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Prisma Client JS is an auto-generated database client that enables type-safe database access and reduces boilerplate. You can use it as an alternative to traditional ORMs such as Sequelize, TypeORM or Knex.js.
It is part of the Prisma 2 ecosystem. Prisma 2 provides database tools for data access, declarative data modeling, schema migrations and visual data management. Learn more in the Prisma 2 announcement.
Note that Prisma Client JS is currently running in Preview. A productionn-ready release is planned for Q1 2020.
The easiest way to get started with Prisma Client JS is by installing the Prisma 2 CLI and running the init
command:
npm install -g prisma2
mkdir my-prisma-project && cd my-prisma-project
prisma2 init
Learn more about the prisma2 init
flow here.
- Auto-generated database client
- Fully type-safe data access API (even for JavaScript), including:
- Field selection, lazy/eager loading
- Fluent API to traverse relations
- Transactional nested writes and batching API
- Relation filters (filter on JOINed tables)
- Powerful methods for filtering, sorting and (cursor) pagination
- Declarative data modelling and migrations with Prisma Migrate
- Connection pooling
- Works with existing databases using schema introspection
- CLI to support all major workflows
- Integrates seamlessly in your npm projects (without
npm install
)
You can find comprehensive documentation for Prisma Client JS in the Prisma 2 docs.
Here are few example API calls:
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'
const prisma = new PrismaClient()
async function main() {
await prisma.connect()
const userById = await prisma.users.findOne({ where: { id: 1 } })
const userByEmail = await prisma.users.findOne({ where: { email: "[email protected]" }})
const userWithPosts = await prisma.users.findOne({
where: { email: "[email protected]" },
include: { posts: { first: 10 } },
})
const newUser = await prisma.users.create({ data: {
name: "Alice",
email: "[email protected]",
}})
const newUserWithPosts = await prisma.users.create({ data: {
email: "[email protected]",
posts: {
create: [
{ title: "Join us for Prisma Day. June 19, Berlin!" },
{ title: "Follow Prisma on Twitter!" },
]
}
}})
const updatedUser = await prisma.users.update({
where: { email: "[email protected]" },
data: { role: "ADMIN" },
})
}
main().catch(e => {
console.error(e)
}).finally(async () => {
await prisma.disconnect()
})
Expand to the view the data model based on which the above Prisma Client JS API was generated
datasource ds {
// some data source config, e.g. SQLite, PostgreSQL, ...
}
generator client {
provider = "prisma-client-js"
}
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
email String @unique
name String
posts Post[]
}
model Post {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
createdAt DateTime @default(now())
updatedAt DateTime @updatedAt
draft Boolean @default(true)
author User
}
Learn more about the data model in the docs.
You can learn more about Prisma Client's API features in the API reference.
Specify the connection details for your database as a data source in your Prisma schema file. The connection details might differ per database, but most commonly you'll provide the following:
- Host: The IP address or domain name of the machine where your database server is running.
- Port: The port on which your database server is listening.
- User & password: Credentials for your database server.
Here is an example schema file that connects to a local PostgreSQL database:
// schema.prisma
datasource postgres {
url = "postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb"
provider = "postgresql"
}
generator client {
provider = "prisma-client-js"
}
The data model definition is a declarative and human-readable representation of your database schema. Here is the schema file from above extended with a sample data model:
// schema.prisma
datasource postgres {
url = "postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432"
provider = "postgres"
}
generator client {
provider = "prisma-client-js"
}
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
createdAt DateTime @default(now())
email String @unique
name String?
role Role @default(USER)
posts Post[]
}
model Post {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
createdAt DateTime @default(now())
updatedAt DateTime @updatedAt
title String
published Boolean @default(false)
author User
}
enum Role {
USER
ADMIN
}
Read below to learn how you obtain it for your project.
If you want to use Prisma Client JS with an existing database, you can introspect your database schema using the Prisma 2 CLI. This generates a data model which is the foundation for the generated Prisma Client JS API.
When starting from scratch, you can simply write your own data model definition inside your schema file. You can then use Prisma Migrate to migrate your database (Prisma Migrate maps your data model definition to the schema of the underlying database).
Generate your version of Prisma Client JS using the Prisma 2 CLI:
prisma2 generate
Prisma Client JS is generated based on the data model definition and provides a type-safe API with the following features:
- CRUD
- Filter, sorting and (cursor) pagination
- Field selection and eager loading
- Relations and transactions
- Raw database access
Prisma Client JS gets generated into your node_modules
folder so you can import it directly from '@prisma/client'
. There's no need to install any additional dependencies or database drivers.
Similar to traditional ORMs, Prisma Client JS can be used with any of your Node.js or TypeScript applications. For example to implement REST, GraphQL or gRPC APIs. You can find reference examples for these use cases in the prisma-examples
repository.
As you build your app, you'll likely migrate your database to implement new features. Depending on how you obtained your initial data model and whether or not you're using Prisma Migrate, there might be two ways for evolving your application going forward.
If you're not using Prisma Migrate, you need to re-introspect your database (to update the generated datamodel) and re-generate Prisma Client JS after each schema migration:
prisma2 introspect
prisma2 generate
When using Prisma Migrate, you need to re-generate Prisma Client JS immediately after you performed a schema migration:
# adjust data model definition in schema.prisma
prisma2 migrate save --experimental
prisma2 migrate up --experimental
prisma2 generate
Prisma Client JS can be used with the following databases:
- SQLite
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB (coming very soon)
More databases that will be supported in the future are:
- MS SQL
- Oracle
- Neo4J
- FaunaDB
- ...
Read more about how to contribute to Prisma Client JS here