Prisma CLI Reference

Overview

Complete reference for all Prisma CLI commands for Prisma ORM 7.x. Covers project setup, client generation, database migrations, local development, and utility commands.

Command Categories

Project Setup

# Initialize new project (creates prisma/ folder and prisma.config.ts)
prisma init

# Initialize with specific database
prisma init --datasource-provider postgresql
prisma init --datasource-provider mysql
prisma init --datasource-provider sqlite

# Initialize with Prisma Postgres (cloud)
prisma init --db

# Initialize with AI-generated schema
prisma init --prompt "E-commerce app with users, products, orders"

Init Options

Generated Files

• prisma/schema.prisma - Prisma schema file
• prisma.config.ts - TypeScript CLI configuration
• .env - Environment variables (DATABASE_URL)
• .gitignore - Ignores node_modules, .env, and generated files

Client Generation

# Generate Prisma Client
prisma generate

# Watch mode for development
prisma generate --watch

# Generate without engine (for Accelerate/edge)
prisma generate --no-engine

# Specific generator only
prisma generate --generator client

# Typed SQL generation
prisma generate --sql

Key v7 Changes

• Provider must be prisma-client (not prisma-client-js)
• output is required - client no longer generates to node_modules
• migrate dev no longer auto-runs generate

// v6
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'

// v7
import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/client'

Local Development Database

# Start local Prisma Postgres
prisma dev

# Named instance
prisma dev --name myproject

# Background mode
prisma dev --detach

# Instance management
prisma dev ls              # List all instances
prisma dev stop myproject  # Stop instance
prisma dev rm myproject    # Remove instance data

Options

Database Operations

# Pull schema from existing database
prisma db pull

# Push schema to database (no migrations)
prisma db push

# Seed database
prisma db seed

# Execute raw SQL
prisma db execute --file ./script.sql

Migrations (Development)

# Create and apply migration
prisma migrate dev

# Named migration
prisma migrate dev --name add_users_table

# Create without applying (for review)
prisma migrate dev --create-only

# Reset database and apply all migrations
prisma migrate reset

v7 Full Workflow

prisma migrate dev --name my_migration
prisma generate  # Must run explicitly in v7
prisma db seed   # Must run explicitly in v7

Removed Flags (v7)

• --skip-generate removed from migrate dev and db push
• --skip-seed removed from migrate dev
• --schema and --url removed from db execute

Shadow Database

Configure in prisma.config.ts:

export default defineConfig({
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
    shadowDatabaseUrl: env('SHADOW_DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})

For local Prisma Postgres (prisma dev), shadow database is handled automatically.

Migrations (Production)

# Apply pending migrations (CI/CD)
prisma migrate deploy

# Check migration status
prisma migrate status

# Schema diff
prisma migrate diff --from-config-datasource --to-schema schema.prisma --script

Utility Commands

prisma studio     # Database GUI
prisma version    # Version info
prisma debug      # Debug information
prisma validate   # Validate schema
prisma format     # Format schema

Bun Runtime

Always add --bun flag so Prisma runs with the Bun runtime:

bunx --bun prisma init
bunx --bun prisma generate
bunx --bun prisma migrate dev

Prisma 7 Configuration

// prisma.config.ts
import 'dotenv/config'
import { defineConfig, env } from 'prisma/config'

export default defineConfig({
  schema: 'prisma/schema.prisma',
  migrations: {
    path: 'prisma/migrations',
    seed: 'tsx prisma/seed.ts',
  },
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})

Environment variables are no longer auto-loaded. Use import 'dotenv/config'.

Resources

• Prisma CLI Reference