Waitlist

In this guide, you will learn how to add a waitlist to your Next.js Supabase SaaS Starter kit to collect emails from interested users. This feature is useful for building an audience before launching your product.

This plugin allows you to create a waitlist for your app. Users can sign up for the waitlist and receive an email when the app is ready.

How it works

1. You disable sign up in your app from Supabase. This prevents any user from using the public API to sign up.
2. We create a new table in Supabase called waitlist. Users will sign up for the waitlist and their email will be stored in this table.
3. When you want to enable a sign up for a user, mark users as approved in the waitlist table.
4. The database trigger will create a new user in the auth.users table and send an email to the user with a link to set their password.
5. The user can now sign in to the app and update their password.
6. User gets removed from the waitlist as soon as the email is sent.

Installation

Get the plugin using the CLI

Please run the following command in your terminal:

npx @makerkit/cli@latest plugins install waitlist

After completed, the CLI will install the plugin at packages/plugins/waitlist.

Add the plugin to your main app

Now, install the plugin from your main app by adding the following to your package.json file:

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@kit/waitlist": "workspace:*"
  }
}

And then run pnpm install to install the plugin.

Add migrations to your app

From the folder packages/plugins/waitlist/migrations, copy the migrations to your app's migrations folder at apps/web/supabase/migrations.

This will add the waitlist table to your database.

Now, re-run the migrations:

pnpm run supabase:web:reset
pnpm run supabase:web:typegen

You can now use the waitlist plugin in your app.

Replace the sign up form

Replace your sign up form with the waitlist form in your app (retain the existing imports):

import { WaitlistSignupForm } from '@kit/waitlist/client';
 
function SignUpPage({ searchParams }: Props) {
  const inviteToken = searchParams.invite_token;
 
  const signInPath =
    pathsConfig.auth.signIn +
    (inviteToken ? `?invite_token=${inviteToken}` : '');
 
  return (
    <>
      <Heading level={4}>
        <Trans i18nKey={'auth:signUpHeading'} />
      </Heading>
 
      <WaitlistSignupForm />
 
      <div className={'justify-centers flex'}>
        <Button asChild variant={'link'} size={'sm'}>
          <Link href={signInPath}>
            <Trans i18nKey={'auth:alreadyHaveAnAccount'} />
          </Link>
        </Button>
      </div>
    </>
  );
}
 
export default withI18n(SignUpPage);

Adding the Database Webhook to listen for new signups

Let's extend the DB handler at apps/web/api/db/webhook/route.ts. This handler will listen for new signups and send an email to the user:

import { getDatabaseWebhookHandlerService } from '@kit/database-webhooks';
import { enhanceRouteHandler } from '@kit/next/routes';
 
import appConfig from '~/config/app.config';
import pathsConfig from '~/config/paths.config';
 
/**
 * @name POST
 * @description POST handler for the webhook route that handles the webhook event
 */
export const POST = enhanceRouteHandler(
  async ({ request }) => {
    const service = getDatabaseWebhookHandlerService();
 
    try {
      // handle the webhook event
      await service.handleWebhook(request, {
        async handleEvent(payload) {
          if (payload.table === 'waitlist' && payload.record.approved) {
            const { handleApprovedUserChange } = await import(
              '@kit/waitlist/server'
            );
 
            const redirectTo = appConfig.url + pathsConfig.auth.passwordUpdate;
 
            await handleApprovedUserChange({
              email: payload.record.email,
              redirectTo,
            });
          }
        },
      });
 
      // return a successful response
      return new Response(null, { status: 200 });
    } catch (error) {
      // return an error response
      return new Response(null, { status: 500 });
    }
  },
  {
    auth: false,
  },
);

Adding the Trigger to the Database

We need to add a trigger to the waitlist table to listen for updates and send a webhook to the app when a user is approved.

During development, you can simply add the webhook to your seed file apps/web/supabase/seed.sql:

create trigger "waitlist_approved_update" after update
on "public"."waitlist"
for each row
when (new.approved = true)
execute function "supabase_functions"."http_request"(
  'http://host.docker.internal:3000/api/db/webhook',
  'POST',
  '{"Content-Type":"application/json", "X-Supabase-Event-Signature":"WEBHOOKSECRET"}',
  '{}',
  '5000'
);

The above creates a trigger that listens for updates to the waitlist table and sends a POST request to the webhook route.

Note: You need to add this trigger to your production database as well. You will replace your WEBHOOKSECRET with the secret you set in your .env file and the host.docker.internal:3000 with your production URL. Just like you did for the other existing triggers.

Approving users

Simply update the approved column in the waitlist table to true to approve a user. You can do so from the Supabase dashboard or by running a query.

Alternatively, run an update based on the created_at timestamp:

update public.waitlist
set approved = true
where created_at < '2024-07-01';

Email Templates and URL Configuration

Please make sure to edit the email template in your Supabase account. The default email in Supabase does not support PKCE and therefore does not work. By updating it - we replace the existing strategy with the token-based strategy - which the confirm route in Makerkit can support.

Additionally, please add the following URL to your Supabase Redirect URLS allow list:

<your-url>/password-reset

This will allow Supabase to redirect users to your app to set their password after they click the email link.

If you don't do this - the email links will not work.

Translations

Please add the following translations to your auth.json translation:

{
  "waitlist": {
    "heading": "Join the Waitlist for Early Access",
    "submitButton": "Join Waitlist",
    "error": "Ouch, we couldn't add you to the waitlist. Please try again.",
    "errorDescription": "We couldn't add you to the waitlist. If you have already signed up, you are already on the waitlist.",
    "success": "You're on the waitlist!",
    "successDescription": "We'll let you know when you can sign up."
  }
}

Easy peasy! Now you have a waitlist for your app.