Self-relations

A relation field can also reference its own model, in this case the relation is called a self-relation. Self-relations can be of any cardinality, 1-1, 1-n and m-n.

Note that self-relations always require the @relation attribute.

One-to-one self-relations

The following example models a one-to-one self-relation:

Relational databases
MongoDB
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
successorId Int? @unique
successor User? @relation("BlogOwnerHistory", fields: [successorId], references: [id])
predecessor User? @relation("BlogOwnerHistory")
}

This relation expresses the following:

  • "a user can have one or zero predecessors" (for example, Sarah is Mary's predecessor as blog owner)
  • "a user can have one or zero successors" (for example, Mary is Sarah's successor as blog owner)

Note: One-to-one self-relations cannot be made required on both sides. One or both sides must be optional, otherwise it becomes impossible to create the first User record.

To create a one-to-one self-relation:

  • Both sides of the relation must define a @relation attribute that share the same name - in this case, BlogOwnerHistory.
  • One relation field must be a fully annotated. In this example, the successor field defines both the field and references arguments.
  • One relation field must be backed by a foreign key. The successor field is backed by the successorId foreign key, which references a value in the id field. The successorId scalar relation field also requires a @unique attribute to guarantee a one-to-one relation.

Note: One-to-one self relations require two sides even if both sides are equal in the relationship. For example, to model a 'best friends' relation, you would need to create two relation fields: bestfriend1 and a bestfriend2.

Either side of the relation can be backed by a foreign key. In the previous example, repeated below, successor is backed by successorId:

Relational databases
MongoDB
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
successorId Int? @unique
successor User? @relation("BlogOwnerHistory", fields: [successorId], references: [id])
predecessor User? @relation("BlogOwnerHistory")
}

Alternatively, you could rewrite this so that predecessor is backed by predecessorId:

Relational databases only
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
successor User? @relation("BlogOwnerHistory")
predecessorId Int? @unique
predecessor User? @relation("BlogOwnerHistory", fields: [predecessorId], references: [id])
}

No matter which side is backed by a foreign key, Prisma Client surfaces both the predecessor and successor fields:

const x = await prisma.user.create({
data: {
name: "Bob McBob",
successor: {
connect: {
id: 2,
},
},
predecessor: {
connect: {
id: 4,
},
},
},
});

One-to-one self relations in the database

Relational databases

In relational databases, a one-to-one self-relation is represented by the following SQL:

Relational databases only
CREATE TABLE "User" (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
"name" TEXT,
"successorId" INTEGER
);
ALTER TABLE "User" ADD CONSTRAINT fk_successor_user FOREIGN KEY ("successorId") REFERENCES "User" (id);
ALTER TABLE "User" ADD CONSTRAINT successor_unique UNIQUE ("successorId");

MongoDB

For MongoDB, Prisma ORM currently uses a , which means that documents reference each other by ID in a similar way to relational databases.

The following MongoDB documents represent a one-to-one self-relation between two users:

{ "_id": { "$oid": "60d97df70080618f000e3ca9" }, "name": "Elsa the Elder" }
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d97df70080618f000e3caa" },
"name": "Elsa",
"successorId": { "$oid": "60d97df70080618f000e3ca9" }
}

One-to-many self relations

A one-to-many self-relation looks as follows:

Relational databases
MongoDB
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
teacherId Int?
teacher User? @relation("TeacherStudents", fields: [teacherId], references: [id])
students User[] @relation("TeacherStudents")
}

This relation expresses the following:

  • "a user has zero or one teachers "
  • "a user can have zero or more students"

Note that you can also require each user to have a teacher by making the teacher field required.

One-to-many self-relations in the database

Relational databases

In relational databases, a one-to-many self-relation is represented by the following SQL:

CREATE TABLE "User" (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
"name" TEXT,
"teacherId" INTEGER
);
ALTER TABLE "User" ADD CONSTRAINT fk_teacherid_user FOREIGN KEY ("teacherId") REFERENCES "User" (id);

Notice the lack of UNIQUE constraint on teacherId - multiple students can have the same teacher.

MongoDB

For MongoDB, Prisma ORM currently uses a , which means that documents reference each other by ID in a similar way to relational databases.

The following MongoDB documents represent a one-to-many self-relation between three users - one teacher and two students with the same teacherId:

{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9b9e600fe3d470079d6f9" },
"name": "Ms. Roberts"
}
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9b9e600fe3d470079d6fa" },
"name": "Student 8",
"teacherId": { "$oid": "60d9b9e600fe3d470079d6f9" }
}
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9b9e600fe3d470079d6fb" },
"name": "Student 9",
"teacherId": { "$oid": "60d9b9e600fe3d470079d6f9" }
}

Many-to-many self relations

A many-to-many self-relation looks as follows:

Relational databases
MongoDB
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
followedBy User[] @relation("UserFollows")
following User[] @relation("UserFollows")
}

This relation expresses the following:

  • "a user can be followed by zero or more users"
  • "a user can follow zero or more users"

Note that for relational databases, this many-to-many-relation is implicit. This means Prisma ORM maintains a relation table for it in the underlying database.

If you need the relation to hold other fields, you can create an explicit many-to-many self relation as well. The explicit version of the self relation shown previously is as follows:

Relational databases
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
followedBy Follows[] @relation("followedBy")
following Follows[] @relation("following")
}
model Follows {
followedBy User @relation("followedBy", fields: [followedById], references: [id])
followedById Int
following User @relation("following", fields: [followingId], references: [id])
followingId Int
@@id([followingId, followedById])
}

Many-to-many self-relations in the database

Relational databases

In relational databases, a many-to-many self-relation (implicit) is represented by the following SQL:

CREATE TABLE "User" (
id integer DEFAULT nextval('"User_id_seq"'::regclass) PRIMARY KEY,
name text
);
CREATE TABLE "_UserFollows" (
"A" integer NOT NULL REFERENCES "User"(id) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE,
"B" integer NOT NULL REFERENCES "User"(id) ON DELETE CASCADE ON UPDATE CASCADE
);

MongoDB

For MongoDB, Prisma ORM currently uses a , which means that documents reference each other by ID in a similar way to relational databases.

The following MongoDB documents represent a many-to-many self-relation between five users - two users that follow "Bob", and two users that follow him:

{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cdd" },
"name": "Bob",
"followedByIDs": [
{ "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cde" },
{ "$oid": "60d9867000a3e930009a6cdf" }
],
"followingIDs": [
{ "$oid": "60d9867000a3e930009a6ce0" },
{ "$oid": "60d9867000a3e930009a6ce1" }
]
}
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cde" },
"name": "Follower1",
"followingIDs": [{ "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cdd" }]
}
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9867000a3e930009a6cdf" },
"name": "Follower2",
"followingIDs": [{ "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cdd" }]
}
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9867000a3e930009a6ce0" },
"name": "CoolPerson1",
"followedByIDs": [{ "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cdd" }]
}
{
"_id": { "$oid": "60d9867000a3e930009a6ce1" },
"name": "CoolPerson2",
"followedByIDs": [{ "$oid": "60d9866f00a3e930009a6cdd" }]
}

Defining multiple self-relations on the same model

You can also define multiple self-relations on the same model at once. Taking all relations from the previous sections as example, you could define a User model as follows:

Relational databases
MongoDB
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
name String?
teacherId Int?
teacher User? @relation("TeacherStudents", fields: [teacherId], references: [id])
students User[] @relation("TeacherStudents")
followedBy User[] @relation("UserFollows")
following User[] @relation("UserFollows")
}