PRISMA: A Comprehensive Guide

Getting Started with Prisma

Here’s a step-by-step guide to get started with Prisma:

Set Up a New Project

Firstly, create a new project and navigate to the project directory:

mkdir my-prisma-app
cd my-prisma-app
npm init -y

Install Prisma and Dependencies

npm install prisma typescript ts-node @types/node --save-dev
npx tsc --init

#in tsconfig.json
# Change `rootDit` to `src`
# Change `outDir` to `dist`

Initialize Prisma in project:

npx prisma init

This command creates a prisma directory with a schema.prisma file

Define Your Data Model

Edit the prisma/schema.prisma file to define your data models. Here’s an example:

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

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}

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

Add the DATABASE_URL in .env file

DATABASE_URL = "your_database_url"

Run Migrations

Generate and apply the migration to create the database tables:

npx prisma migrate dev --name <migration_name>#addTodo

This command creates the necessary tables in your database based on your schema.

Note: Rollback a Migration

To undo a migration, we can use the migrate reset command to reset your database:

npx prisma migrate reset

Exploring database

If you have psql installed locally, try to explore the tables that prisma created for you.

psql -h localhost -d postgres -U postgres

How to Use Prisma Client for Database Management

Generate Prisma Client

Generate the Prisma Client based on your schema:

npx prisma generate

Use Prisma Client in Your Application

You can now use the Prisma Client to interact with your database. Create a file named index.ts (if using TypeScript)

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'
const prisma = new PrismaClient()

interface UserParams {
    firstName:string,
    lastName: string
}
async function createUser(email:string, {firstName, lastName}: UserParams ) {
    const res = await prisma.user.create({
        data:{
            email,
            firstName,
            lastName
        }
    })
    return res
}

createUser("example@gmail.com", {
    firstName:"abc",
    lastName:"abv"
})

Finally, run the project after completing all the steps above. This will generate the database tables based on your schema.

To visually browse the database

npx prisma studio