Supabase local dev with docker possible?

Technical Questions
1

Builder project link

Builder public api key
3a5fe398404e41faab62c5b8c144baea

What are you trying to accomplish
For local development I run Supabase on docker with npx supabase start rather than using a dev branch in the cloud. I set up my project to have docker cli and docker-compose. I tried a variety of different ways to get it running but none worked. I get this error: failed to inspect service: Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

I also tried explaining the setup to the AI chat to get it set up but it was saying it’s not possible in the sandbox environment. Just wanted to double check that before giving up.

Code stack you are integrating Builder with
Next.js, Supabase

Reproducible code example
npm install

npm install --save-dev supabase
npx supabase start

2

Hello @GioSegar,

Welcome to the Builder.io forum!

We attempted to reproduce the issue on our end using the same setup and pnpm, but were unable to replicate the problem.

For reference, here’s the GitHub repository we used for our testing:

The error you’re encountering:

failed to inspect service: Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock. Is the docker daemon running?

indicates that Docker isn’t currently running or accessible to your local environment. The npx supabase start command relies on Docker being active, as it uses Docker Compose to spin up the Supabase stack locally.

Here are a few steps to help resolve this:

  1. Check Docker Daemon Status

    • Ensure that Docker Desktop (or your system’s Docker service) is running.

    • You can verify by running:

      docker info

      If you see an error similar to the one above, Docker isn’t active.

  2. Restart Docker

    • If Docker is already running, try restarting it and then rerunning:

      npx supabase start

  3. Check Permissions (Linux only)

    • On some systems, your user may not have permission to access the Docker socket.
      Test this by running:

      sudo docker ps

      If that works, add your user to the Docker group with:

      sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

  4. Environment Limitations (for hosted/sandboxed environments)

    • If you’re trying this in a cloud-based or sandboxed environment (such as Codesandbox, StackBlitz, or an AI-based dev environment), Docker isn’t supported.
    • In such cases, you’ll need to connect to a Supabase cloud project (either your dev or staging branch) instead of running Supabase locally.

Please let us know if you’re running this setup locally or in a hosted environment, so we can guide you with the next steps accordingly.

Thanks,

3

I’m talking about in Builder.io’s environment…

4

@GioSegar

Could you please share screenshot of the error you are getting?