---
title: 'Use Prisma Postgres with Prisma ORM'
sidebar_label: 'Prisma ORM'
metaTitle: 'Quickstart: Prisma ORM with Prisma Postgres (5 min)'
metaDescription: 'Create a new TypeScript project from scratch by connecting Prisma ORM to Prisma Postgres and generating a Prisma Client for database access.'
---

import Prerequisites from '../../_components/_prerequisites.mdx'
import CreateProject from '../../_components/_create-project.mdx'
import ExploreData from '../../_components/_explore-data.mdx'
import NextSteps from '../../_components/_next-steps.mdx'

[Prisma Postgres](/postgres) is a fully managed PostgreSQL database that scales to zero and integrates smoothly with both Prisma ORM and Prisma Studio. In this guide, you will learn how to set up a new TypeScript project from scratch, connect it to Prisma Postgres using Prisma ORM, and generate a Prisma Client for easy, type-safe access to your database.

## Prerequisites

<Prerequisites />

## 1. Create a new project

<CreateProject />

## 2. Install required dependencies

Install the packages needed for this quickstart:

```terminal
npm install prisma @types/node --save-dev 
npm install @prisma/client @prisma/adapter-pg dotenv
```

Here's what each package does:

- **`prisma`** - The Prisma CLI for running commands like `prisma init`, `prisma migrate`, and `prisma generate`
- **`@prisma/client`** - The Prisma Client library for querying your database
- **`@prisma/adapter-pg`** - The [`node-postgres` driver adapter](/orm/overview/databases/postgresql#using-the-node-postgres-driver) that connects Prisma Client to your database
- **`dotenv`** - Loads environment variables from your `.env` file

## 3. Configure ESM support

Update `tsconfig.json` for ESM compatibility:

```json file=tsconfig.json
{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "target": "ES2023",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "ignoreDeprecations": "6.0"
  }
}
```

Update `package.json` to enable ESM:

```json file=package.json
{
  // add-start
  "type": "module",
  // add-end
}
```

## 4. Initialize Prisma ORM and create a Prisma Postgres database

Next, set up your Prisma ORM project by creating your [Prisma Schema](/orm/prisma-schema) file with the following command:

```terminal
npx prisma init --db --output ../generated/prisma
```

:::info

You'll need to answer a few questions while setting up your Prisma Postgres database. Select the region closest to your location and a memorable name for your database.

:::

This command does a few things:

- Creates a `prisma/` directory with a `schema.prisma` file containing your database connection and schema models
- Creates a new Prisma Postgres database (when using `--db` flag)
- Creates a `.env` file in the root directory for environment variables
- Generates the Prisma Client in the `generated/prisma/` directory
- Creates a `prisma.config.ts` file for Prisma configuration

Add `dotenv` to `prisma.config.ts` so that Prisma can load environment variables from your `.env` file:

```typescript file=prisma.config.ts
// add-start
import 'dotenv/config'
// add-end
import { defineConfig, env } from 'prisma/config'

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

The generated schema uses [the ESM-first `prisma-client` generator](/orm/prisma-schema/overview/generators#prisma-client) with a custom output path:

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

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
}
```

## 5. Define your data model

Open `prisma/schema.prisma` and add the following models:

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

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
}

//add-start
model User {
  id    Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  email String  @unique
  name  String?
  posts Post[]
}

model Post {
  id        Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  title     String
  content   String?
  published Boolean @default(false)
  author    User    @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
  authorId  Int
}
//add-end
```

## 6. Create and apply your first migration

Create your first migration to set up the database tables:

```terminal
npx prisma migrate dev --name init
```

This command creates the database tables based on your schema.

Now run the following command to generate the Prisma Client:

```terminal
npx prisma generate
```

## 7. Instantiate Prisma Client

Now that you have all the dependencies installed, you can instantiate Prisma Client. You need to pass an instance of Prisma ORM's driver adapter to the `PrismaClient` constructor:

```typescript file=lib/prisma.ts
import "dotenv/config";
import { PrismaPg } from '@prisma/adapter-pg'
import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/prisma/client'

const connectionString = `${process.env.DATABASE_URL}`

const adapter = new PrismaPg({ connectionString })
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter })

export { prisma }
```

:::tip

If you need to query your database via HTTP from an edge runtime (Cloudflare Workers, Vercel Edge Functions, etc.), use the [Prisma Postgres serverless driver](/postgres/database/serverless-driver#use-with-prisma-orm).

:::

## 8. Write your first query

Create a `script.ts` file to test your setup:

```typescript file=script.ts
import { prisma } from './lib/prisma'

async function main() {
  // Create a new user with a post
  const user = await prisma.user.create({
    data: {
      name: 'Alice',
      email: 'alice@prisma.io',
      posts: {
        create: {
          title: 'Hello World',
          content: 'This is my first post!',
          published: true,
        },
      },
    },
    include: {
      posts: true,
    },
  })
  console.log('Created user:', user)

  // Fetch all users with their posts
  const allUsers = await prisma.user.findMany({
    include: {
      posts: true,
    },
  })
  console.log('All users:', JSON.stringify(allUsers, null, 2))
}

main()
  .then(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect()
  })
  .catch(async (e) => {
    console.error(e)
    await prisma.$disconnect()
    process.exit(1)
  })
```

Run the script:

```terminal
npx tsx script.ts
```

You should see the created user and all users printed to the console!

## 9. Explore your data with Prisma Studio

<ExploreData />

## Next steps

<NextSteps />

## More info

- [Prisma Postgres documentation](/postgres)
- [Prisma Config reference](/orm/reference/prisma-config-reference)
- [Database connection management](/orm/prisma-client/setup-and-configuration/databases-connections)
- [Cache your queries](/postgres/database/caching#setting-up-caching-in-prisma-postgres)
