Branching without Git is the default for every Supabase project. Create a branch from the Supabase Dashboard, make schema changes, review the diff, and merge. Git-based branching stays fully supported for teams that manage migrations in version control, and GitHub-connected branches are now ready nearly five times faster than before.
Two ways to branch
Dashboard branching (default) Create branches directly from the Supabase Dashboard. Each branch gets its own Postgres instance with your current production schema. Make changes in the SQL Editor or Table Editor, preview the diff, and merge. The whole workflow stays inside Supabase.
Git-based branching Connect a GitHub repo to your project. Migrations live in version control, and branches are created when you open a pull request and cleaned up when it closes.
Key features
- No-Git workflow: Create and merge branches from the dashboard with no GitHub connection.
- Git-based workflow: Optionally integrate with GitHub for pull request-driven schema reviews.
- Inherited configuration: Each branch has its own Supabase instance with separate API credentials and starts with its base project's Postgres, Auth, Storage, network, and Edge Functions configuration.
- Fast provisioning: GitHub-connected branches are ready in about 20 seconds at the median, down from about a minute and a half.
- Automatic migrations: Runs new migrations when changes are pushed to
./supabase/migrations. - Data seeding: Seed branches with sample data from
./supabase/seed.sql. - Merge requests: Review schema diffs and merge directly in the dashboard.
- CI/CD integration: Supports preview deployments with hosting providers like Vercel.
When to use branching
- Developers prototyping schema changes who want fast iteration without upfront configuration
- AI agents that create and manage database branches programmatically
- Teams managing migrations in Git who want PR-driven schema reviews
- CI/CD pipelines that ship database changes alongside application code