# Prisma 8 (/docs/orm/v8)

> For the complete Prisma documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://www.prisma.io/docs/llms.txt). A markdown version of any docs page is available by appending `.md` to its URL.

A look at Prisma 8, a ground-up rethink of Prisma that improves queries, extensibility, migrations, and AI-friendly workflows while keeping Prisma’s schema-first approach.

Location: ORM > Prisma 8

Prisma 8 is a full TypeScript rewrite of Prisma ORM. It keeps the schema-first workflow and model-first queries you already know, and rebuilds everything underneath to be **extensible**, **composable**, and **AI-agent friendly** by default.

Instead of compiling your schema into a heavy generated client, Prisma 8 treats your schema as a versioned **contract**: open, inspectable artifacts that your code, your tools, and AI agents can all rely on.

> [!NOTE]
> The Prisma 8 Release Candidate is available
> 
> Prisma 8 is the next major version of Prisma ORM, now available as a Release Candidate. It’s the cutting-edge version of Prisma ORM and will become the future of Prisma, so we’d love for you to try it, explore what’s new, and [share your feedback in Discord](https://pris.ly/discord).
> 
> If you want to stay on the current generally available version of Prisma ORM, you can continue with [Prisma 7](https://www.prisma.io/docs/getting-started).

## Why Prisma 8 [#why-prisma-8]

Prisma's current architecture tightly couples three layers: the schema language, the generated client, and runtime execution. That coupling makes Prisma harder to extend, slower to rebuild, and opaque to the tools that read your code. Prisma 8 rebuilds the data layer around a contract-first model with a small, extensible core:

* **Better queries**: a cleaner API with simpler nested queries, custom collection methods on your models, and streaming results, plus a low-level, type-safe SQL query builder for the cases that need raw control.
* **Extensible by design**: a minimal core exposed through a public SPI. Everything around it, including Postgres support itself, is an extension, so you can add databases, query builders, data types, and middleware.
* **Rethought migrations**: [graph-based migrations](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/v8/migrations/the-migration-graph) that resolve branch conflicts automatically and make partial failures safe to retry, with both schema and data migrations written in TypeScript and validated against your contract.
* **AI-agent friendly**: your schema compiles to a machine-readable contract, every query produces a structured, inspectable plan, and middleware adds compile-time guardrails. The installers also register agent skills so your editor's AI assistant can drive Prisma 8 changes safely.

## How it works [#how-it-works]

Prisma 8 is contract-first:

1. **Author your schema**: define your models in a Prisma schema (`.prisma`) or directly in TypeScript.
2. **Emit the contract**: a lightweight build step turns the schema into a deterministic JSON contract plus TypeScript types, artifacts you can read and diff.
3. **Query with a composable DSL**: write queries inline against the typed contract, and each one compiles to a verifiable plan at runtime with no hidden client methods.

Scaffold a new project in one command:

  

#### bun

```bash
bunx create-prisma@next
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm dlx create-prisma@next
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn dlx create-prisma@next
```

#### npm

```bash
npx create-prisma@next
```

## Get started [#get-started]

- [Quickstart](https://www.prisma.io/docs/v8/quickstart/postgresql): Scaffold a Prisma 8 app with PostgreSQL, seed it, and run your first query.

- [Add to an existing project](https://www.prisma.io/docs/v8/add-to-existing-project/postgresql): Add Prisma 8 to an existing app with the `orm init` command.

- [The full stack path](https://www.prisma.io/docs): Prisma 8 with Prisma Postgres and a Prisma Compute deploy, with guide and agent options.

### Supported databases [#supported-databases]

Prisma 8 ships first-class support for **PostgreSQL** (the primary target, on track for general availability) and **MongoDB**. **SQLite** is the next SQL target on deck, with **MySQL** to follow.

## The Prisma 8 blog series [#the-prisma-8-blog-series]

Prisma 8 is being built in the open. The full story spans this nine-part series:

1. **[The Next Evolution of Prisma ORM](https://www.prisma.io/blog/the-next-evolution-of-prisma-orm)**. The announcement that explains why Prisma is being rebuilt and tours the new query API, extensibility model, migrations, and AI-friendly design.
2. **[Prisma 8 Roadmap](https://www.prisma.io/blog/prisma-next-roadmap)**. What is already built and the phased plan that runs through early access to general availability.
3. **[Rethinking Database Migrations](https://www.prisma.io/blog/rethinking-database-migrations)**. How graph-based migrations replace timestamp ordering with schema state hashes, keeping branches reconcilable and migrations explicit and verifiable.
4. **[TypeScript Migrations in Prisma 8](https://www.prisma.io/blog/typescript-migrations-in-prisma-next)**. Writing schema migrations in TypeScript that are checked against your contract at compile time.
5. **[Data Migrations in Prisma 8](https://www.prisma.io/blog/data-migrations-in-prisma-next)**. Running type-safe data transformations alongside schema changes with the same query builder you use in your app.
6. **[Prisma 8: A Call for Extension Authors](https://www.prisma.io/blog/prisma-next-call-for-extension-authors)**. An invitation for the community to build databases, extensions, and integrations on the new extension API.
7. **[Prisma 8: April Milestone Complete, the Extension API Is Open](https://www.prisma.io/blog/prisma-next-roadmap-april-milestone)**. The extension API opens with its first community extensions (pgvector, arktype-json, ParadeDB, and CipherStash), plus progress across migrations, transactions, and MongoDB.
8. **[Prisma 8 Early Access: Write Your Contract, Prompt Your Agent, Ship Your App](https://www.prisma.io/blog/prisma-next-early-access-write-your-contract-prompt-your-agent-ship-your-app)**. The early access launch and the agent-driven workflow it enables.
9. **[Prisma 8 Is \~90% As Fast as Raw PG](https://www.prisma.io/blog/prisma-next-performance-benchmark)**. Benchmarks showing Prisma 8 reaching roughly 90% of the raw PostgreSQL driver's throughput at a fraction of the bundle size.

> [!NOTE]
> More Prisma 8 docs are coming soon
> 
> Prisma 8 is in active development, and full conceptual and reference documentation is on the way. Follow along on the [Prisma blog](https://www.prisma.io/blog) and explore the source on [GitHub](https://github.com/prisma/prisma-next).

## Next steps [#next-steps]

- [Get started](https://www.prisma.io/docs/v8/getting-started): Scaffold a new Prisma 8 app or add it to an existing project.

- [Learn the fundamentals](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/v8/fundamentals/reading-data): Read, write, and relate data with the ORM, run transactions, and reach for advanced queries when you need them.

- [Quickstart with PostgreSQL](https://www.prisma.io/docs/v8/quickstart/postgresql): Create a Prisma 8 app, initialize the database, seed data, and run your first query.

- [The data contract](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/v8/contract-authoring/the-data-contract): Learn how your schema becomes a verifiable contract, authored in PSL or TypeScript.

- [See your migrations in Studio](https://www.prisma.io/docs/studio/prisma-next): Read your applied migration history in Prisma Studio: a visual diff, the executed SQL, and a schema diff per migration.

## Related pages

- [`Overview of Prisma Migrate`](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/prisma-migrate): Learn everything you need to know about Prisma Migrate
- [`Prisma Client`](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/prisma-client): Prisma Client is Prisma ORM's generated, type-safe query builder for Node.js, Bun, and Deno applications.
- [`Prisma ORM`](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/v6): Learn about Prisma ORM