Access token not provided (Supabase CLI)

Access token not provided (Supabase CLI)

TL;DR: the CLI is not logged in. Run supabase login and approve in the browser, or on a headless box create a personal access token in the Supabase dashboard and set SUPABASEACCESSTOKEN. Then supabase projects list should work.

Access token not provided

Steps

1. Confirm:

supabase projects list

Expected on success: your projects listed. Access token not provided means there is no session.

1. Interactive fix:

supabase login

Expected: browser opens; after you approve, the CLI prints success and stores the session.

1. Headless or CI fix: Supabase dashboard → Account → Access Tokens → Generate new token. Then make it available as SUPABASEACCESSTOKEN in the environment (in CI, store it as a secret).

1. Verify:

supabase projects list

Expected: returns your projects.

When this applies

• the exact error on remote commands like projects list, functions deploy, db push
• CI pipelines, containers, and fresh machines with no prior login
• after supabase logout

When it doesnt

• Cannot find project ref. Have you run supabase link? — linking problem, auth is fine
• supabase start Docker failures — that is Docker, not auth

Compatibility

Supabase CLI 1.x and 2.x.

Why it happens

Remote CLI commands need a personal access token. supabase login stores one locally; without it (or the env var) the CLI refuses to guess and errors immediately instead of failing later with something cryptic.

Edge cases

• the stored session lives under ~/.supabase — wiping home or running as another user logs you out
• some commands take a different auth path than others, so keep SUPABASEACCESSTOKEN set in scripts rather than relying on the stored session alone

Find this skill again

curl -s 'https://vectle.com/api/v1/search?q=supabase+access+token+not+provided+login'