx supabase --workdir ./test start # Start all services
npx supabase --workdir ./test db reset # Reset and seed database
npx supabase --workdir ./test stop # Stop all services
Regenerating TypeScript Types
When the database schema changes, regenerate TypeScript types from the actual database:
# From the monorepo root
npm run codegen:postgrest
This command automatically:
Cleans up any existing Supabase containers
Starts Supabase (PostgreSQL, PostgREST, and all services)
Generates TypeScript types from the database schema
Post-processes the generated types (updates JSON type definitions)
Formats the generated file with Prettier
Cleans up Supabase containers
The generated types are written to test/types.generated.ts.
Test Types Explained
Unit Tests - Jest tests covering all client functionality (npx nx test:run postgrest-js)
Type Tests - Validates TypeScript types using tstyche (npx nx test:types postgrest-js)
Smoke Tests - Basic import/require tests for CommonJS and ESM (npx nx test:smoke postgrest-js)
Prerequisites
Supabase CLI must be installed (instructions) or can be used through npx (npx supabase)
Docker must be installed and running (Supabase CLI uses Docker under the hood)
Port 54321 - PostgREST API
Port 54322 - PostgreSQL database
Port 54323 - Supabase Studio (used for type generation)
PostgREST v12 Backward Compatibility Tests
We maintain backward compatibility tests for PostgREST v12 (the current Supabase CLI uses v14+). These tests ensure the SDK works correctly for users still running older PostgREST versions.
The 'pg' package is a PostgreSQL client for Node.js. It allows you to interact with PostgreSQL databases using SQL queries. Unlike @supabase/postgrest-js, which provides a higher-level abstraction for CRUD operations and real-time subscriptions, 'pg' requires you to write raw SQL queries and manage connections manually.
Knex.js is a SQL query builder for Node.js, supporting multiple database types including PostgreSQL. It provides a more flexible and powerful way to build SQL queries compared to @supabase/postgrest-js. However, it does not offer built-in real-time subscriptions and requires more setup for basic CRUD operations.
Sequelize is a promise-based Node.js ORM for various SQL databases, including PostgreSQL. It provides a higher-level abstraction for database operations, similar to @supabase/postgrest-js, but with more features like model definitions, associations, and migrations. However, it does not natively support real-time subscriptions.
The npm package @supabase/postgrest-js receives a total of 17,521,507 weekly downloads. As such, @supabase/postgrest-js popularity was classified as popular.
We found that @supabase/postgrest-js demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago.It has 15 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
Package last updated on 23 Apr 2026
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