Triggering tasks from Supabase edge functions

This guide will show you how to trigger a task from a Supabase edge function, and then view the run in our dashboard.

Overview

Supabase edge functions allow you to trigger tasks either when an event is sent from a third party (e.g. when a new Stripe payment is processed, when a new user signs up to a service, etc), or when there are any changes or updates to your Supabase database.

This guide shows you how to set up and deploy a simple Supabase edge function example that triggers a task when an edge function URL is accessed.

Prerequisites

• Ensure you have the Supabase CLI installed
• Since Supabase CLI version 1.123.4, you must have Docker Desktop installed to deploy Edge Functions
• Ensure TypeScript is installed
• Create a Trigger.dev account
• Create a new Trigger.dev project

GitHub repo

View the project on GitHub

Click here to view the full code for this project in our examples repository on GitHub. You can fork it and use it as a starting point for your own 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 a package.json file

   If your project does not already have package.json file (e.g. if you are using Deno), create it manually in your project’s root folder.

   If your project has a package.json file you can skip this step.

   This is required for the Trigger.dev SDK to work correctly.

   package.json

   {
     "devDependencies": {
       "typescript": "^5.6.2"
     }
   }
   

   Update your Typescript version to the latest version available.
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 a new Supabase edge function and deploy it

1. Create a new Supabase edge function

   We’ll call this example edge-function-trigger.

   In your project, run the following command in the terminal using the Supabase CLI:

   supabase functions new edge-function-trigger
   

2. Update the edge function code

   Replace the placeholder code in your edge-function-trigger/index.ts file with the following:

   functions/edge-function-trigger/index.ts

   // Setup type definitions for built-in Supabase Runtime APIs
   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
   
   Deno.serve(async () => {
     await tasks.trigger<typeof helloWorldTask>(
       // Your task id
       "hello-world",
       // Your task payload
       "Hello from a Supabase Edge Function!"
     );
     return new Response("OK");
   });
   

   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.

3. Deploy your edge function using the Supabase CLI

   You can now deploy your edge function with the following command in your terminal:

   supabase functions deploy edge-function-trigger --no-verify-jwt
   

   --no-verify-jwt removes the JSON Web Tokens requirement from the authorization header. By default this should be on, but it is not strictly required for this hello world example.

   To learn more about how to properly configure Supabase auth for Trigger.dev tasks, please refer to our Supabase Authentication guide. It demonstrates how to use JWT authentication for user-specific operations or your service role key for admin-level access.

   Follow the CLI instructions and once complete you should now 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.

Set your Trigger.dev prod secret key in the Supabase dashboard

To trigger a task from your edge function, you need to set your Trigger.dev secret key in the Supabase dashboard.

To do this, first go to your Trigger.dev project dashboard and copy the prod secret key from the API keys page.

Then, in Supabase, select your project, 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.

Deploy your task and trigger it from your edge function

1. Deploy your 'Hello World' task

   Next, deploy your hello-world task to Trigger.dev cloud.

   npm

   npx trigger.dev@latest deploy
   

2. Trigger a prod run from your deployed edge function

   To do this all you need to do is simply open the edge-function-trigger URL.

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

   Replace your-project-id with your actual project ID.

   In your Supabase project, go to your Edge function dashboard, find edge-function-trigger, copy the URL, and paste it into a new window in your browser.

   Once loaded you should see ‘OK’ on the new screen.

   

   The task will be triggered when your edge function URL is accessed.

   Check your cloud.trigger.dev dashboard and you should see a succesful hello-world task.

   Congratulations, you have run a simple Hello World task from a Supabase edge function!

Learn more about Supabase and Trigger.dev

Full walkthrough guides from development to deployment

Edge function hello world guide

Learn how to trigger a task from a Supabase edge function when a URL is visited.

Database webhooks guide

Learn how to trigger a task from a Supabase edge function when an event occurs in your database.

Supabase authentication guide

Learn how to authenticate Supabase tasks using JWTs for Row Level Security (RLS) or service role keys for admin access.

Task examples with code you can copy and paste

Supabase database operations

Run basic CRUD operations on a table in a Supabase database using Trigger.dev.

Supabase Storage upload

Download a video from a URL and upload it to Supabase Storage using S3.