prisma/prisma-database-setup-prisma-client-setup

Prisma Client Setup

Generate and instantiate Prisma Client for any database provider.

1. Install dependencies

npm install prisma --save-dev
npm install @prisma/client

2. Add generator block

In prisma/schema.prisma:

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client"
  output   = "../generated"
}

Prisma v7 requires an explicit output path and will not generate into node_modules by default.

3. Generate Prisma Client

npx prisma generate

Re-run prisma generate after every schema change to keep the client in sync.

4. Instantiate Prisma Client

import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/client'
import { PrismaPg } from '@prisma/adapter-pg'

const adapter = new PrismaPg({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL })
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter })

If you change the generator output, update the import path to match. In Prisma ORM 7, a driver adapter is required — replace PrismaPg with the adapter for your database.

5. Use a single instance

Each PrismaClient instance creates a connection pool. Reuse a single instance per app process to avoid exhausting database connections.