Prisma Config reference

Overview

The Prisma Config file configures the Prisma CLI, including subcommands like migrate and studio, using TypeScript.

You can define your config in either of two ways:

Using the defineConfig helper:

import path from "node:path";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  schema: path.join("prisma", "schema.prisma"),
  migrations: { 
    path: path.join("db", "migrations"),
  },
  views: { 
    path: path.join("db", "views"),
  },
  typedSql: { 
  path: path.join("db", "queries"),
  },
  engine: "classic",
  datasource: { 
    url: env("DATABASE_URL") 
  }
});

Using TypeScript's satisfies operator with the PrismaConfig type:

import path from "node:path";
import type { PrismaConfig } from "prisma";

export default {
  schema: path.join("db", "schema.prisma"),
  migrations: {
    path: path.join("db", "migrations"),
  },
  views: {
    path: path.join("db", "views"),
  },
  typedSql: {
    path: path.join("db", "queries"),
  },
  engine: "classic",
  datasource: { 
    url: env("DATABASE_URL") 
  }
} satisfies PrismaConfig;

Configuration interface

Here is a simplified version of the PrismaConfig type:

export declare type PrismaConfig = {

  // Whether features with an unstable API are enabled.
  experimental: {
    adapter: boolean;
    externalTables: boolean;
    studio: boolean;
  },

  // The path to the schema file, or path to a folder that shall be recursively searched for *.prisma files.
  schema?: string;

  // The Driver Adapter used for Prisma CLI.
  adapter?: () => Promise<SqlMigrationAwareDriverAdapterFactory>;

  // Configuration for Prisma Studio.
  studio?: {
    adapter: () => Promise<SqlMigrationAwareDriverAdapterFactory>;
  };

  // Configuration for Prisma migrations.
  migrations?: {
    path: string;
    seed: string;
    initShadowDb: string;
  };

  // Configuration for the database view entities.
  views?: {
    path: string;
  };

  // Configuration for the `typedSql` preview feature.
  typedSql?: {
    path: string;
  };
  // Depending on the choice, you must provide either a `datasource` object or driver adapter
  engine: 'classic' | 'js'
  
  // If using the classic engine, datasource sets the database url, shadowDatabaseUrl, or directURL
  datasource?: {
    url: string;
    directUrl?: string;
    shadowDatabaseUrl?: string;
  }
  
};

Supported file extensions

Prisma Config files can be named as prisma.config.* or .config/prisma.* with the extensions js, ts, mjs, cjs, mts, or cts. Other extensions are supported to ensure compatibility with different TypeScript compiler settings.

Recommendation

Use prisma.config.ts for small TypeScript projects.
Use .config/prisma.ts for larger TypeScript projects with multiple configuration files (following the .config directory proposal).

Options reference

`schema`

Configures how Prisma ORM locates and loads your schema file(s). Can be a file or folder path. Relative paths are resolved relative to the prisma.config.ts file location. See here for more info about schema location options.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`schema`	`string`	No	`./prisma/schema.prisma` and `./schema.prisma`

`adapter`

A function that returns a Prisma driver adapter instance which is used by the Prisma CLI to run migrations. The function should return a Promise that resolves to a valid Prisma driver adapter.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`adapter`	`() => Promise<SqlMigrationAwareDriverAdapterFactory>`	No	none

Example using the Prisma ORM D1 driver adapter:

import path from "node:path";
import type { PrismaConfig } from "prisma";
import { PrismaD1 } from "@prisma/adapter-d1";

export default {
  experimental: {
    adapter: true
  },
  schema: path.join("prisma", "schema.prisma"),
  async adapter() {
    return new PrismaD1({
      CLOUDFLARE_D1_TOKEN: process.env.CLOUDFLARE_D1_TOKEN,
      CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID: process.env.CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID,
      CLOUDFLARE_DATABASE_ID: process.env.CLOUDFLARE_DATABASE_ID,
    });
  },
} satisfies PrismaConfig;

note

As of Prisma ORM v6.11.0, the D1 adapter has been renamed from PrismaD1HTTP to PrismaD1.

`studio`

Configures how Prisma Studio connects to your database. See sub-options below for details.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`studio`	`object`	No	none

`studio.adapter`

A function that returns a Prisma driver adapter instance. The function receives an env parameter containing environment variables and should return a Promise that resolves to a valid Prisma driver adapter.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`studio.adapter`	`(env: Env) => Promise<SqlMigrationAwareDriverAdapterFactory>`	No	none

Example using the Prisma ORM LibSQL driver adapter:

import type { PrismaConfig } from "prisma";

export default {
  experimental: {
    studio: true
  },
  studio: {
    adapter: async (env: Env) => {
      const { PrismaLibSQL } = await import("@prisma/adapter-libsql");
      const { createClient } = await import("@libsql/client");

      const libsql = createClient({
        url: env.DOTENV_PRISMA_STUDIO_LIBSQL_DATABASE_URL,
      });
      return new PrismaLibSQL(libsql);
    },
  },
} satisfies PrismaConfig;

`tables.external` and `enums.external`

These options declare tables and enums in your database that are managed externally (not by Prisma Migrate). You can still query them with Prisma Client, but they will be ignored by migrations.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`tables.external`	`string[]`	No	`[]`
`enums.external`	`string[]`	No	`[]`

Example:

import { defineConfig } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  experimental: {
    externalTables: true,
  },
  tables: {
    external: ["public.users"],
  },
  enums: {
    external: ["public.role"],
  },
});

Learn more about the externalTables feature here.

`migrations.path`

The path to the directory where Prisma should store migration files, and look for them.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`migrations.path`	`string`	No	none

`migrations.seed`

This option allows you to define a script that Prisma runs to seed your database after running migrations or using the npx prisma db seed command. The string should be a command that can be executed in your terminal, such as with node, ts-node, or tsx.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`migrations.seed`	`string`	No	none

Example:

import { defineConfig } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  migrations: {
    seed: `tsx db/seed.ts`,
  },
});

`migrations.initShadowDb`

This option allows you to define SQL statements that Prisma runs on the shadow database before creating migrations. It is useful when working with external managed tables, as Prisma needs to know about the structure of these tables to correctly generate migrations.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`migrations.initShadowDb`	`string`	No	none

Example:

import { defineConfig } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  experimental: {
    externalTables: true,
  },
  tables: {
    external: ["public.users"],
  },
  migrations: {
    initShadowDb: `
      CREATE TABLE public.users (id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY);
    `,
  },
});

Learn more about the externalTables feature here.

`views.path`

The path to the directory where Prisma should look for the SQL view definitions.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`views.path`	`string`	No	none

`typedSql.path`

The path to the directory where Prisma should look for the SQL files used for generating typings via typedSql.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`typedSql.path`	`string`	No	none

`experimental`

Enables specific experimental features in the Prisma CLI.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`adapter`	`boolean`	No	`false`
`externalTables`	`boolean`	No	`false`
`studio`	`boolean`	No	`false`

Example:

import { defineConfig } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  experimental: {
    adapter: true,
    externalTables: true,
    studio: true,
  },
  schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
});

note

If you use features like adapter, studio or externalTables without enabling the corresponding experimental flag, Prisma will throw an error:

Failed to load config file "~" as a TypeScript/JavaScript module. Error: Error: The `studio` configuration requires `experimental.studio` to be set to `true`.

`engine`

Configure the schema engine your project should use.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`engine`	`classic` or `js`	No	`classic`

By default it is set to use the classic engine, which requires that datasource be set in your prisma.config.ts.

import path from "node:path";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
  engine: "classic",
  datasource: {
      url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
  schema: path.join("prisma", "schema.prisma"),
});

`datasource.url`

Connection URL including authentication info. Most connectors use the syntax provided by the database.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`datasource.url`	`string`	Yes	`''`

`datasource.shadowDatabaseUrl`

Connection URL to the shadow database used by Prisma Migrate. Allows you to use a cloud-hosted database as the shadow database

Property	Type	Required	Default
`datasource.shadowDatabaseUrl`	`string`	No	`''`

`datasource.directUrl`

Connection URL for direct connection to the database.

If you use a connection pooler URL in the url argument (for example, if you use Prisma Accelerate or pgBouncer), Prisma CLI commands that require a direct connection to the database use the URL in the directUrl argument.

The directUrl property is supported by Prisma Studio from version 5.1.0 upwards.

The directUrl property is not needed when using Prisma Postgres database.

Property	Type	Required	Default
`datasource.directUrl`	`string`	No	`''`

Common patterns

Setting up your project

To get started with Prisma Config, create a prisma.config.ts file in your project root. You can use either of these approaches:

Using defineConfig:

import { defineConfig } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({});

Using TypeScript types:

import type { PrismaConfig } from "prisma";

export default {} satisfies PrismaConfig;

Using environment variables

When using prisma.config.ts, environment variables from .env files are not automatically loaded. Using tsx, you can pass a --env-file flag and that will automatically add those values to process.env

If using Node or Deno:

tsx --env-file=.env src/index.ts
tsx watch --env-file=.env --env-file=.local.env src/index.ts
tsx --env-file=.env ./prisma/seed.ts

For Bun, .env files are automatically loaded.

For accessing environment variables within prisma.config.ts, use the env() helper function to provide a type-safe way of accessing that variable:

import path from "node:path";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";

type Env = {
  DATABASE_URL: string
}
export default defineConfig({
  engine: "classic",
  datasource: {
      url: env<Env>('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
  schema: path.join("prisma", "schema.prisma"),
});

For releases of Node before v20, you'll need to:

Install the dotenv package:

npm install dotenv

Import dotenv/config in your config file:

import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";

type Env = {
  DATABASE_URL: string
}
export default defineConfig({
  engine: "classic",
  datasource: {
      url: env<Env>('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
  schema: path.join("prisma", "schema.prisma"),
});

Using multi-file schemas

If you want to split your Prisma schema into multiple files, you need to specify the path to your Prisma schema folder via the schema property:

import path from "node:path";
import type { PrismaConfig } from "prisma";

export default {
  schema: path.join("prisma", "schema"),
} satisfies PrismaConfig;

In that case, your migrations directory must be located next to the .prisma file that defines the datasource block.

For example, assuming schema.prisma defines the datasource, here's how how need to place the migrations folder:

# `migrations` and `schema.prisma` are on the same level
.
├── migrations
├── models
│   ├── posts.prisma
│   └── users.prisma
└── schema.prisma

Path resolution

Prisma CLI commands such as prisma validate or prisma migrate use prisma.config.ts (or .config/prisma.ts) to locate your Prisma schema and other resources.

Key rules:

Paths defined in the config file (e.g., schema, migrations) are always resolved relative to the location of the config file, not where you run the CLI command from.
The CLI must first find the config file itself, which depends on how Prisma is installed and the package manager used.

Behavior with `pnpm prisma`

When Prisma is installed locally and run via pnpm prisma, the config file is detected automatically whether you run the command from the project root or a subdirectory.

Example project tree:

.
├── node_modules
├── package.json
├── prisma-custom
│   └── schema.prisma
├── prisma.config.ts
└── src

Example run from the project root:

pnpm prisma validate
# → Loaded Prisma config from ./prisma.config.ts
# → Prisma schema loaded from prisma-custom/schema.prisma

Example run from a subdirectory:

cd src
pnpm prisma validate
# → Still finds prisma.config.ts and resolves schema correctly

Behavior with `npm exec prisma` or `bun prisma`

When running via npm exec prisma or bun prisma, the CLI only detects the config file if the command is run from the project root (where package.json declares Prisma).

Example run from the project root:

npm exec prisma validate
# → Works as expected

Run from a subdirectory (fails):

cd src
npm exec prisma validate
# → Error: Could not find Prisma Schema...

To fix this, you can use the --config flag:

npm exec prisma -- --config ../prisma.config.ts validate

Global Prisma installations

If Prisma is installed globally (npm i -g prisma), it may not find your prisma.config.ts or prisma/config module by default. To avoid issues:

Prefer local Prisma installations in your project.
Or use prisma/config locally and pass --config to point to your config file.

Monorepos

If Prisma is installed in the workspace root, pnpm prisma will detect the config file from subdirectories.
If Prisma is installed in a subpackage (e.g., ./packages/db), run commands from that package directory or deeper.

Custom config location

You can specify a custom location for your config file when running Prisma CLI commands:

prisma validate --config ./path/to/myconfig.ts

Overview​

Configuration interface​

Supported file extensions​

Options reference​

schema​

adapter​

studio​

studio.adapter​

tables.external and enums.external​

migrations.path​

migrations.seed​

migrations.initShadowDb​

views.path​

typedSql.path​

experimental​

engine​

datasource.url​

datasource.shadowDatabaseUrl​

datasource.directUrl​

Common patterns​

Setting up your project​

Using environment variables​

Using multi-file schemas​

Path resolution​

Behavior with pnpm prisma​

Behavior with npm exec prisma or bun prisma​

Global Prisma installations​

Monorepos​

Custom config location​

Overview

Configuration interface

Supported file extensions

Options reference

`schema`

`adapter`

`studio`

`studio.adapter`

`tables.external` and `enums.external`

`migrations.path`

`migrations.seed`

`migrations.initShadowDb`

`views.path`

`typedSql.path`

`experimental`

`engine`

`datasource.url`

`datasource.shadowDatabaseUrl`

`datasource.directUrl`

Common patterns

Setting up your project

Using environment variables

Using multi-file schemas

Path resolution

Behavior with `pnpm prisma`

Behavior with `npm exec prisma` or `bun prisma`

Global Prisma installations

Monorepos

Custom config location