Correction

I need to correct my initial understanding after feedback:

The Actual Behavior

These variables control the entire authentication provider, not just signup:

• ENABLE_EMAIL_SIGNUP → GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_EMAIL_ENABLED
• ENABLE_PHONE_SIGNUP → GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_PHONE_ENABLED
• DISABLE_SIGNUP → GOTRUE_DISABLE_SIGNUP (global flag)

Invite-Only Configuration

Docker:

DISABLE_SIGNUP=true
ENABLE_EMAIL_SIGNUP=true
ENABLE_PHONE_SIGNUP=true

CLI:

[auth]
enable_signup = false

[auth.email]
enable_signup = true

[auth.sms]
enable_signup = true

Proposed change

Not a bug - documentation clarity issue. Fixed in #40575 and supabase/cli#4469 by adding detailed comments explaining provider vs signup control,

Original Report:

Bug report

• 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

Setting [auth.email].enable_signup = false disables the entire email provider instead of just preventing signups, breaking invite-only authentication. Same issue affects [auth.sms].enable_signup.

Error: 422 {"msg":"email_provider_disabled"}

To Reproduce

CLI:

[auth.email]
enable_signup = false

Docker:

ENABLE_EMAIL_SIGNUP=false

Attempt to send a magic link or authenticate an invited user → provider disabled error.

Expected behavior

Should only disable signups while allowing invited users to authenticate via email/password/OTP.

System information

• Affects:
  • Supabase CLI v1.0.0+ (since d347621, Feb 2022)
  • Docker Compose (since 0e036d4, Sept 2021)
• Observed with: Supabase CLI latest, Docker Compose with GoTrue v2.182.1

Root cause

Config incorrectly maps enable_signup → GOTRUE_EXTERNAL_EMAIL_ENABLED (provider on/off) instead of GOTRUE_DISABLE_SIGNUP (signup permission).

Bug locations:

• CLI: internal/start/start.go lines 487, 502
• Docker: docker/docker-compose.yml lines 132, 152

Proposed fixes:

• fix(auth): decouple provider enabled from signup control cli#4469
• fix(docker): separate auth provider enabled from signup settings #40575