Quickstart: Drizzle ORM with Prisma Postgres (10 min)

Drizzle ORM is a TypeScript ORM. In this guide, you'll learn how to connect Drizzle ORM to Prisma Postgres.

Prerequisites

Node.js version 16 or higher
TypeScript version 5.0 or higher

1. Create a new project

Create a new directory for your project and initialize it with npm:

mkdir drizzle-quickstart
cd drizzle-quickstart
npm init -y

Install TypeScript and initialize it:

npm install --save-dev typescript

npx tsc --init

In your package.json, set the type to module:

package.json

{
  // ...
  "type": "module"
  // ...
}

2. Create a Prisma Postgres database

You can create a Prisma Postgres database using the create-db CLI tool. Follow these steps to create your Prisma Postgres database:

npx create-db

Then the CLI tool should output:

┌  🚀 Creating a Prisma Postgres database
│
│  Provisioning a temporary database in us-east-1...
│
│  It will be automatically deleted in 24 hours, but you can claim it.
│
◇  Database created successfully!
│
│
●  Database Connection
│
│
│    Connection String:
│
│    postgresql://hostname:password@db.prisma.io:5432/postgres?sslmode=require
│
│
◆  Claim Your Database
│
│    Keep your database for free:
│
│    https://create-db.prisma.io/claim?CLAIM_CODE
│
│    Database will be deleted on 11/18/2025, 1:55:39 AM if not claimed.
│
└

Create a .env file and add the connection string from the output:

.env

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://hostname:password@db.prisma.io:5432/postgres?sslmode=require"

Never commit .env files to version control. Add .env to your .gitignore file to keep credentials secure.

The database created is temporary and will be deleted in 24 hours unless claimed. Claiming moves the database into your Prisma Data Platform account. Visit the claim URL from the output to keep your database.

To learn more about the create-db CLI tool, see the create-db documentation.

3. Install dependencies

Install Drizzle ORM and the PostgreSQL driver:

npm install drizzle-orm pg dotenv

npm install --save-dev drizzle-kit @types/pg tsx

Package breakdown:

drizzle-orm: The lightweight TypeScript ORM
pg: PostgreSQL driver for Node.js
dotenv: Loads environment variables from .env file
drizzle-kit: CLI tool for migrations and schema management
@types/pg: TypeScript type definitions for the pg driver
tsx: TypeScript execution engine for running .ts files directly

4. Run a query

Create a src/script.ts file:

src/script.ts

import "dotenv/config";
import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/node-postgres";
import { Pool } from "pg";

const pool = new Pool({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
});

const db = drizzle({ client: pool });

async function main() {
  const result = await db.execute("select 1");
  console.log("Query result:", result);
}

main()
  .then(async () => {
    await pool.end();
    console.log("Connection closed");
  })
  .catch(async (error) => {
    console.error("Error:", error);
    await pool.end();
    process.exit(1);
  });

Run the script:

npx tsx src/script.ts

You should receive output similar to:

Query result: Result {
  command: 'SELECT',
  rowCount: 1,
  oid: null,
  rows: [ { '?column?': 1 } ],
  fields: [
    Field {
      name: '?column?',
      tableID: 0,
      columnID: 0,
      dataTypeID: 23,
      dataTypeSize: 4,
      dataTypeModifier: -1,
      format: 'text'
    }
  ],
  _parsers: [ [Function: parseInteger] ],
  _types: { getTypeParser: [Function: getTypeParser] },
  RowCtor: null,
  rowAsArray: false,
  _prebuiltEmptyResultObject: { '?column?': null }
}
Connection closed

Next steps

You've successfully connected Drizzle ORM to Prisma Postgres! For more advanced features like schemas, migrations, and queries, see the Drizzle ORM documentation.

Drizzle ORM