> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vortexiq.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Connections In Use, Supabase

> Connections In Use for Supabase projects. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.

**Card class:** [Non-Hero](/nerve-centre/overview#card-classes-explained)  •  **Category:** [Capacity](/nerve-centre/connectors#connectors-by-type)

## At a glance

> **Connections In Use** is the live count of active and idle backend connections held against the Supabase Postgres instance right now. Every Supabase tier ships with a hard `max_connections` ceiling set by the compute add-on, so this raw count is the denominator behind pool-saturation alerts. Read it next to [Supavisor Pool Saturation %](/nerve-centre/kpi-cards/supabase/supavisor-pool-saturation) to know how much connection headroom you have left before new requests start queuing or failing.

## What it tracks

The card reports the number of connections currently open against the database, grounded in the `detail`: Connections In Use for the selected period. It is a real-time (`RT`) snapshot, not an average, so it reflects the instant the dashboard is read.

Postgres exposes one row per backend in `pg_stat_activity`; the count here is the total of those rows (active plus idle plus idle-in-transaction). On Supabase this number lives under a tier-bound `max_connections` cap that scales with the compute add-on, and most app traffic should arrive through the Supavisor pooler rather than opening direct connections. A steadily climbing count at flat traffic is the classic signature of a connection leak (clients opening but never releasing), while a sudden jump usually means a traffic burst or a misconfigured client opening direct connections instead of going through the pooler.

## Reconciling against the source

Confirm the live count directly in Supabase with `SELECT count(*) FROM pg_stat_activity;` in the SQL Editor or `psql`, and compare against the ceiling with `SHOW max_connections;`. Supabase Studio → Reports → Database also charts active connections over time. A momentary difference from the card is expected because the card is a point-in-time `RT` sample and the counts move continuously.

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### Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

*Connections In Use* is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Supabase and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.

[Start for free](https://app.vortexiq.ai/login) or [book a demo](https://www.vortexiq.ai/contact-us) to see this metric running on your own data.