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Optimizing Frontend Performance with Supabase and Edge Functions

Aug 20, 2025
Optimizing Frontend Performance with Supabase and Edge Functions

Optimizing Frontend Performance with Supabase and Edge Functions

In modern frontend development, performance is king. Users expect apps to load instantly, react smoothly, and handle data seamlessly. One way to achieve this is by integrating Supabase, a serverless Postgres database with real-time capabilities, alongside Edge Functions to offload computations closer to the user.

This post dives into practical strategies to optimize your frontend apps while using Supabase effectively.

Why Supabase + Edge Functions?

Supabase is more than just a backend — it’s a real-time database, authentication provider, and file storage service. Combining it with edge functions gives you:

This is especially useful for dashboards, analytics apps, and interactive websites.

1. Efficient Data Fetching

Fetching only what the client needs reduces load time and improves perceived performance.

Example: Paginated Posts Fetch

import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';

const supabase = createClient(SUPABASE_URL, SUPABASE_KEY);

export async function getPaginatedPosts(page = 1, limit = 10) {
  const from = (page - 1) * limit;
  const to = page * limit - 1;

  const { data, error } = await supabase
    .from('posts')
    .select('*')
    .order('created_at', { ascending: false })
    .range(from, to);

  if (error) throw new Error(error.message);
  return data;
}

Fetch only the rows needed for the current view

Reduce payload size and memory consumption on the frontend

2. Real-Time Subscriptions

Supabase allows subscribing to table changes in real-time, minimizing full page reloads or polling

import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

const supabase = createClient(SUPABASE_URL, SUPABASE_KEY);

export default function RealtimePosts() {
  const [posts, setPosts] = useState([]);

  useEffect(() => {
    const fetchPosts = async () => {
      const { data } = await supabase.from('posts').select('*').order('created_at', { ascending: false });
      setPosts(data);
    };
    fetchPosts();

    const subscription = supabase
      .from('posts')
      .on('INSERT', payload => setPosts(prev => [payload.new, ...prev]))
      .subscribe();

    return () => supabase.removeSubscription(subscription);
  }, []);

  return (
    <ul>
      {posts.map(post => <li key={post.id}>{post.title}</li>)}
    </ul>
  );
}

Benefits

Updates happen instantly without refetching the entire table

Reduces bandwidth usage and speeds up UI updates

3. Edge Functions for Preprocessing

Perform server-side logic close to the user using Supabase Edge Functions. This is ideal for

// edge/functions/get-posts.ts
import { serve } from 'https://deno.land/std@0.203.0/http/server.ts';
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';

const supabase = createClient(Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_URL'), Deno.env.get('SUPABASE_KEY'));

serve(async (req) => {
  const url = new URL(req.url);
  const page = Number(url.searchParams.get('page') || 1);
  const limit = 10;
  const from = (page - 1) * limit;
  const to = page * limit - 1;

  const { data, error } = await supabase.from('posts').select('*').order('created_at', { ascending: false }).range(from, to);

  if (error) return new Response(JSON.stringify({ error: error.message }), { status: 500 });
  return new Response(JSON.stringify({ data }), { status: 200, headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' } });
});

Edge functions execute near the client, reducing latency

Preprocessing ensures frontend receives exactly what it needs

4. Caching and Revalidation

Combine Supabase Edge Functions with Next.js ISR (Incremental Static Regeneration)

export const revalidate = 60; // regenerate every 60 seconds

Pages can be statically generated for speed

Edge functions handle dynamic or personalized data

5. Optimizing Images and Assets

import Image from 'next/image';

<Image
  src={post.coverImage}
  alt={post.title}
  width={800}
  height={400}
  priority={false}
/>

Only load images when visible

Improves Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) scores

6. Frontend Caching Strategies

import useSWR from 'swr';

const fetcher = url => fetch(url).then(res => res.json());

function PostsList() {
  const { data } = useSWR('/api/posts', fetcher, { revalidateOnFocus: false });
  return <ul>{data?.data.map(p => <li key={p.id}>{p.title}</li>)}</ul>;
}

7. Summary

By combining Supabase, Edge Functions, and modern frontend techniques

TL;DR