UnbreakMyApp / Fix guides

App suddenly stopped working: your Supabase project is paused

Logins fail, data will not load and requests to supabase.co error out, even though you changed nothing. Free Supabase projects pause after inactivity. How to restore and prevent it.

Why it happens

Supabase pauses projects on the Free plan after a period of low activity (about a week). While paused, the database and API do not respond, so your app shows errors, blank lists or failed logins.

This often hits apps that were built, shown to a few people, and then left alone for a while, or apps that only get occasional traffic.

Supabase emails the account owner before pausing, but those emails are easy to miss.

How to fix it, step by step

1. Open the Supabase dashboard. A paused project shows a "Project is paused" notice.
2. Click Restore project. It usually takes a few minutes to come back; your data is kept.
3. Reload your app and test login and data loading.
4. To prevent it, keep the project active with real use, or upgrade to a paid plan, which does not pause for inactivity.
5. Check the Supabase docs for how long a paused free project can be restored, and export a backup (Database → Backups, or pg_dump) for anything important.
6. Add a friendly error message in your app for when the database cannot be reached, instead of a blank screen.

Paste-ready prompt for Lovable

My Supabase project was paused and my app showed blank screens. Please:
1. Add error handling around Supabase calls so users see "We're having trouble connecting, please try again" instead of a blank or broken page.
2. Add a simple status check on app load that logs a clear message when the Supabase API is unreachable.
Do not change any other features.

FAQ

Sources

• https://supabase.com/docs/guides/platform/billing-on-supabase
• https://supabase.com/pricing