supabase/apps/docs/content/guides/api/creating-routes.mdx

---
id: 'creating-routes'
title: 'Creating API Routes'
description: 'API routes are automatically created when you create Postgres Tables, Views, or Functions.'
---

API routes are automatically created when you create Postgres Tables, Views, or Functions.

## Create a table

Create your first API route by creating a table called `todos` to store tasks.
This creates a corresponding route `todos` which can accept `GET`, `POST`, `PATCH`, & `DELETE` requests.

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<TabPanel id="dashboard" label="Dashboard">

1. Go to the [Table editor](/dashboard/project/_/editor) page in the Dashboard.
1. Click **New Table** and create a table with the name `todos`.
1. Click **Save**.
1. Click **New Column** and create a column with the name `task` and type `text`.
1. Click **Save**.
1. In the [**Integrations > Data API**](/dashboard/project/_/integrations/data_api/settings) section of the Dashboard, expose specific tables like `todos` or the functions you want to access. To automatically grant access for new tables and functions in `public`, enable **Default privileges for new entities**.

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```sql
-- Create a table called "todos" with a column to store tasks.
create table
  todos (
    id bigint generated by default as identity primary key,
    task text check (char_length(task) > 3)
  );

-- Enable Data API access with least-privilege grants
-- Allow read-only access for anonymous clients
grant select on public.todos to anon;
-- Allow full CRUD for authenticated clients
grant select, insert, update, delete on public.todos to authenticated;
-- Allow full CRUD for the server-side service role
grant select, insert, update, delete on public.todos to service_role;
-- Important: enable Row Level Security and create appropriate policies
-- before granting write access to client roles (see RLS guide)
```

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</Tabs>

<Admonition type="note" title="What it means to expose tables or functions via the API">

Granting privileges (like `select` or `execute`) to roles such as `anon` or `authenticated` makes those tables or functions accessible through the Data API. Behind the scenes, the API checks your Postgres permissions—only objects with explicit grants are exposed, and all other access is denied by default.

</Admonition>

## API URL and keys

Every Supabase project has a unique API URL. Your API is secured behind an API gateway which requires an API Key for every request.

{/* TODO: Further consolidate partial */}

To do this, you need to get the Project URL and key from [the project's **Connect** dialog](/dashboard/project/_?showConnect=true).

<$Partial path="api_keys_deprecation.mdx" variables={{ "framework": "{{ .framework }}", "tab": "{{ .tab }}" }} />

[Read the API keys docs](/docs/guides/getting-started/api-keys) for a full explanation of all key types and their uses.

The REST API is accessible through the URL `https://<project_ref>.supabase.co/rest/v1`

Both of these routes require the key to be passed through an `apikey` header.

## Using the API

You can interact with your API directly via HTTP requests, or you can use the client libraries which we provide.

See how to make a request to the `todos` table which we created in the first step,
using the API URL (`SUPABASE_URL`) and Key (`SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY`) we provided:

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<TabPanel id="javascript" label="JavaScript">

```javascript
// Initialize the JS client
import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'

const supabase = createClient(SUPABASE_URL, SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY)

// Make a request
const { data: todos, error } = await supabase.from('todos').select('*')
```

</TabPanel>
<TabPanel id="curl" label="cURL">

```bash
# Append /rest/v1/ to your URL, and then use the table name as the route
curl '<SUPABASE_URL>/rest/v1/todos' \
-H "apikey: <SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY>" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer <SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY>"
```

</TabPanel>
</Tabs>

JS Reference: [`select()`](/docs/reference/javascript/select),
[`insert()`](/docs/reference/javascript/insert),
[`update()`](/docs/reference/javascript/update),
[`upsert()`](/docs/reference/javascript/upsert),
[`delete()`](/docs/reference/javascript/delete),
[`rpc()`](/docs/reference/javascript/rpc) (call Postgres functions).