auth.users empty after project pause/resume — "Database error saving new user" on all signups

[1openmike]

Hoping someone here has hit this before.

After my free-tier project paused due to inactivity and was resumed, all signups now fail with "Database error saving new user." Tested in clean incognito — consistent, not intermittent.

Diagnostics so far:

• SELECT count(*) FROM auth.users; → 0, stable across repeated runs
• SELECT count(*) FROM public.profiles; → 1 (orphaned row, no matching auth.users entry)
• SELECT count(*) FROM auth.schema_migrations; → 76 rows (restored)
• No auth.users rows are being created at all — hard failure on every insert attempt

What I believe the fix is:
Based on reading around this failure mode, I think support needs to run something like:

insert into auth.schema_migrations values ('20221208132122');

...but project owner permissions return "permission denied" on auth.schema_migrations writes, so I can't do it myself. Support ticket open (several days, no resolution yet).

Has anyone else hit this after a pause/resume cycle? Did support's fix match the above, or was it something different? Any way to unblock this without waiting on the ticket queue?

Project is on free tier, Supabase-managed auth (not custom), no recent schema changes on my side.

[1openmike]

UPDATE:

I can now confirm the root cause with evidence from my own instance.

Running the following query in my SQL editor:

SELECT column_name, generation_expression
FROM information_schema.columns
WHERE table_schema = 'auth'
AND table_name = 'identities'
AND column_name = 'email';

Returns:
column_name: email
generation_expression: lower((identity_data ->> 'email'::text))

This confirms that auth.identities.email is a GENERATED ALWAYS AS column on my instance. GoTrue is still attempting to insert email explicitly on every signup, producing error 428C9 and failing every user creation attempt. auth.users count remains at 0.

The fix needed (requires supabase_auth_admin — I cannot run this myself):

ALTER TABLE auth.identities ALTER COLUMN email DROP EXPRESSION;

This is a confirmed match to the root cause identified in community reports from April 2026.

This has been blocking all signups for several days and is holding up a product launch. I now have a precise, verified diagnosis and a one-line fix. Please treat this as urgent.

Thanks,
Michael

[GaryAustin1]

That generate always as is what it should be. If there is not email then the column gets set to null with no error.

Check the Postgres logs for the exact error. It will likely point to you having an auth.users trigger function failing or an auth hook failing.

[1openmike]

Update: Postgres logs show the exact error on every signup attempt:

relation "supabase_migrations.schema_migrations" does not exist

Confirmed not coming from my trigger or any auth hooks — this is internal to Supabase's auth flow. Platform-level fix needed.

[1openmike]

Gary,
Yes — one trigger on auth.users:
Trigger name: on_auth_user_created

Event: INSERT

Function: handle_new_user()
Function definition:
sqlBEGIN
INSERT INTO public.profiles (id, email, is_pro, created_at)
VALUES (new.id, new.email, false, now());
RETURN new;
END;
No auth hooks — supabase_functions.hooks does not exist on my instance.
Postgres logs show this error on every signup attempt:

relation "supabase_migrations.schema_migrations" does not exist
The trigger function itself has no reference to supabase_migrations — so this appears to be coming from inside Supabase's own auth flow, not from my trigger.

[GaryAustin1]

That schema is from using the CLI I believe. It is used to track your local and remote projects based on what I see. I don't use the CLI for this so my instances don't have that table and don't get an error. The auth.schema_migrations is a totally different table.

Have you tried a project restart from general settings?

Otherwise contact support if you have not. No one on Github or Discord can help look with your actual project internals.

[GaryAustin1]

Also make sure that error lines up with your gateway api log time for the signup and is not some other error (not related). I do see that error in my logs occasionally but it does not hurt anything.

[1openmike]

Thank you Gary!
I tried project restart Friday and again just now. Project restart — no change, still "Database error saving new user" and auth.users count remains 0. Support ticket SU-398534 has been open several days. Will push on that. Thanks for your help — really appreciated.