supabase-postgres-meta-fips

packaged by Chainguard

Chainguard Container for supabase-postgres-meta-fips

FIPS-mode RESTful API for managing your Postgres. Fetch tables, add roles, and run queries

Chainguard Containers are regularly-updated, secure-by-default container images.

Download this Container Image

For those with access, this container image is available on cgr.dev:

docker pull cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/supabase-postgres-meta-fips:latest

Be sure to replace the ORGANIZATION placeholder with the name used for your organization's private repository within the Chainguard Registry.

Compatibility Notes

postgres-meta is a RESTful API for a PostgreSQL database. It lets you inspect schemas, tables, and columns, create and drop tables and columns, and run SQL queries over HTTP. It is built with TypeScript on Node.js and licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Refer to the upstream README for the complete API.

Chainguard's supabase-postgres-meta-fips image is a FIPS-mode counterpart to the upstream supabase/postgres-meta image on Docker Hub, with these differences:

• The image runs as the nonroot user (UID 65532) by default. The upstream image runs as root.
• The application lives under /usr/share/postgres-meta-fips. /usr/src/app is a directory whose dist, node_modules, and package.json entries link to it, so the upstream working directory and command still work.

The image keeps the upstream entrypoint (docker-entrypoint.sh), command (node dist/server/server.js), and PG_META_PORT=8080 default.

postgres-meta has no built-in authentication. Any client that can reach its port can read database metadata and run SQL as the database user in its connection string. Only expose it inside a trusted network, or put an authenticating proxy in front of it.

FIPS Support

This Chainguard Container ships with a validated redistribution of OpenSSL's FIPS provider module. For more on FIPS support in Chainguard Containers, refer to the guide on FIPS-enabled Chainguard Images on Chainguard Academy.

Clients such as Supabase Studio can send their own database connection string in the x-connection-encrypted header, encrypted with CRYPTO_KEY. Upstream encrypts and decrypts this header with crypto-js, which derives the key with MD5 outside OpenSSL. This image decrypts it with node:crypto instead: PBKDF2-HMAC-SHA256 with a 16-byte salt and 10000 iterations derives the AES-256-CBC key and IV, and the header value is base64("Salted__" || salt || ciphertext). This has two effects:

• Set CRYPTO_KEY to a strong secret, for example one from openssl rand -hex 32, and give clients the same key. The FIPS provider does not enforce a key length, and upstream's default, SAMPLE_KEY, is public, so don't use it. Requests without the header use PG_META_DB_URL and do not need the key.
• Headers in upstream's crypto-js format are refused, so the upstream and non-FIPS Supabase Studio images cannot use this image. Pair it only with a client that uses the same format. Chainguard's supabase-studio-fips package encrypts the header this way, but no FIPS Studio image is available yet.

To connect to PostgreSQL over TLS, put sslmode=verify-full in PG_META_DB_URL and give the CA certificate itself, not a path, in PG_META_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT:

docker run -d --name pgmeta -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -e PG_META_DB_URL="postgresql://postgres:<password>@<host>:5432/postgres?sslmode=verify-full" \
  -e PG_META_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT="$(cat ca.crt)" \
  -e CRYPTO_KEY="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" \
  cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/supabase-postgres-meta-fips:latest

postgres-meta verifies the server certificate and host name only with sslmode=verify-full. With require or verify-ca, the connection is encrypted but the certificate is not verified. Outside a local test setup, use sslmode=verify-full in every connection string, including the ones that clients send in the x-connection-encrypted header, which are verified against the same CA. Upstream applies each connection's sslmode to TLS settings that all connections share, so a connection string with another sslmode can also turn off verification for other connections, including ones whose own string has sslmode=verify-full.

Prerequisites

To follow the examples in this guide, you need:

• Access to the Chainguard Registry for cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/supabase-postgres-meta-fips. Refer to Authenticating with the Chainguard Registry.
• For the Docker example: Docker and curl.
• For the Helm example: a Kubernetes cluster, kubectl, and Helm.
• A PostgreSQL database that postgres-meta can reach. The Docker example starts one with the Chainguard postgres image.

Getting Started

First, start a PostgreSQL container on a shared network:

docker network create pgmeta-net

docker run -d --name pg --network pgmeta-net \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=postgres \
  cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/postgres:latest

Next, run postgres-meta and point it at the database. The 127.0.0.1 prefix publishes port 8080 on the loopback interface only, so other hosts cannot reach the unauthenticated API. This local example connects to the database without TLS; for TLS, set sslmode=verify-full as in FIPS Support:

docker run -d --name pgmeta --network pgmeta-net -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -e PG_META_DB_URL="postgresql://postgres:postgres@pg:5432/postgres" \
  -e CRYPTO_KEY="$(openssl rand -hex 32)" \
  cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/supabase-postgres-meta-fips:latest

Check that the server is healthy:

curl -fsS http://localhost:8080/health

List the schemas in the database:

curl -fsS http://localhost:8080/schemas

List the tables in the public schema:

curl -fsS "http://localhost:8080/tables?included_schemas=public"

Run a SQL query:

curl -fsS -X POST http://localhost:8080/query \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"query":"select 1 as answer;"}'

When you are done, remove the containers and network:

docker rm -f pgmeta pg
docker network rm pgmeta-net

Deploying with Helm

postgres-meta is usually deployed as one component of the full Supabase stack. The community Supabase Helm chart deploys it alongside the other Supabase services, and its image.meta values select the postgres-meta image.

Add the chart repository:

helm repo add supabase https://supabase-community.github.io/supabase-kubernetes
helm repo update

Create a values file that points the postgres-meta component at the Chainguard image, replaces the chart's public default CRYPTO_KEY, and turns off the chart's Studio:

cat > values.yaml <<EOF
image:
  meta:
    repository: cgr.dev/ORGANIZATION/supabase-postgres-meta-fips
    tag: latest
secret:
  meta:
    cryptoKey: $(openssl rand -hex 32)
deployment:
  studio:
    enabled: false
EOF

Install the chart with the values file:

helm install supabase supabase/supabase \
  --namespace supabase --create-namespace \
  --values values.yaml

The chart deploys the upstream Studio, which encrypts the x-connection-encrypted header with crypto-js, and this image refuses that format, so the example turns Studio off. No FIPS Studio image is available yet. The chart also sets PG_META_DB_SSL_MODE to disable, so postgres-meta connects to the chart's database without TLS inside the cluster. This example replaces only the postgres-meta image. The chart's other components, such as the database, auth, REST, realtime, and storage services, keep their upstream images. In particular, the chart's database uses Supabase's extended PostgreSQL image, which ships extensions and initialization scripts the other services depend on, so don't swap it for a plain PostgreSQL image. Chainguard has not validated replacements for those companion images with this chart.

If you pull from a private Chainguard registry, create an image pull secret in the namespace and reference it with image.meta.pullSecrets in values.yaml. Refer to the chart's values.yaml for the database connection and other settings.

Configuration

You configure postgres-meta with environment variables. For example, to serve the API to other containers on the same network while connecting to a database that requires TLS, set:

• PG_META_DB_URL: The PostgreSQL connection string, such as postgresql://user:password@db:5432/postgres?sslmode=verify-full, with the server's CA certificate in PG_META_DB_SSL_ROOT_CERT. postgres-meta uses this connection for every request that does not supply its own, so give it a database user with only the privileges your clients need.
• PG_META_HOST: The address the HTTP server binds to. Keep the default to listen on all container interfaces, and control exposure with the container's port mapping or a Kubernetes Service.
• PG_META_PORT: The port the HTTP server listens on. The image sets it to 8080, matching upstream; change it only if that port conflicts with another service.

The API listens on port 8080/tcp, and a metrics server listens on 8081/tcp (PG_META_PORT + 1) at /metrics. Refer to the upstream README for the full list of settings.

Documentation and Resources

• postgres-meta GitHub repository
• Supabase documentation

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