findyourpilot/.agents/skills/supabase-postgres-best-practices/references/security-rls-performance.md

title, impact, impactDescription, tags

title	impact	impactDescription	tags
Optimize RLS Policies for Performance	HIGH	5-10x faster RLS queries with proper patterns	rls, performance, security, optimization

Optimize RLS Policies for Performance

Poorly written RLS policies can cause severe performance issues. Use subqueries and indexes strategically.

Incorrect (function called for every row):

create policy orders_policy on orders
  using (auth.uid() = user_id);  -- auth.uid() called per row!

-- With 1M rows, auth.uid() is called 1M times

Correct (wrap functions in SELECT):

create policy orders_policy on orders
  using ((select auth.uid()) = user_id);  -- Called once, cached

-- 100x+ faster on large tables

Use security definer functions for complex checks:

-- Create helper function (runs as definer, bypasses RLS)
create or replace function is_team_member(team_id bigint)
returns boolean
language sql
security definer
set search_path = ''
as $$
  select exists (
    select 1 from public.team_members
    where team_id = $1 and user_id = (select auth.uid())
  );
$$;

-- Use in policy (indexed lookup, not per-row check)
create policy team_orders_policy on orders
  using ((select is_team_member(team_id)));

Always add indexes on columns used in RLS policies:

create index orders_user_id_idx on orders (user_id);

Reference: RLS Performance