Backend Platform Migration from Firebase to Supabase

Led the backend migration of a production IoT platform from Firebase/Firestore to a self-hosted Supabase (PostgreSQL) stack, replacing a loosely structured NoSQL backend with a normalized relational architecture secured through row-level security policies.

Designed a relational schema of 30+ tables with indexed queries, auth-scoped access policies, and Prisma-managed migrations to support multi-tenant organizations, device lifecycle management, licensing, and real-time device control.

Built 70+ REST APIs as Supabase Edge Functions powering device provisioning, deployments, org management, and remote device workflows.

To ensure zero-downtime migration, I maintained a parallel Firebase API layer while incrementally transitioning clients to Supabase, allowing production traffic to move gradually without service disruption.

The platform runs within a Turborepo monorepo spanning 5 applications (Next.js portal, Expo mobile apps, and device interfaces) alongside multiple backend services and shared packages.

For engineers interested in the architecture:

Migrated Firestore collections into a normalized PostgreSQL schema (20+ tables) with relational constraints and indexed access paths.

Implemented row-level security policies to enforce tenant isolation and role-scoped access across organizations.

Built 70+ REST endpoints using Supabase Edge Functions (Express on Deno).

APIs supported device lifecycle management, deployments, licensing, and real-time control flows.

Replaced Firebase Auth with a custom JWT flow: short-lived access tokens + refresh tokens.

Built role-aware authorization middleware resolving user type, org context, and permissions from a single bearer token.

Maintained dual Firebase + Supabase auth paths across backend services to enable incremental client migration without downtime.

Architected a Turborepo containing 5 applications and multiple backend services with shared packages.

Implemented a type-safe localization system serving 6 languages across web and mobile clients.

Ran a fully self-hosted Supabase stack using Docker Compose with 12+ services including Postgres, Kong, GoTrue, PostgREST, Realtime, Edge Runtime, Storage, and Analytics.

Built a local development environment mirroring the production stack to guarantee dev/prod parity and simplify debugging of realtime and auth flows.