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Prisma integration with nodejs and postregesql

What is prisma ORM

Prisma is an open-source ORM that simplifies database access and management by providing a type-safe and auto-generated query builder. It offers a robust set of features, including database migrations, schema management, and powerful querying capabilities. Prisma's integration with Node.js makes it an ideal choice for developers looking to streamline their backend development process.

Integrating Prisma ORM with Node.js

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have the following installed on your machine:

Node.js (v12.2.0 or later)

PostgreSQL (Ensure the PostgreSQL server is running)

And make sure you have initialized and setup your nodejs with typescript to start with.

If node project is not setup already, perform the below step doe the bare minimum setup.

Step 0. Initialize the nodejs project

Create a new folder with your project name let's say: my-project

Open the folder my-project in a terminal and run the below command

npm init -y
npm install typescript ts-node @types/node --save-dev

And then initialize the typescript server in nodejs using below command.

npx tsc --init

Step 1. Install the prisma dependencies

npm install @prisma/cli @prisma/client
npm install pg
  • @prisma/cli: The Prisma CLI for running various prisma commands like migrate.
  • @prisma/client: The Prisma client to interact with the database.
  • pg: The PostgreSQL client for Node.js

Step 2. Initialize the prisma

npx prisma init

This will generate the following files in the my-project folder

prisma/schema.prisma

.env

  • prisma folder contains the prisma schema file and migrations (created using prisma migrate command)
  • schema.prisma: contains the schema or models of the database also called as tables and its relations.
  • .env: contains the environment variables used in the project

Step 3. Configure the database url

Open the .env file and setup the connection to postgresql

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://<user>:<password>@<host>:<port>/<database_name>?schema=public"

Replace <user>, <password>, <host> and <database_name> with your PostgreSQL credentials.

The default Postgresql configuration is

  • user: postgres
  • password: no password
  • host: localhost
  • port: 5432

Step 4. Start writing your data models to the file prisma/schema.prisma

After opening shema.prisma you will see some code like this

datasource db {
 provider = "postgresql"
 url   = env("DATABASE_URL")
}
generator client {
 provider = "prisma-client-js"
}

You can create your model after the code written above in schema.prisma file.

For example, you can create a simple user model as shown below.

model User {
 id  Int  @id @default(autoincrement())
 name String
 email String @unique
}

Step 5: Run the migration command to apply changes to the database

npx prisma migrate dev --name user_model_added

user_model_added is the name of migration files to be generated. You can migrate with any name you want.

Final step: Using the prisma client to perform db queries.

Add the below lines in your js or ts file to import and initiate the prisma client.

const { PrismaClient } = require('@prisma/client'); 
const prisma = newPrismaClient();

You can create your first data for the user using the below prisma method. Just call the method inside your user creation api or function and use prisma in similar fashion to create data.

const user = await prisma.user.create({ data: { name, email }});

Similarly, explore different methods and tools to work out with different needs.

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