Bun

Introduction

In this guide, you scaffold a Prisma Next project with Bun, initialize a PostgreSQL database from your schema, and run your first typed query. Bun runs TypeScript directly, so there is no build step anywhere in the flow.

Every command and code sample below was run end to end against a live Prisma Postgres database.

Prerequisites

• Bun 1.1 or later (bun --version)
• A PostgreSQL connection string, or nothing at all: the scaffold can create a Prisma Postgres database for you

1. Scaffold the project

Create the project with create-prisma. Pick Bun as the package manager when prompted, or pass everything up front:

bunx create-prisma@next create my-bun-app --provider postgres --package-manager bun

When the prompt asks about the database, pick Prisma Postgres to have one created for you, or paste your own DATABASE_URL. The scaffold writes the connection string to .env, sets up src/prisma/ with a starter schema, and installs dependencies with Bun.

cd my-bun-app

2. Emit the contract and initialize the database

Prisma Next compiles your schema (src/prisma/contract.prisma) into a contract that your queries are type-checked against. Emit it, then apply the schema to the database:

bun run contract:emit
bun run db:init

db:init creates the tables and signs the database:

"summary": "Applied 5 operation(s) across 1 space(s), database signed"

If db:init reports that the contract file is missing, run bun run contract:emit first; the emit step generates src/prisma/contract.json.

3. Write your first query

Replace src/index.ts with a script that creates a user and reads every user back. Model access is namespace-qualified on PostgreSQL: db.orm.public.User, where public is the default schema.

import { db } from "./prisma/db";

// Create a user, then read every user back
const user = await db.orm.public.User.create({
  email: `ada+${Date.now()}@prisma.io`,
  name: "Ada Lovelace",
});
console.log(`created user ${user.email}`);

const users = await db.orm.public.User.select("id", "email", "name").all();
console.log(`there are now ${users.length} users`);

await db.close();

await db.close() at the end lets the script exit cleanly; without it, the connection pool keeps the process alive.

4. Run it

bun run dev

created user ada+1783380852695@prisma.io
there are now 2 users

That is the whole loop: schema to contract, contract to database, typed queries against both.

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 a script that lists the 10 newest users."
• "Add a Post model related to User, emit the contract, and update the database."

Next steps

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