Realtime channel only works after an unsubscribe/resubscribe cycle

[jinha-hwang-hajong]

I'm encountering a very strange issue with Realtime channels. A new subscription doesn't seem to work correctly until I explicitly unsubscribe and then immediately resubscribe to the same channel.

Current Code (Does Not Work)

Here is the initial code. The subscription is established, but no events are received.

function subscribeChannel() {
		realtimeChannel = supabase
			.channel(`ptable_reservations_${ptable_id}`)
			.on(
				'postgres_changes',
				{
					event: '*',
					schema: 'public',
					table: 'ptable_reservations',
					filter: `ptable_id=eq.${ptable_id}`
				},
				(payload: RealtimePostgresChangesPayload<Tables<'ptable_reservations'>>) => {
					const { eventType, new: newRecord, old: oldRecord } = payload
					console.log(payload)
				}
			)
			.subscribe((status, err) => {
				console.log(status, err)
				if (status === 'CHANNEL_ERROR') {
					supabase.removeChannel(realtimeChannel)
					subscribeChannel()
				}
			})
	}

Result:

As you can see in the video, no realtime events are being captured.

2025-08-30.13-15-02.webm

Working Code (Workaround)

However, if I introduce an removeChannel() call before the final subscribe(), it starts working as expected.

let first = true

function subscribeChannel() {
		realtimeChannel = supabase
			.channel(`ptable_reservations_${ptable_id}`)
			.on(
				'postgres_changes',
				{
					event: '*',
					schema: 'public',
					table: 'ptable_reservations',
					filter: `ptable_id=eq.${ptable_id}`
				},
				(payload: RealtimePostgresChangesPayload<Tables<'ptable_reservations'>>) => {
					const { eventType, new: newRecord, old: oldRecord } = payload
					console.log(payload)
				}
			)
			.subscribe((status, err) => {
				console.log(status, err)
                                if (first) { // Modified!
                                         first = false
					 supabase.removeChannel(realtimeChannel)
					 subscribeChannel()
					 return
				 }
				if (status === 'CHANNEL_ERROR') {
					supabase.removeChannel(realtimeChannel)
					subscribeChannel()
				}
			})
	}

Result:

Now, the realtime events are received correctly.

2025-08-30.13-15-37.webm

As demonstrated, the subscription only becomes active after this unsubscribe/resubscribe cycle. This behavior is unexpected and seems like a potential bug. I can't figure out why the initial subscription fails to receive events on its own.

---

ubuntu 24.04 / 22.04
'@supabase/ssr':
specifier: ^0.6.1
version: 0.6.1(@supabase/supabase-js@2.54.0)
'@supabase/supabase-js':
specifier: ^2.49.4
version: 2.54.0
node: v24.1.0

[edgurgel]

Thanks for the bug report! Will try to replicate on our side!

[UngererFabien]

Hello I had the same issue after updating to supabase-js 2.54+. Calling await supabaseClient.realtime.setAuth() before subscription solved the problem for me.

It seems like there is a delay from catching the JWT that create the issue when using RLS. It might be why doing a subscribe/unsuscribe cycle work for you ?

You can find the source for setAuth here: https://github.com/supabase/realtime-js/blob/master/src/RealtimeClient.ts

[UngererFabien]

I sent a message to the support. And they told me to migrate to Broadcast, linking to this blog post: https://supabase.com/blog/realtime-broadcast-from-database

And funny enough in there you can find the same call to supabaseClient.realtime.setAuth() stated as "Needed for Realtime Authorization".

So at this point it looks intended and might just need a doc update.

[vinnymac]

I am experiencing this issue as well. I am on 2.49.4 of @supabase/supabase-js and using the newer Broadcasts functionality.

Calling setAuth fixes the issue. It appears this only occurs during local development for me, and not in production environments (perhaps something else is calling setAuth in those environments)

A resubscribe cycle also seems to jostle it into working on this version. Let me know if you’d like any other information.

[edgurgel]

@vinnymac Given that you can easily replicate... would you mind trying with the latest supabase-js version? We applied a coupe of fixes where setAuth would not be automatically called.

[vinnymac]

@edgurgel sure thing, I'll give this a try later today, and test with and without the setAuth call explicitly in my local to see how it behaves.

[vinnymac]

@edgurgel I can confirm that upgrading from v2.49.4 to v2.75.0 with or without calling setAuth both work for me locally 👍🏼

[edgurgel]

Thanks, @vinnymac! Good to know it's working 🎉