Prisma Cheatsheet

Prisma is a next-generation ORM that provides type-safe database access, automatic migrations, and a powerful query API. It eliminates SQL boilerplate while maintaining type safety and performance.

NOTE: Tested using the latest version at time of writing, v5.x

Schema Definition

Define your database schema in schema.prisma.

// schema.prisma
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = env("DATABASE_URL")
}

model User {
  id        Int      @id @default(autoincrement())
  email     String   @unique
  name      String?
  posts     Post[]
  createdAt DateTime @default(now())
}

Basic Queries

Query data with type-safe methods.

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

// Find all
const users = await prisma.user.findMany();

// Find one
const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({
  where: { id: 1 }
});

Creating Records

Create new records.

// Create
const user = await prisma.user.create({
  data: {
    email: 'user@example.com',
    name: 'John Doe'
  }
});

Updating Records

Update existing records.

// Update
const user = await prisma.user.update({
  where: { id: 1 },
  data: { name: 'Jane Doe' }
});

// Upsert (update or create)
const user = await prisma.user.upsert({
  where: { email: 'user@example.com' },
  update: { name: 'Updated' },
  create: { email: 'user@example.com', name: 'New User' }
});

Relations

Query related data.

// Include relations
const user = await prisma.user.findUnique({
  where: { id: 1 },
  include: { posts: true }
});

Transactions

Execute multiple operations atomically.

const result = await prisma.$transaction(async (tx) => {
  const user = await tx.user.create({ data: { email: 'user@example.com' } });
  const post = await tx.post.create({
    data: {
      title: 'My Post',
      authorId: user.id
    }
  });
  return { user, post };
});

Migrations

Manage database schema changes.

# Create migration
npx prisma migrate dev --name add_user_table

# Apply migrations
npx prisma migrate deploy

# Generate Prisma Client
npx prisma generate

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Prisma simplifies database access with type safety and powerful queries. Start with the schema, then explore relations and transactions.

For full documentation, see https://www.prisma.io/docs