Supabase Postgres RLS/Insert Issue: text[] columns for target_professional_industries and target_job_titles never populate

[joshkennedy77]

Hi all,

I’ve been banging my head against the wall for days on this and could use expert help.
My issue:

When I insert a row into my study_plans table via my Next.js app, all columns save as expected except

target_professional_industries (text[])

target_job_titles (text[])

No matter what I do, these always save as empty arrays ([]), even though the payload sent from my API contains correct values (strings or UUIDs).
Strangely, target_audience_skills (also a text[]) works fine and saves values like ["5ff5ff245227a5352856e77a"].

Table schema for demographics:
sql
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-- Partial table definition
create table study_plans (
...
target_professional_industries text[],
target_job_titles text[],
target_audience_skills text[],
...
);
API/Insert code (simplified):
js
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const insertObject = {
...
target_professional_industries: ensureArray(target_professional_industries ?? targetProfessionalIndustries),
target_job_titles: ensureArray(target_job_titles ?? targetJobTitles),
target_audience_skills: ensureArray(target_audience_skills),
...
};
(ensureArray is a helper that always returns a string[])

RLS Policies:
RLS is enabled on the table.

Insert policy:

sql
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CREATE POLICY "Anyone can insert"
ON study_plans
FOR INSERT
USING (true);
What I’ve tried:
Matching column names/casing between API and Supabase

Checking if the frontend sends as strings, stringified arrays, or actual arrays

Manually inserting via Supabase dashboard (works fine)

Double/triple-checking the API logs (shows correct values sent)

Disabling and re-enabling RLS

Changing default values to {} or []

Screenshot:
(Attach the one you uploaded showing the columns)

Q:

Is there any chance a subtle RLS or column-level Postgres config could cause only these text[] fields to reject values when inserted via API, but not in dashboard?

Any known issues with Postgres, RLS, or text[] columns and certain array formats?

What am I missing?

[GaryAustin1]

RLS does not impact columns.
Column level grants you would know if you set up and they error, not silent like RLS selects or updates.
You say checking API logs shows correct data sent, but the Dashboard logs don't show insert data from the body of the request.
Usually the wrong column name would also generate an error.

But your Insert policy is not correct. It must be WITH CHECK and not USING. This though would not insert anything to the row and not just leave out 1 column.

I notice you have null conditionals on the ensure_array for the two that fail, but not the one that works... FWIW.

And you get no errors at all?

It might be better to use the SB Discord and post your real code so users there can look at it and help in a more interactive fashion.

[joshkennedy77]

My apologies if this is obnoxiously long, I dont have/use Discord, but sounds like I should. I collect user demographic selections for industries and job titles using a multi-select (react-select) UI fed by a lookup API (/api/respondent-lookup/job-titles and /industries).
Each dropdown option is { value: uuid, label: string } and on select I store the whole array as state.

When generating my payload, I do:

js
{
job_titles: selectedJobTitles.map(j => j.value), // Example: ["uuid1", "uuid2"]
industries: selectedIndustries.map(i => i.value), // Example: ["uuidA", "uuidB"]
...
}
(I also sometimes use column names like target_job_titles, target_professional_industries, but for Respondent.io I use job_titles, industries.)

My Supabase table columns are:

sql
target_job_titles text[] -- to store UUIDs of job titles
target_professional_industries text[] -- to store UUIDs of industries
Supabase Insert Logic (API route):

js
const { job_titles, industries, ... } = req.body;
const { data, error } = await supabase
.from("study_plans")
.insert([
{
target_job_titles: job_titles, // expecting ["uuid1", ...]
target_professional_industries: industries, // expecting ["uuidA", ...]
// ...other fields
}
]);

Problem:
When I submit, the insert succeeds but the columns are always empty arrays ([]) in Supabase.
All other fields work and are filled.
The API debug logs show the right arrays being sent.
No errors in the Supabase logs.
All columns are text[].
RLS is enabled, but policy allows insert for the user.

What could I be missing?

Bonus:
Does Supabase require special type coercion for text[] arrays from the API route?

Is there a pitfall in mapping from Option[] to string[] and passing as JSON body?

Do I need to stringify the array before sending?

Thanks for any help! You guys rock! TLDR I have been working 10 days on something that I feel should have taken me less than 1 day, so about to lose my mind. 🙏🏼

[GaryAustin1]

Try hard coding a text array. You should just be passing in JS arrays with the supabase-js client.

If that row does not exist, and you are truly doing insert then it is all or nothing on things getting inserted. An error will occur if your js calls out a column does not exist. No error will occur if you don't fill in a column on insert and it will be set to your default. If you don't have a default as empty array then it should be NULL. So it seems you are inserting an empty array.

Do you have an insert trigger on this table that might be changing column values?

[kostysh]

@joshkennedy77 Did you solve your issue? I am also having trouble with text[] field. I am using Supabase-JS and sending to this field a Js array (something like ['aaa']) and nothing. No errors, row is inserted but the field (type of text[]) is empty.