Easy, type-safe database access in Express servers
Query data from MySQL, PostgreSQL & SQL Server databases in Express apps with Prisma – a better ORM for JavaScript and TypeScript.
What is Prisma?
Prisma is an open-source ORM that drastically simplifies data modeling, migrations, and data access for SQL databases in Node.js and TypeScript.
// Creating a new recordawait prisma.user.create({ firstName: “Alice”, email: “alice@prisma.io”})id firstName email 1 Bobby bobby@tables.io2 Nilufar nilu@email.com3 Jürgen jums@dums.edu4 Alice alice@prisma.ioHow Prisma and Express fit together
Prisma is a next-generation ORM that's used to query your database in an Express server. You can use it as an alternative to writing plain SQL queries, to using query builders like knex.js or to traditional ORMs like TypeORM, MikroORM and Sequelize.
Prisma and Express code examples
Prisma provides a convenient database access layer that integrates perfectly with Express.
The code below demonstrates various uses of Prisma when using Express for building an API server.
REST API
Prisma is used inside your route handlers to read and write data in your database.
1import express from 'express'2import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'3
4const prisma = new PrismaClient()5const app = express()6
7app.get('/feed', async (req, res) => {8 const posts = await prisma.post.findMany({9 where: { published: true },10 include: { author: true },11 })12 res.json(posts)13})14
15app.post('/post', async (req, res) => {16 const { title, content, authorEmail } = req.body17 const post = await prisma.post.create({18 data: {19 title,20 content,21 published: false,22 author: { connect: { email: authorEmail } },23 },24 })25 res.json(post)26})27
28app.put('/publish/:id', async (req, res) => {29 const { id } = req.params30 const post = await prisma.post.update({31 where: { id },32 data: { published: true },33 })34 res.json(post)35})36
37app.delete('/user/:id', async (req, res) => {38 const { id } = req.params39 const user = await prisma.user.delete({40 where: {41 id,42 },43 })44 res.json(user)45})46
47const server = app.listen(3000)REST API
Prisma is used inside your route handlers to read and write data in your database.
1import express from 'express'2import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'3
4const prisma = new PrismaClient()5const app = express()6
7app.get('/feed', async (req, res) => {8 const posts = await prisma.post.findMany({9 where: { published: true },10 include: { author: true },11 })12 res.json(posts)13})14
15app.post('/post', async (req, res) => {16 const { title, content, authorEmail } = req.body17 const post = await prisma.post.create({18 data: {19 title,20 content,21 published: false,22 author: { connect: { email: authorEmail } },23 },24 })25 res.json(post)26})27
28app.put('/publish/:id', async (req, res) => {29 const { id } = req.params30 const post = await prisma.post.update({31 where: { id },32 data: { published: true },33 })34 res.json(post)35})36
37app.delete('/user/:id', async (req, res) => {38 const { id } = req.params39 const user = await prisma.user.delete({40 where: {41 id,42 },43 })44 res.json(user)45})46
47const server = app.listen(3000)Why Prisma and Express?
Flexible architecture
Prisma fits perfectly into your stack, no matter if you're building microservices or monolothic apps.
Higher productivity
Prisma's gives you autocompletion for database queries, great developer experience and full type safety.
Type-safe database client
Prisma Client ensures fully type-safe database queries with benefits like autocompletion - even in JavaScript.
Intuitive data modeling
Prisma's declarative modeling language is simple and lets you intuitively describe your database schema.
Easy database migrations
Generate predictible and customizable SQL migrations from the declarative Prisma schema.
Designed for building APIs
Prisma Client reduces boilerplates by providing queries for common API features (e.g. pagination, filters, ...).
Featured Prisma & Express examples
A comprehensive tutorial for building REST APIs with Express, Prisma and PostgreSQL
A ready-to-run example project for a REST API with a SQLite database
A ready-to-run example project for a GraphQL API with a SQLite database
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