Get Started with Drizzle and SQLite Durable Objects in existing project

This guide assumes familiarity with:
  • dotenv - package for managing environment variables - read here
  • tsx - package for running TypeScript files - read here
  • Cloudflare SQLite Durable Objects - SQLite database embedded within a Durable Object - read here
  • wrangler - Cloudflare Developer Platform command-line interface - read here

Basic file structure

This is the basic file structure of the project. In the src/db directory, we have table definition in schema.ts. In drizzle folder there are sql migration file and snapshots.

📦 <project root>
 ├ 📂 drizzle
 ├ 📂 src
 │   ├ 📂 db
 │   │  └ 📜 schema.ts
 │   └ 📜 index.ts
 ├ 📜 .env
 ├ 📜 drizzle.config.ts
 ├ 📜 package.json
 └ 📜 tsconfig.json

Step 1 - Install required package

npm
yarn
pnpm
bun
npm i drizzle-orm  dotenv
npm i -D drizzle-kit tsx

Step 2 - Setup wrangler.toml

You would need to have a wrangler.toml file for D1 database and will look something like this:

#:schema node_modules/wrangler/config-schema.json
name = "sqlite-durable-objects"
main = "src/index.ts"
compatibility_date = "2024-11-12"
compatibility_flags = [ "nodejs_compat" ]

# Bind a Durable Object. Durable objects are a scale-to-zero compute primitive based on the actor model.
# Durable Objects can live for as long as needed. Use these when you need a long-running "server", such as in realtime apps.
# Docs: https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler/configuration/#durable-objects
[[durable_objects.bindings]]
name = "MY_DURABLE_OBJECT"
class_name = "MyDurableObject"

# Durable Object migrations.
# Docs: https://developers.cloudflare.com/workers/wrangler/configuration/#migrations
[[migrations]]
tag = "v1"
new_sqlite_classes = ["MyDurableObject"]

# We need rules so we can import migrations in the next steps
[[rules]] 
type = "Text"
globs = ["**/*.sql"]
fallthrough = true

Step 3 - Setup Drizzle config file

Drizzle config - a configuration file that is used by Drizzle Kit and contains all the information about your database connection, migration folder and schema files.

Create a drizzle.config.ts file in the root of your project and add the following content:

drizzle.config.ts
import 'dotenv/config';
import { defineConfig } from 'drizzle-kit';

export default defineConfig({
  out: './drizzle',
  schema: './src/db/schema.ts',
  dialect: 'sqlite',
  driver: 'durable-sqlite',
});
tips

You can check our tutorial on how to get env variables from CloudFlare

Step 4 - Introspect your database

Drizzle Kit provides a CLI command to introspect your database and generate a schema file with migrations. The schema file contains all the information about your database tables, columns, relations, and indices.

For example, you have such table in your database:

CREATE TABLE `users_table` (
	`id` integer PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT NOT NULL,
	`name` text NOT NULL,
	`age` integer NOT NULL,
	`email` text NOT NULL UNIQUE
);

Pull your database schema:

npx drizzle-kit pull --init

The result of introspection will be a schema.ts file, meta folder with snapshots of your database schema, sql file with the migration and relations.ts file for relational queries.

Here is an example of the generated schema.ts file:

drizzle/schema.ts
// table schema generated by introspection
import {
  sqliteTable,
  uniqueIndex,
  integer,
  text,
} from "drizzle-orm/sqlite-core";

export const usersTable = sqliteTable(
  "users_table",
  {
    id: integer().primaryKey({ autoIncrement: true }).notNull(),
    name: text().notNull(),
    age: integer().notNull(),
    email: text().notNull(),
  },
  (table) => [
    uniqueIndex("users_table_email_unique").on(table.email)
  ]
);

Learn more about introspection in the documentation.

Step 5 - Transfer code to your actual schema file

We recommend transferring the generated code from drizzle/schema.ts and drizzle/relations.ts to the actual schema file. In this guide we transferred code to src/db/schema.ts. Generated files for schema and relations can be deleted. This way you can manage your schema in a more structured way.

 ├ 📂 drizzle
 │ ├ 📂 20242409125510_premium_mister_fear
 │ │ ├ 📜 snapshot.json
 │ │ └ 📜 migration.sql
 │ ├ 📜 relations.ts ────────┐
 │ └ 📜 schema.ts ───────────┤
 ├ 📂 src                    │ 
 │ ├ 📂 db                   │
 │ │ ├ 📜 relations.ts <─────┤
 │ │ └ 📜 schema.ts <────────┘
 │ └ 📜 index.ts         
 └ …

Step 6 - Connect Drizzle ORM to the database

import { drizzle, type DrizzleSqliteDODatabase } from 'drizzle-orm/durable-sqlite';
import { DurableObject } from 'cloudflare:workers'

export class MyDurableObject extends DurableObject {
	storage: DurableObjectStorage;
	db: DrizzleSqliteDODatabase;

	constructor(ctx: DurableObjectState, env: Env) {
		super(ctx, env);
		this.storage = ctx.storage;
		this.db = drizzle(this.storage, { logger: false });
	}
}

Step 7 - Query the database

import { drizzle, DrizzleSqliteDODatabase } from 'drizzle-orm/durable-sqlite';
import { DurableObject } from 'cloudflare:workers'
import { migrate } from 'drizzle-orm/durable-sqlite/migrator';
import migrations from '../drizzle/migrations';
import { usersTable } from './db/schema';

export class MyDurableObject extends DurableObject {
  storage: DurableObjectStorage;
  db: DrizzleSqliteDODatabase<any>;

  constructor(ctx: DurableObjectState, env: Env) {
    super(ctx, env);
    this.storage = ctx.storage;
    this.db = drizzle(this.storage, { logger: false });

    // Make sure all migrations complete before accepting queries.
    // Otherwise you will need to run `this.migrate()` in any function
    // that accesses the Drizzle database `this.db`.
    ctx.blockConcurrencyWhile(async () => {
      await this._migrate();
    });
  }

  async insertAndList(user: typeof usersTable.$inferInsert) {
    await this.insert(user);
    return this.select();
  }

  async insert(user: typeof usersTable.$inferInsert) {
    await this.db.insert(usersTable).values(user);
  }

  async select() {
    return this.db.select().from(usersTable);
  }

  async _migrate() {
    migrate(this.db, migrations);
  }
}

export default {
  /**
   * This is the standard fetch handler for a Cloudflare Worker
   *
   * @param request - The request submitted to the Worker from the client
   * @param env - The interface to reference bindings declared in wrangler.toml
   * @param ctx - The execution context of the Worker
   * @returns The response to be sent back to the client
   */
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env): Promise<Response> {
    const id: DurableObjectId = env.MY_DURABLE_OBJECT.idFromName('durable-object');
    const stub = env.MY_DURABLE_OBJECT.get(id);

    // Option A - Maximum performance.
    // Prefer to bundle all the database interaction within a single Durable Object call
    // for maximum performance, since database access is fast within a DO.
    const usersAll = await stub.insertAndList({
      name: 'John',
      age: 30,
      email: '[email protected]',
    });
    console.log('New user created. Getting all users from the database: ', users);
    /*
    const users: {
      id: number;
      name: string;
      age: number;
      email: string;
      phone: string | null;
    }[]
    */

    // Option B - Slow but maybe useful sometimes for debugging.
    // You can also directly call individual Drizzle queries if they are exposed
    // but keep in mind every query is a round-trip to the Durable Object instance.
    await stub.insert({
      name: 'John',
      age: 30,
      email: '[email protected]',
    });
    console.log('New user created!');

    const users = await stub.select();
    console.log('Getting all users from the database: ', users);
    /*
    const users: {
      id: number;
      name: string;
      age: number;
      email: string;
      phone: string | null;
    }[]
    */

    return Response.json(users);
  }
}

Step 8 - Run index.ts file

To run any TypeScript files, you have several options, but let’s stick with one: using tsx

You’ve already installed tsx, so we can run our queries now

Run index.ts script

npm
yarn
pnpm
bun
npx tsx src/index.ts
tips

We suggest using bun to run TypeScript files. With bun, such scripts can be executed without issues or additional settings, regardless of whether your project is configured with CommonJS (CJS), ECMAScript Modules (ESM), or any other module format. To run a script with bun, use the following command:

bun src/index.ts

If you don’t have bun installed, check the Bun installation docs

Step 9 - Update your table schema (optional)

If you want to update your table schema, you can do it in the schema.ts file. For example, let’s add a new column phone to the users_table:

src/db/schema.ts
// table schema generated by introspection
import {
  sqliteTable,
  uniqueIndex,
  integer,
  text,
} from "drizzle-orm/sqlite-core";

export const usersTable = sqliteTable(
  "users_table",
  {
    id: integer().primaryKey({ autoIncrement: true }).notNull(),
    name: text().notNull(),
    age: integer().notNull(),
    email: text().notNull(),
    phone: text(),
  },
  (table) => [
    uniqueIndex("users_table_email_unique").on(table.email)
  ]
);

Step 10 - Applying changes to the database (optional)

You can directly apply changes to your database using the drizzle-kit push command. This is a convenient method for quickly testing new schema designs or modifications in a local development environment, allowing for rapid iterations without the need to manage migration files:

npx drizzle-kit push

Read more about the push command in documentation.

Tips

Alternatively, you can generate migrations using the drizzle-kit generate command and then apply them using the drizzle-kit migrate command:

Generate migrations:

npx drizzle-kit generate

Apply migrations:

npx drizzle-kit migrate

Read more about migration process in documentation.

Step 11 - Query the database with a new field (optional)

src/index.ts
import { drizzle, DrizzleSqliteDODatabase } from 'drizzle-orm/durable-sqlite';
import { DurableObject } from 'cloudflare:workers'
import { migrate } from 'drizzle-orm/durable-sqlite/migrator';
import migrations from '../drizzle/migrations';
import { usersTable } from './db/schema';

export class MyDurableObject extends DurableObject {
  storage: DurableObjectStorage;
  db: DrizzleSqliteDODatabase<any>;

  constructor(ctx: DurableObjectState, env: Env) {
    super(ctx, env);
    this.storage = ctx.storage;
    this.db = drizzle(this.storage, { logger: false });

    // Make sure all migrations complete before accepting queries.
    // Otherwise you will need to run `this.migrate()` in any function
    // that accesses the Drizzle database `this.db`.
    ctx.blockConcurrencyWhile(async () => {
      await this._migrate();
    });
  }

  async insertAndList(user: typeof usersTable.$inferInsert) {
    await this.insert(user);
    return this.select();
  }

  async insert(user: typeof usersTable.$inferInsert) {
    await this.db.insert(usersTable).values(user);
  }

  async select() {
    return this.db.select().from(usersTable);
  }

  async _migrate() {
    migrate(this.db, migrations);
  }
}

export default {
  /**
   * This is the standard fetch handler for a Cloudflare Worker
   *
   * @param request - The request submitted to the Worker from the client
   * @param env - The interface to reference bindings declared in wrangler.toml
   * @param ctx - The execution context of the Worker
   * @returns The response to be sent back to the client
   */
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env): Promise<Response> {
    const id: DurableObjectId = env.MY_DURABLE_OBJECT.idFromName('durable-object');
    const stub = env.MY_DURABLE_OBJECT.get(id);

    // Option A - Maximum performance.
    // Prefer to bundle all the database interaction within a single Durable Object call
    // for maximum performance, since database access is fast within a DO.
    const usersAll = await stub.insertAndList({
      name: 'John',
      age: 30,
      email: '[email protected]',
      phone: '123-456-7890',
    });
    console.log('New user created. Getting all users from the database: ', users);
    /*
    const users: {
      id: number;
      name: string;
      age: number;
      email: string;
      phone: string | null;
    }[]
    */

    // Option B - Slow but maybe useful sometimes for debugging.
    // You can also directly call individual Drizzle queries if they are exposed
    // but keep in mind every query is a round-trip to the Durable Object instance.
    await stub.insert({
      name: 'John',
      age: 30,
      email: '[email protected]',
      phone: '123-456-7890',
    });
    console.log('New user created!');

    const users = await stub.select();
    console.log('Getting all users from the database: ', users);
    /*
    const users: {
      id: number;
      name: string;
      age: number;
      email: string;
      phone: string | null;
    }[]
    */

    return Response.json(users);
  }
}