Prisma with managed PostgreSQL and MySQL

Prisma ORM is a TypeScript ORM. You describe your models in a Prisma schema, Prisma Migrate turns schema changes into SQL migrations, and Prisma Client gives you a generated, type-safe query API.

How does the integration work?

Appwrite native PostgreSQL and MySQL databases are standard engines that Appwrite provisions in your project's region, each with its own hostname, credentials, and TLS. Prisma treats them as regular postgresql and mysql datasources, and Prisma 7 connects at runtime through a driver adapter, @prisma/adapter-pg for PostgreSQL or @prisma/adapter-mariadb for MySQL.

Prisma Client sends runtime traffic through the database's connection pooler, while the Prisma CLI runs migrations and introspection over a direct connection to the engine.

How to implement

To use Prisma with an Appwrite native database, there are several steps you must complete:

Step 1: Create a native database

Create an account on Appwrite Cloud if you haven't already. In your project, go to Databases, click Create database, and select PostgreSQL or MySQL from the Native databases group. Pick a specification and click Create database. The database becomes ready within a few minutes.

For PostgreSQL, open the database, click Credentials, and copy the connection string from the Prisma or DSN tab. For MySQL, read connectionString from the database object with mysql.get() and an API key that has the databases.read scope.

Step 2: Initialize Prisma

npm install -D prisma typescript tsx @types/node @types/pg
npm install @prisma/client @prisma/adapter-pg dotenv pg
npx prisma init --datasource-provider postgresql --output ../generated/prisma

npm install -D prisma typescript tsx @types/node
npm install @prisma/client @prisma/adapter-mariadb dotenv mariadb
npx prisma init --datasource-provider mysql --output ../generated/prisma

Prisma 7 generates prisma.config.ts and prisma/schema.prisma. Set "type": "module" in package.json if your project doesn't already use ECMAScript modules.

Step 3: Configure the connection strings

Point DATABASE_URL at the pooler for Prisma Client and DIRECT_URL at the engine for the CLI:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://admin:<password>@db-<hash>.<region>.appwrite.center:6432/<database>?sslmode=require"
DIRECT_URL="postgresql://admin:<password>@db-<hash>.<region>.appwrite.center:5432/<database>?sslmode=require"
SHADOW_DATABASE_URL="postgresql://admin:<password>@db-<hash>.<region>.appwrite.center:5432/<database>?sslmode=require&schema=prisma_shadow"

DATABASE_URL="mysql://admin.<hash>:<password>@db-<hash>.<region>.appwrite.center:6033/default?sslaccept=strict"
DIRECT_URL="mysql://admin.<hash>:<password>@db-<hash>.<region>.appwrite.center:3306/default?sslaccept=strict"

In prisma.config.ts, set the CLI datasource to process.env["DIRECT_URL"], because migrations need a session-level connection.

Step 4: Run migrations

# Development
npx prisma migrate dev --name init

# CI and production
npx prisma migrate deploy

mkdir -p prisma/migrations/20260708160000_init
npx prisma migrate diff --from-empty --to-schema prisma/schema.prisma --script --output prisma/migrations/20260708160000_init/migration.sql
npx prisma migrate deploy

Run npx prisma generate after you change the schema. Run migrations as the primary user, admin or admin.<hash>.

Step 5: Query with Prisma Client

Create Prisma Client with the driver adapter for your engine, once per module scope:

import 'dotenv/config';
import { PrismaPg } from '@prisma/adapter-pg';
import { PrismaClient } from './generated/prisma/client';

const adapter = new PrismaPg({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL! });
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });

const user = await prisma.user.create({ data: { email: 'grace@example.com' } });

import 'dotenv/config';
import { PrismaMariaDb } from '@prisma/adapter-mariadb';
import { PrismaClient } from './generated/prisma/client';

const adapter = new PrismaMariaDb(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });

const user = await prisma.user.create({ data: { email: 'grace@example.com' } });

If your app relies on advisory locks, LISTEN/NOTIFY, user variables, temporary tables, or session-scoped prepared statements, switch the pooler to session mode or use the direct port. To test migrations in CI, run npx prisma migrate deploy against a PostgreSQL or MySQL branch. MySQL branches have no pooler, so use the branch's direct URL for both variables.

Read more about Prisma and Appwrite Databases

If you would like to learn more about Prisma and Appwrite Databases, we have some resources that you should visit: