Realtime presence has stopped working

[aristotelis96]

Bug report

Realtime presence events (sync, join, leave) stopped firing on 05/03/2026 (or maybe 6th). This occurred without any changes to our application code.

Interestingly, the issue does not persist locally (using Supabase CLI/Docker), but it is consistent across our production and staging environments.

• I confirm this is a bug with Supabase, not with my own application.
• I confirm I have searched the Docs, GitHub Discussions, and Discord.

Describe the bug

• The browser Network tab shows incoming WebSocket messages.
• The Supabase Dashboard logs show presence events being tracked.
• The high-level SDK listeners (e.g., .on('presence', { event: 'sync' }, ... )) simply never trigger.
• We can "force" it to work by listening to the internal/undocumented presence_state and presence_diff events directly, though this causes TypeScript errors.

To Reproduce

Steps to reproduce the behavior, please provide code snippets or a repository:

1. Implement realtime as described in the docs
2. Try to run it with a deployed supabase instance

Expected behavior

Realtime presence should work according to the docs.

Versions:

We initially observed the issue with version "@supabase/supabase-js": "2.48.4" but we also had the issue with the latest version 2.98.0

Additional context

We are currently forced to use this implementation to keep the app running (ignoring any type errors), which suggests the underlying data is fine, but the SDK's event-matching logic is failing:

   const channelRoom = supabase.channel(channel, {
                config: { presence: { key: "", enabled: true } },
            })
            channelRoom

                .on("presence_state", {}, (event) => {
                    // Initial state
                    const items = Object.values(event)
                    const userIds = items.map((item) => item.metas[0]?.user)
                    userIds.forEach((userId) => dispatch(addUser({ channel, user: userId })))
                })
                .on("presence_diff", {}, (event) => {
                    const joinedUserIds = Object.values(event.joins).map((item) => item.metas[0]?.user)
                    joinedUserIds.forEach((id) => dispatch(addUser({ channel, user: id })))

                    const leftUserIds = Object.values(event.leaves).map((item) => item.metas[0]?.user)
                    leftUserIds.forEach((id) => dispatch(removeUser({ channel, user: id })))
                })
                .subscribe()

            setRoom(channelRoom)
        }
        subscribe()

[westerbot]

I have the same issue. Inspecting my WebSocket frames I can see the server sends phx_reply ok after phx_join but never sends presence_state. I'm currently working around it the same way, by listening to the internal presence_state and presence_diff events directly.

[filipecabaco]

can you tell which version of the javascript library you are using?

the newer versions (since 2.43.4 to be exact) of the library should enable it automatically for you.

[aristotelis96]

Issue was initially detected with version 2.48.4, but upgrading to the latest 2.98.0 didn't fix the issue.

[filipecabaco]

can you share the code used? is it supabase-js ?

[aristotelis96]

Yes its supabase-js. Here is the full code of the hook we were using for quite sometime now until it stopped working last week:

import { useUser } from "@contexts/sessionContextProvider"
import { useAppDispatch } from "@store/hooks"
import { addUser, removeUser } from "@store/slices/presence_rooms_slice"
import type { RealtimeChannel } from "@supabase/supabase-js"
import { supabase } from "@utils/supabase/client"
import { useCallback, useEffect, useState } from "react"

export const usePresence = (channel?: string | null) => {
    const user = useUser()
    const dispatch = useAppDispatch()
    const [room, setRoom] = useState<RealtimeChannel>()

    useEffect(() => {
        if (!channel) {
            return
        }
        const channelRoom = supabase.channel(channel)
        channelRoom
            .on("presence", { event: "join" }, ({ newPresences }) => {
                dispatch(addUser({ channel, user: newPresences[0].user }))
            })
            .on("presence", { event: "leave" }, ({ leftPresences }) => {
                dispatch(removeUser({ channel, user: leftPresences[0].user }))
            })
            .subscribe()
        setRoom(channelRoom)
    }, [channel, dispatch])

    const logIn = useCallback(() => {
        if (!room || !user?.id) {
            return
        }
        room.track({ user: user.id })
    }, [room, user?.id])

    const logOut = useCallback(() => {
        if (!room) {
            return
        }
        room.untrack()
    }, [room])

    useEffect(() => {
        logIn()
        return () => {
            logOut()
        }
    }, [logIn, logOut])
}

We use this hook in the page we want to track presence, then we track online users from the slice in redux.
Currently we switched to the workaround shown above.

[filipecabaco]

I validated on my side and the presence shifts to true when we have .on("presence", ... bindings even if I force false it 🤔

going to keep checking

[DerDeathraven]

any update on this?

[filipecabaco]

I was not able to replicate the issue with the latest JS library version even based on the code above.

If possible provide a repository as I might be missing some element

[aristotelis96]

I was able to resolve this after reaching out to Supabase support. They performed some backend configuration "tweaks" on their end, and my original code immediately started working again.

For context, they had to apply this fix to two separate projects of mine, so it doesn't seem to be an isolated instance. I didn't need to make any changes to my codebase. Once they adjusted things internally, the high-level Presence listeners resumed working as expected.

Not sure if I should close this since others are still facing the issue.

[filipecabaco]

Yes it will but the latest version of supabase-js should have the same impact. if we are seeing this in newer versions of supabase-js we would kindly request for a repository so we can test and find what could be the bug

[calebdelnay]

Started running into this issue locally and it didn't seem related to the Supabase JS version but rather the versions of various locally running containers. After a bunch of bisecting of Supabase CLI versions, I determined that Supabase CLI 2.76.17 works but Supabase CLI 2.77.0 breaks. No code changes in our application between versions. No database reset between versions. I did do a database reset to troubleshoot further but that didn't fix the issue. Looking at the raw websocket messages, I never see presence_state come through.

Tested with the very recently released Supabase CLI 2.79.0 and it is also broken in the same way.

For Supabase CLI 2.76.17 the services list outputs:

   SERVICE IMAGE          | LOCAL                  | LINKED 
  ------------------------|------------------------|--------
   supabase/postgres      | 15.8.1.121             | -      
   supabase/gotrue        | v2.177.0               | -      
   postgrest/postgrest    | v12.2.12               | -      
   supabase/realtime      | v2.78.7                | -      
   supabase/storage-api   | v1.41.3                | -      
   supabase/edge-runtime  | v1.71.0                | -      
   supabase/studio        | 2026.03.02-sha-5644bee | -      
   supabase/postgres-meta | v0.96.0                | -      
   supabase/logflare      | 1.34.5                 | -      
   supabase/supavisor     | 2.7.4                  | -      

For Supabase CLI 2.77.0 the services list outputs:

   SERVICE IMAGE          | LOCAL                  | LINKED 
  ------------------------|------------------------|--------
   supabase/postgres      | 15.8.1.121             | -      
   supabase/gotrue        | v2.177.0               | -      
   postgrest/postgrest    | v12.2.12               | -      
   supabase/realtime      | v2.78.10               | -      
   supabase/storage-api   | v1.41.8                | -      
   supabase/edge-runtime  | v1.71.0                | -      
   supabase/studio        | 2026.03.04-sha-0043607 | -      
   supabase/postgres-meta | v0.96.1                | -      
   supabase/logflare      | 1.34.7                 | -      
   supabase/supavisor     | 2.7.4                  | -      

The PR that did version upgrades is this one: supabase/cli#4935

[calebdelnay]

Not sure if this will help but here are some raw websocket messages from the two versions (with minor edits to remove access tokens).

Working Version 2.76.17

{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"phx_join","payload":{"config":{"broadcast":{"ack":false,"self":false},"presence":{"key":""},"postgres_changes":[],"private":false},"access_token":"<access-token-redacted>"},"ref":"2","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":"2","event":"phx_reply","payload":{"status":"ok","response":{"postgres_changes":[]}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"presence","payload":{"type":"presence","event":"track","payload":{"userInstanceId":"019cf761-5a32-7434-bd73-44813632f730","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-79e0-b9f0-43aba7d2edb7","userEmail":"functional-test-user@example.com","userColor":{"hue":-157,"saturation":100,"lightness":50},"userPictureUrl":null,"onlineAt":"2026-03-16T16:01:21.256Z"}},"ref":"4","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":null,"event":"presence_state","payload":{},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"ref":"4","event":"phx_reply","payload":{"status":"ok","response":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"ref":null,"event":"presence_diff","payload":{"joins":{"6008311a-2151-11f1-b345-5656daa73775":{"metas":[{"phx_ref":"GJ1dueWkjFZ-igWH","onlineAt":"2026-03-16T16:01:21.256Z","userColor":{"hue":-157,"lightness":50,"saturation":100},"userEmail":"functional-test-user@example.com","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-79e0-b9f0-43aba7d2edb7","userInstanceId":"019cf761-5a32-7434-bd73-44813632f730","userPictureUrl":null}]}},"leaves":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"6","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"9","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"12","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"37","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":null,"event":"presence_diff","payload":{"joins":{"7ed21354-2151-11f1-b15e-5656daa73775":{"metas":[{"phx_ref":"GJ1dxew4Zct-igqH","onlineAt":"2026-03-16T16:02:12.906Z","userColor":{"hue":-294,"lightness":50,"saturation":100},"userEmail":"team@example.com","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-7288-aa5a-c21a2b304ab5","userInstanceId":"019cf73e-96b9-7fa5-859f-c97edde09845","userPictureUrl":null}]}},"leaves":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"58","join_ref":"2"}

Broken Version 2.77.0

{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"phx_join","payload":{"config":{"broadcast":{"ack":false,"self":false},"presence":{"key":""},"postgres_changes":[],"private":false},"access_token":"<access-token-redacted>"},"ref":"2","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":"2","event":"phx_reply","payload":{"status":"ok","response":{"postgres_changes":[]}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"presence","payload":{"type":"presence","event":"track","payload":{"userInstanceId":"019cf75d-380e-7024-9c33-f035934a29e5","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-79e0-b9f0-43aba7d2edb7","userEmail":"functional-test-user@example.com","userColor":{"hue":-157,"saturation":100,"lightness":50},"userPictureUrl":null,"onlineAt":"2026-03-16T15:56:49.321Z"}},"ref":"4","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"6","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":"4","event":"phx_reply","payload":{"status":"ok","response":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"ref":null,"event":"presence_diff","payload":{"joins":{"bdf2735e-2150-11f1-bba1-5a1a06fef834":{"metas":[{"phx_ref":"GJ1depUQrQrZ4xJB","onlineAt":"2026-03-16T15:56:49.321Z","userColor":{"hue":-157,"lightness":50,"saturation":100},"userEmail":"functional-test-user@example.com","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-79e0-b9f0-43aba7d2edb7","userInstanceId":"019cf75d-380e-7024-9c33-f035934a29e5","userPictureUrl":null}]}},"leaves":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"9","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"12","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":null,"event":"presence_diff","payload":{"joins":{"c422ae1a-2150-11f1-85ec-5a1a06fef834":{"metas":[{"phx_ref":"GJ1dfP-_HAPZ4xWB","onlineAt":"2026-03-16T15:56:59.701Z","userColor":{"hue":-294,"lightness":50,"saturation":100},"userEmail":"team@example.com","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-7288-aa5a-c21a2b304ab5","userInstanceId":"019cf73e-96b9-7fa5-859f-c97edde09845","userPictureUrl":null}]}},"leaves":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"36","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"40","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"57","join_ref":"2"}
{"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence","event":"access_token","payload":{"access_token":"<access-token-refacted>"},"ref":"80","join_ref":"2"}
{"ref":null,"event":"presence_diff","payload":{"joins":{},"leaves":{"c422ae1a-2150-11f1-85ec-5a1a06fef834":{"metas":[{"phx_ref":"GJ1dfP-_HAPZ4xWB","onlineAt":"2026-03-16T15:56:59.701Z","userColor":{"hue":-294,"lightness":50,"saturation":100},"userEmail":"team@example.com","userId":"019cf716-3fe4-7288-aa5a-c21a2b304ab5","userInstanceId":"019cf73e-96b9-7fa5-859f-c97edde09845","userPictureUrl":null}]}}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"ref":"102","event":"phx_reply","payload":{"status":"ok","response":{}},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}
{"ref":"2","event":"phx_close","payload":{},"topic":"realtime:document/019cf716-3fe4-7b54-8fbf-33ab0e587189/presence"}

And here is the part of the code handling presence:

  let { channel: presenceChannel } = documentPresenceRealtimeChannel;

  presenceChannel = supabaseClient.channel(`document/${documentId}/presence`);

  presenceChannel
    .on("presence", { event: "sync" }, () => {
      const newState =
        presenceChannel?.presenceState<PresenceDetailsModelSnapshotOut>();

      console.log("PRESENCE Sync state:", newState);

      if (!newState) {
        return;
      }

      const presences = Object.entries(newState).reduce(
        (accumulator, [, [presence]]) => {
          accumulator.push(presence);

          return accumulator;
        },
        [] as PresenceDetailsModelSnapshotOut[],
      );

      documentPresenceStore.syncPresences(presences);
    })
    .on<PresenceDetailsModelSnapshotIn>(
      "presence",
      { event: "join" },
      ({ key, newPresences }) => {
        console.log("PRESENCE Join:", key, newPresences);

        const presences = newPresences.map((presence) =>
          PresenceDetailsModel.create({
            ...presence,
          }),
        );

        documentPresenceStore.setPresences(presences);
      },
    )
    .on<PresenceDetailsModelSnapshotIn>(
      "presence",
      { event: "leave" },
      ({ key, leftPresences }) => {
        console.log("PRESENCE Leave:", key, leftPresences);

        documentPresenceStore.deletePresences(
          leftPresences.map((presence) => presence.presence_ref),
        );
      },
    )
    .subscribe(async (status) => {
      console.log("PRESENCE Subscribe status:", status);

      if (status === "SUBSCRIBED") {
        const presenceDetails: Omit<
          PresenceDetailsModelSnapshotOut,
          "presence_ref"
        > = {
          userInstanceId: userAuthStore.instanceId,
          userId: userAuthStore.id!,
          userEmail: userAuthStore.user?.email ?? null,
          userColor: stringColorHash(userAuthStore.id ?? uuidv7()),
          userPictureUrl: null,
          onlineAt: new Date().toISOString(),
        };

        const presenceTrackStatus =
          await presenceChannel?.track(presenceDetails);

        console.log("PRESENCE Track status:", presenceTrackStatus);
      }
    });

  documentPresenceRealtimeChannel.channel = presenceChannel;

[androbwebb]

I had this issue too. I figured out that locally, I would receive a presence_state event upon subscription, and this sets the joinRef.

{"ref":null,"event":"presence_state","payload":{},"topic":"realtime:std:std_nt3nSryxCTY41"}

On hosted Supabase, this event is never sent (I assume it used to be). Without it, the client's joinRef stays null, and inPendingSyncState() always returns true. This causes all incoming presence_diff events to queue up in pendingDiffs indefinitely: the sync, join, and leave callbacks never fire.

Workaround:

Manually set joinRef on the presence object after the channel reaches SUBSCRIBED status:

channel.subscribe(async (status) => {
  if (status === "SUBSCRIBED") {
  // Workaround: hosted realtime doesn't send presence_state on join
    const ch = channel as any;
    if (ch.presence && !ch.presence.joinRef) {
      ch.presence.joinRef = ch._joinRef();
    }

      await channel.track({ /* ... */ });
    }
});

Note: Obviously not a great long term solution, but hopefully this unblocks us until Supabase fixes.

[filipecabaco]

please if possible provide a repository with the breaking code so we can more easily verify. currently with our e2e tests and ci checks we were not able to replicate the issue mentione.

more context of why it's happening:
the failure it self is due to changes we are doing recently where we had all presence enable by default and that changed on the server side to allow us to better scale realtime and prevent events from being fired even if not used.

on the client lib side, since supabase-js version 2.43.4 we added a flag that get's enabled if you set the listeners for presence events. you can also force change the flag in the configuration with supabase.channel(channel, { config: { presence: { enabled: true } }})

also, if you are unable to properly debug we can also force enable it in the hosted version by opening a ticket and we will act on it