How to use Prisma Next with Hono

Build a Hono API on Prisma Next with the hono template, then add your own routes.

Introduction

In this guide, you scaffold a Hono API backed by Prisma Next, initialize and seed a PostgreSQL database, serve data over HTTP, and add your own POST route. The hono template generates the server for you, so most of the work is understanding the pieces and extending them.

Every command, route, and response below was run end to end against a live Prisma Postgres database.

Prerequisites

Node.js 24 or later, or Bun (this guide uses Bun for speed; npm works the same)
A PostgreSQL connection string, or nothing at all: the scaffold can create a Prisma Postgres database for you

1. Scaffold the project

bunx create-prisma@next create my-hono-api --provider postgres --template hono

Pick your package manager and database at the prompts. The template generates a Hono server in src/index.ts with two routes (GET / and GET /users), the Prisma Next setup in src/prisma/, and package scripts for the database steps.

cd my-hono-api

2. Initialize and seed the database

bun run db:init
bun run db:seed

"summary": "Applied 5 operation(s) across 1 space(s), database signed"
Seeded 3 users.

Scaffolded with an older create-prisma and seeing Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'where')? Update db.orm.User to db.orm.public.User in src/prisma/seed.ts and src/prisma/users.ts. Current templates generate the qualified form.

3. Run the server

bun run dev

The server starts on port 3000 (set PORT to change it). Check both routes:

curl http://localhost:3000/users

[
  { "id": "1", "email": "alice@prisma.io", "username": "alice", "name": "Alice", "createdAt": "2026-07-06T23:37:32.440Z" },
  { "id": "2", "email": "bob@prisma.io", "username": "bob", "name": "Bob", "createdAt": "2026-07-06T23:37:32.474Z" },
  { "id": "3", "email": "carol@prisma.io", "username": "carol", "name": "Carol", "createdAt": "2026-07-06T23:37:32.507Z" }
]

The route handler is ordinary Hono code calling an ordinary Prisma Next query; there is no framework adapter in between.

4. Add a POST route

Add a route that creates a user from the request body. Add this to src/index.ts above the serve(...) call:

src/index.ts

app.post("/users", async (c) => {
  const body = await c.req.json<{ email: string; name?: string }>();
  const { db } = await import("./prisma/db");
  const user = await db.orm.public.User.create({
    email: body.email,
    name: body.name ?? null,
  });
  return c.json(user, 201);
});

Restart the server and create a user:

curl -X POST http://localhost:3000/users \
  -H "content-type: application/json" \
  -d '{"email":"dev@prisma.io","name":"Dev"}'

{ "createdAt": "2026-07-06T23:37:56.184Z", "email": "dev@prisma.io", "id": 4, "name": "Dev", "username": null }

.create(...) returns the full inserted record, database defaults included, so the response needs no second query.

Common gotchas

In a long-running server, don't call db.close() in route handlers; the client's connection pool is shared across requests. Close it only on process shutdown.

Prompt your coding agent

The scaffold installs Prisma Next skills for your coding agent. Prompts that map to this guide:

"Using the prisma-next-queries skill, add GET /users/
that returns one user or a 404."
"Add a Post model related to User, update the database, and expose GET /users/
/posts."
"Wrap the signup route's writes in a transaction."

Next steps

Learn the fundamentals: filtering, sorting, pagination, and writes.
Read the Prisma Next overview for the concepts behind contracts and typed queries.

Hono

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