Branching Without Git Is Now The Default

Summary

Supabase has made dashboard-based database branching the default for all projects, adding a GitHub-free alternative to its existing git-based workflow. Developers can create a branch from the dashboard, work in the SQL Editor or Table Editor against a separate Postgres instance, review a schema diff, and merge changes into production without Git configuration. The workflow uses pg-delta, a new schema-diffing engine in pg-toolbelt that covers tables, columns, RLS policies, functions, triggers, indexes, and extensions, replacing migra as dashboard branching’s default engine; pg-delta is alpha software and is also available in the CLI behind a flag. Git-based branching remains fully supported, and the two approaches can be switched between or used together, while branches created through the Supabase MCP server use dashboard branching automatically.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Dashboard branching is now the default for new projects and users without a configured Git integration; existing git-based branching setups continue to work.

2. 2

   pg-delta compares branch and production schemas and generates migration statements for tables, columns, RLS policies, functions, triggers, indexes, and extensions.

3. 3

   Branches created through the Supabase MCP server use dashboard branching automatically, allowing AI tools to create, modify, merge, and clean up branches without touching Git.