If you’re here while waiting for your development build to complete, you’re in the right place! This setup can be done in parallel and will be ready when your build finishes.
The BuildWithAI boilerplate uses Supabase for authentication and database. Follow these steps to set up your backend:

​
Create Supabase Project

  1. Create a new project on Supabase here
    • Sign up for an account if you don’t have one
    • Log in to your account
  2. Create a new project
    • Click New Project
    • Choose a name for your project
    • Set a database password
    • Select the region closest to your users
    • Click Create Project

​
Project Credentials

1

Find Your API Keys

Once your project is ready (this takes about 2 minutes), you need to get your credentials:Get Project URL:
  1. At the bottom of the left sidebar, find Project Settings
  2. Click on Data API
  3. Copy the Project URL (looks like https://abcdefghijklmnop.supabase.co)
Get Anon Key:
  1. Click on API keys (NEW) (right under Data API in the same settings menu)
  2. Copy the anon public key (a long string starting with eyJhbGciOi...)
IMPORTANT: Only copy the anon public key. DO NOT copy the service_role key - this is a secret key that should never be used in your app code for security reasons.
2

Add Credentials to Your App

  1. Open your .env file: In your project folder, open the .env file you created earlier
  2. Replace the placeholder values with your actual Supabase credentials:
Before (placeholder values):
EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=your-supabase-url
EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=your-supabase-anon-key
After (with your real values):
EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL=https://abcdefghijklmnop.supabase.co
EXPO_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJzdXBhYmFzZSIsInJlZiI6ImFiY2RlZmdoaWprbG1ub3AiLCJyb2xlIjoiYW5vbiIsImlhdCI6MTY5...
Important: Replace the entire placeholder text with your actual values. Don’t add quotes around the values.

​
URL Configuration

Set up the authentication URLs for your development build:
  1. In your project dashboard, go to Authentication → URL Configuration
  2. Configure these settings:
    • Site URL: Your app scheme from app.json + :// (e.g., travelapp://)
    • Redirect URLs: Your app scheme + ://** (e.g., travelapp://**)
If you want to quickly test the app with Expo Go before moving to development builds:
  1. In the left sidebar, go to Authentication → Sign In / Providers
  2. Toggle off Confirm email under the User Signups section
Important: Remember to re-enable this setting before you deploy to production for proper security.