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Migrate from Prisma to Drizzle

Getting Started

This guide provides a straightforward approach to migrating a basic Prisma project to Drizzle ORM. Although the example focuses on PostgreSQL, the process is similar for other supported databases.

Overview of the migration process

Regardless of your application type or API layer, the steps to transition from Prisma to Drizzle ORM remain consistent:

  1. Install Drizzle ORM & Drizzle Kit
  2. Setup Drizzle config file
  3. Introspect your database
  4. Connect Drizzle ORM to your database
  5. Transition your Prisma queries to Drizzle ORM queries

These steps are applicable whether you’re developing a REST API (for example, with Express, Koa, or NestJS) or any other type of application that utilizes Prisma for database interactions.

Overview of the Prisma project

For this guide, we’ll use a REST API built with Express as a sample project to migrate to Drizzle ORM. It has four entities:

prisma/schema.prisma
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = env("DATABASE_URL")
}


model Product {
  id              Int           @id @default(autoincrement())
  name            String
  supplierId      Int
  unitPrice       Decimal       @db.Decimal(10, 4)
  unitsInStock    Int

  supplier        Supplier?     @relation(fields: [supplierId], references: [id])
  orderDetails    OrderDetail[]

  @@map("products")
}

model Supplier {
  id           Int       @id @default(autoincrement())
  companyName  String
  city         String
  country      String

  products     Product[]

  @@map("suppliers")
}

model OrderDetail {
  orderId   Int
  productId Int
  quantity  Int

  order   Order   @relation(fields: [orderId], references: [id])
  product Product @relation(fields: [productId], references: [id])

  @@id([orderId, productId])
  @@map("order_details")
}

model Order {
  id             Int       @id @default(autoincrement())
  orderDate      DateTime  @db.Date
  shippedDate    DateTime? @db.Date
  shipAddress    String
  shipPostalCode String?
  shipCountry    String

  orderDetails OrderDetail[]

  @@map("orders")
}
Expand

The models have the following relations:

  1. one-to-many between Supplier and Product
  2. many-to-many between Order and Product

For many-to-many relation we will create a join table order_details, so Order and Product entities will have one-to-many relations with OrderDetail entity.

The corresponding tables have been created using a generated Prisma migration.

prisma/migrations/20240101200233_init/migration.sql
-- CreateTable
CREATE TABLE "products" (
    "id" SERIAL NOT NULL,
    "name" TEXT NOT NULL,
    "supplierId" INTEGER NOT NULL,
    "unitPrice" DECIMAL(10,4) NOT NULL,
    "unitsInStock" INTEGER NOT NULL,

    CONSTRAINT "products_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("id")
);

-- CreateTable
CREATE TABLE "suppliers" (
    "id" SERIAL NOT NULL,
    "companyName" TEXT NOT NULL,
    "city" TEXT NOT NULL,
    "country" TEXT NOT NULL,

    CONSTRAINT "suppliers_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("id")
);

-- CreateTable
CREATE TABLE "order_details" (
    "orderId" INTEGER NOT NULL,
    "productId" INTEGER NOT NULL,
    "quantity" INTEGER NOT NULL,

    CONSTRAINT "order_details_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("orderId","productId")
);

-- CreateTable
CREATE TABLE "orders" (
    "id" SERIAL NOT NULL,
    "orderDate" DATE NOT NULL,
    "shippedDate" DATE,
    "shipAddress" TEXT NOT NULL,
    "shipPostalCode" TEXT,
    "shipCountry" TEXT NOT NULL,

    CONSTRAINT "orders_pkey" PRIMARY KEY ("id")
);

-- AddForeignKey
ALTER TABLE "products" ADD CONSTRAINT "products_supplierId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("supplierId") REFERENCES "suppliers"("id") ON DELETE RESTRICT ON UPDATE CASCADE;

-- AddForeignKey
ALTER TABLE "order_details" ADD CONSTRAINT "order_details_orderId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("orderId") REFERENCES "orders"("id") ON DELETE RESTRICT ON UPDATE CASCADE;

-- AddForeignKey
ALTER TABLE "order_details" ADD CONSTRAINT "order_details_productId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("productId") REFERENCES "products"("id") ON DELETE RESTRICT ON UPDATE CASCADE;
Expand

This guide uses the following file structure:

📦 <project root>
 ├ 📂 prisma
 │  ├ 📂 migrations
 │  │  ├ 📂 20240101200233_init
 │  │  │  └ 📜 migration.sql
 │  │  └ 📜 migration_lock.toml
 │  └ 📜 schema.prisma
 ├ 📂 src
 │  ├ 📂 db
 │  │  └ 📜 db.ts
 │  ├ 📂 routers
 │  │  ├ 📜 order.router.ts
 │  │  ├ 📜 product.router.ts
 │  │  └ 📜 supplier.router.ts
 │  ├ 📂 controllers
 │  │  ├ 📜 order.controller.ts
 │  │  ├ 📜 product.controller.ts
 │  │  └ 📜 supplier.controller.ts
 │  ├ 📜 index.ts
 │  └ 📜 server.ts
 ├ 📜 package.json
 └ 📜 tsconfig.json

Install Drizzle ORM & Drizzle Kit

The first step is to install Drizzle ORM and pg package which we will use as a driver. The second step is to install Drizzle Kit and types for pg. Drizzle Kit - CLI companion for automatic SQL migrations generation and rapid prototyping.

npm
yarn
pnpm
bun
npm i drizzle-orm pg
npm i -D drizzle-kit @types/pg

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'; // make sure to install dotenv package
import { defineConfig } from 'drizzle-kit';

export default defineConfig({
  dialect: 'postgresql',
  out: './src/drizzle',
  schema: './src/drizzle/schema.ts',
  dbCredentials: {
    host: process.env.DB_HOST!,
    port: Number(process.env.DB_PORT!),
    user: process.env.DB_USERNAME!,
    password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD!,
    database: process.env.DB_NAME!,
  },
  // Print all statements
  verbose: true,
  // Always ask for confirmation
  strict: true,
});

Introspect your database

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

npx drizzle-kit introspect

This command will generate a schema.ts file, along with snapshots and migrations in the src/drizzle folder.

src/drizzle/schema.ts
import {
  pgTable,
  varchar,
  timestamp,
  text,
  integer,
  serial,
  foreignKey,
  numeric,
  date,
  primaryKey,
} from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';
import { sql } from 'drizzle-orm';

export const prismaMigrations = pgTable('_prisma_migrations', {
  id: varchar('id', { length: 36 }).primaryKey().notNull(),
  checksum: varchar('checksum', { length: 64 }).notNull(),
  finishedAt: timestamp('finished_at', { withTimezone: true, mode: 'string' }),
  migrationName: varchar('migration_name', { length: 255 }).notNull(),
  logs: text('logs'),
  rolledBackAt: timestamp('rolled_back_at', { withTimezone: true, mode: 'string' }),
  startedAt: timestamp('started_at', { withTimezone: true, mode: 'string' }).defaultNow().notNull(),
  appliedStepsCount: integer('applied_steps_count').default(0).notNull(),
});

export const suppliers = pgTable('suppliers', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey().notNull(),
  companyName: text('companyName').notNull(),
  city: text('city').notNull(),
  country: text('country').notNull(),
});

export const products = pgTable('products', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey().notNull(),
  name: text('name').notNull(),
  supplierId: integer('supplierId')
    .notNull()
    .references(() => suppliers.id, { onDelete: 'restrict', onUpdate: 'cascade' }),
  unitPrice: numeric('unitPrice', { precision: 10, scale: 4 }).notNull(),
  unitsInStock: integer('unitsInStock').notNull(),
});

export const orders = pgTable('orders', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey().notNull(),
  orderDate: date('orderDate').notNull(),
  shippedDate: date('shippedDate'),
  shipAddress: text('shipAddress').notNull(),
  shipPostalCode: text('shipPostalCode'),
  shipCountry: text('shipCountry').notNull(),
});

export const orderDetails = pgTable(
  'order_details',
  {
    orderId: integer('orderId')
      .notNull()
      .references(() => orders.id, { onDelete: 'restrict', onUpdate: 'cascade' }),
    productId: integer('productId')
      .notNull()
      .references(() => products.id, { onDelete: 'restrict', onUpdate: 'cascade' }),
    quantity: integer('quantity').notNull(),
  },
  (table) => {
    return {
      orderDetailsPkey: primaryKey({ columns: [table.orderId, table.productId], name: 'order_details_pkey' }),
    };
  },
);
Expand
src/drizzle/0000_cool_puff_adder.sql
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "_prisma_migrations" (
	"id" varchar(36) PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
	"checksum" varchar(64) NOT NULL,
	"finished_at" timestamp with time zone,
	"migration_name" varchar(255) NOT NULL,
	"logs" text,
	"rolled_back_at" timestamp with time zone,
	"started_at" timestamp with time zone DEFAULT now() NOT NULL,
	"applied_steps_count" integer DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL
);
--> statement-breakpoint
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "suppliers" (
	"id" serial PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
	"companyName" text NOT NULL,
	"city" text NOT NULL,
	"country" text NOT NULL
);
--> statement-breakpoint
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "products" (
	"id" serial PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
	"name" text NOT NULL,
	"supplierId" integer NOT NULL,
	"unitPrice" numeric(10, 4) NOT NULL,
	"unitsInStock" integer NOT NULL
);
--> statement-breakpoint
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "orders" (
	"id" serial PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
	"orderDate" date NOT NULL,
	"shippedDate" date,
	"shipAddress" text NOT NULL,
	"shipPostalCode" text,
	"shipCountry" text NOT NULL
);
--> statement-breakpoint
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "order_details" (
	"orderId" integer NOT NULL,
	"productId" integer NOT NULL,
	"quantity" integer NOT NULL,
	CONSTRAINT order_details_pkey PRIMARY KEY("orderId","productId")
);
--> statement-breakpoint
DO $$ BEGIN
 ALTER TABLE "products" ADD CONSTRAINT "products_supplierId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("supplierId") REFERENCES "suppliers"("id") ON DELETE restrict ON UPDATE cascade;
EXCEPTION
 WHEN duplicate_object THEN null;
END $$;
--> statement-breakpoint
DO $$ BEGIN
 ALTER TABLE "order_details" ADD CONSTRAINT "order_details_orderId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("orderId") REFERENCES "orders"("id") ON DELETE restrict ON UPDATE cascade;
EXCEPTION
 WHEN duplicate_object THEN null;
END $$;
--> statement-breakpoint
DO $$ BEGIN
 ALTER TABLE "order_details" ADD CONSTRAINT "order_details_productId_fkey" FOREIGN KEY ("productId") REFERENCES "products"("id") ON DELETE restrict ON UPDATE cascade;
EXCEPTION
 WHEN duplicate_object THEN null;
END $$;
Expand

Also, if you want to use relational queries, you have to update your schema file with relational tables:

src/drizzle/schema.ts
// ...other imports
import { relations } from 'drizzle-orm';

// ...other tables
export const suppliersRelations = relations(suppliers, ({ many }) => ({
  products: many(products),
}));

export const productsRelations = relations(products, ({ one, many }) => ({
  supplier: one(suppliers, { fields: [products.supplierId], references: [suppliers.id] }),
  orderDetails: many(orderDetails),
}));

export const ordersRelations = relations(orders, ({ many }) => ({
  orderDetails: many(orderDetails),
}));

export const orderDetailsRelations = relations(orderDetails, ({ one }) => ({
  order: one(orders, { fields: [orderDetails.orderId], references: [orders.id] }),
  product: one(products, { fields: [orderDetails.productId], references: [products.id] }),
}));

Now we have the following file structure:

📦 <project root>
 ├ 📂 src
 │  ├ 📂 drizzle
 │  │  ├ 📂 meta
 |  |  |  ├ 📜 _journal.json
 │  │  │  └ 📜 0000_snapshot.json
 │  │  ├ 📜 0000_cool_puff_adder.sql
 │  │  └ 📜 schema.ts
 │  ├ 📂 routers
 │  │  ├ 📜 order.router.ts
 │  │  ├ 📜 product.router.ts
 │  │  └ 📜 supplier.router.ts
 │  ├ 📂 controllers
 │  │  ├ 📜 order.controller.ts
 │  │  ├ 📜 product.controller.ts
 │  │  └ 📜 supplier.controller.ts
 │  ├ 📜 index.ts
 │  └ 📜 server.ts
 ├ 📜 package.json
 ├ 📜 drizzle.config.ts
 └ 📜 tsconfig.json

Connect Drizzle ORM to your database

Create a db.ts file in the src/drizzle folder and set up your database configuration:

src/drizzle/db.ts
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres';
import { Client } from 'pg';
import * as schema from './schema';

export const client = new Client({
  host: process.env.DB_HOST!,
  port: Number(process.env.DB_PORT!),
  user: process.env.DB_USERNAME!,
  password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD!,
  database: process.env.DB_NAME!,
});

// { schema } is used for relational queries
export const db = drizzle({ client, schema });
src/index.ts
import 'dotenv/config';
import { client, db } from './drizzle/db';
import { resolve } from 'node:path';
import { migrate } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres/migrator';


(async () => {
  await client.connect();

  // This command run all migrations from the migrations folder and apply changes to the database
  await migrate(db, { migrationsFolder: resolve(__dirname, './drizzle') });

  // ... start your application
})();

Transition your Prisma queries to Drizzle ORM queries

In this section, we will show you how to replace several queries from Prisma with Drizzle ORM.

Replace insert queries

We will show how to insert new rows into suppliers and products tables.

  1. POST /suppliers
src/controllers/supplier.controller.ts
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

await prisma.supplier.createMany({
  data: [
    { companyName: 'TestCompanyName1', city: 'TestCity1', country: 'TestCountry1' },
    { companyName: 'TestCompanyName2', city: 'TestCity2', country: 'TestCountry2' },
  ],
});

With Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

src/controllers/supplier.controller.ts
import { db } from '../drizzle/db';
import { suppliers } from '../drizzle/schema';

await db.insert(suppliers).values([
  {
    companyName: 'TestCompanyName1',
    city: 'TestCity1',
    country: 'TestCountry1',
  },
  {
    companyName: 'TestCompanyName2',
    city: 'TestCity2',
    country: 'TestCountry2',
  },
]);
  1. POST /products
src/controllers/product.controller.ts
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

await prisma.product.createMany({
  data: [
    { 
      name: 'TestProductName1',
      supplierId: 1,
      unitPrice: 10,
      unitsInStock: 20,
    },
    {
      name: 'TestProductName2',
      supplierId: 1,
      unitPrice: 25,
      unitsInStock: 7,
    },
    {
      name: 'TestProductName3',
      supplierId: 2,
      unitPrice: 50,
      unitsInStock: 17,
    },
    {
      name: 'TestProductName4',
      supplierId: 2,
      unitPrice: 100,
      unitsInStock: 2,
    },
  ],
});

With Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

Be careful with the unitPrice field. In Prisma it’s a number type, but in Drizzle ORM it’s a string type, which can handle more than 16383 digits after the decimal point, unlike the number type.

src/controllers/product.controller.ts
await db.insert(products).values([
  {
    name: 'TestProductName1',
    supplierId: 1,
    unitPrice: '10',
    unitsInStock: 20,
  },
  {
    name: 'TestProductName2',
    supplierId: 1,
    unitPrice: '25',
    unitsInStock: 7,
  },
  {
    name: 'TestProductName3',
    supplierId: 2,
    unitPrice: '50',
    unitsInStock: 17,
  },
  {
    name: 'TestProductName4',
    supplierId: 2,
    unitPrice: '100',
    unitsInStock: 2,
  },
]);
Replace select queries

In this section we will show how to select one row, multiple rows, count rows, filter rows, join tables and paginate results.

  1. GET /products/:id
src/controllers/product.controller.ts
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

const { id } = req.params;

const response = await prisma.product.findUnique({
  where: { id },
  include: {
    supplier: true,
  },
});

In Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

src/controllers/product.controller.ts
import { eq } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { db } from '../drizzle/db';
import { products, suppliers } from '../drizzle/schema';

const { id } = req.params;

const response = await db
  .select({
    product: products,
    supplier: suppliers,
  })
  .from(products)
  .where(eq(products.id, id))
  .leftJoin(suppliers, eq(suppliers.id, products.supplierId));

// or you can use relational queries
const response = await db.query.products.findFirst({
  where: (products, { eq }) => eq(products.id, id),
  with: {
    supplier: true,
  },
});

Response will be type-safe with both ORMs.

// response type for Drizzle ORM
const response: {
  product: {
    name: string;
    id: number;
    supplierId: number;
    unitPrice: string;
    unitsInStock: number;
  };
  supplier: {
    id: number;
    companyName: string;
    city: string | null;
    country: string;
  } | null;
}[]
  1. GET /products
src/controllers/product.controller.ts
import { Prisma } from '@prisma/client';
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

const whereOptions: Prisma.ProductWhereInput = {
  name: { contains: 'test', mode: 'insensitive' },
};

const [response, count] = await Promise.all([
  prisma.product.findMany({
    where: whereOptions,
    take: 10,
    skip: 0,
    select: {
      id: true,
      name: true,
      unitPrice: true,
      unitsInStock: true,
    },
  }),
  prisma.product.count({ where: whereOptions }),
]);

In Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

src/controllers/product.controller.ts
import { ilike, sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { db } from '../drizzle/db';
import { products } from '../drizzle/schema';

const whereOptions = ilike(products.name, `%test%`);

const [response, count] = await Promise.all([
  db
    .select({
      id: products.id,
      name: products.name,
      unitPrice: products.unitPrice,
      unitsInStock: products.unitsInStock,
    })
    .from(products)
    .where(whereOptions)
    .offset(0)
    .limit(10),
  db
    .select({ count: sql<number>`cast(count(${products.id}) as integer)` })
    .from(products)
    .where(whereOptions),
]);

// or you can use relational queries
const whereOptions = ilike(products.name, `%test%`);

const [response, count] = await Promise.all([
  db.query.products.findMany({
    where: whereOptions,
    columns: {
      id: true,
      name: true,
      unitPrice: true,
      unitsInStock: true,
    },
    offset: 0,
    limit: 10,
  }),
  db
    .select({ count: sql<number>`cast(count(${products.id}) as integer)` })
    .from(products)
    .where(whereOptions),
]);
Expand

Response will be type-safe with both ORMs.

// response type for Drizzle ORM
const response: {
  id: number;
  name: string;
  unitPrice: string;
  unitsInStock: number;
}[]
  1. GET /orders/:id

In Prisma, aggregate functions require using the aggregate method. For complex queries, the $queryRaw method is used, which is not type-safe.

We want to select id, orderDate and shipCountry fields from orders table and by using aggregation functions sum totalPrice of order, totalQuantity of products in the order and count totalProducts in the order.

src/controllers/order.controller.ts
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

const { id } = req.params;

const order = await prisma.order.findFirst({
  where: { id },
  select: {
    id: true,
    orderDate: true,
    shipCountry: true,
  },
});
if (!order) {
  throw new Error('Order not found');
}

const { _count, _sum } = await prisma.orderDetail.aggregate({
  where: { orderId: id },
  _sum: {
    quantity: true,
  },
  _count: {
    orderId: true,
  },
});

const totalPrice: Array<{ totalPrice: number }> = await prisma.$queryRaw<number>`
  SELECT SUM(unitPrice * quantity) as "totalPrice"
  FROM order_details
  WHERE "orderId" = ${id}
`;

const response = {
  ...order,
  totalPrice: totalPrice[0].totalPrice,
  totalQuantity: _sum.quantity,
  totalProducts: _count.orderId,
};

In Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

src/controllers/order.controller.ts
import { eq, sql } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { db } from '../drizzle/db';
import { orders, orderDetails, products } from '../drizzle/schema';

const { id } = req.params;

const response = await db
      .select({
        id: orders.id,
        shipCountry: orders.shipCountry,
        orderDate: orders.orderDate,
        totalPrice: sql<number>`cast(sum(${orderDetails.quantity} * ${products.unitPrice}) as float)`,
        totalQuantity: sql<number>`cast(sum(${orderDetails.quantity}) as int)`,
        totalProducts: sql<number>`cast(count(${orderDetails.productId}) as int)`,
      })
      .from(orders)
      .where(eq(orders.id, id))
      .groupBy(orders.id)
      .leftJoin(orderDetails, eq(orderDetails.orderId, orders.id))
      .leftJoin(products, eq(products.id, orderDetails.productId));

In Drizzle ORM, the result will be type-safe with aggregations too.

// response type
const response: {
  id: number;
  shipCountry: string;
  orderDate: string;
  totalPrice: number;
  totalQuantity: number;
  totalProducts: number;
}[]

Note: as of now aggregations are not supported in relational queries, so you have to use core queries.

Replace update queries

In this section, we will show you how to update multiple rows.

  1. PATCH /suppliers/:id
src/controllers/supplier.controller.ts
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

const { id } = req.params;

const supplier = await prisma.supplier.update({
  where: { id },
  data: { city: 'TestCity1Updated', country: 'TestCountry1Updated' },
});

In Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

src/controllers/supplier.controller.ts
import { eq } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { db } from '../drizzle/db';
import { suppliers } from '../drizzle/schema';

const { id } = req.params;

await db
    .update(suppliers)
    .set({
      city: 'TestCity1Updated',
      country: 'TestCountry1Updated',
    })
    .where(eq(suppliers.id, id));
Replace delete queries

In this section, we will show you how to delete a single row and multiple rows using transactions.

  1. DELETE /orders/:id
src/controllers/order.controller.ts
import { prisma } from '../db/db';

const { id } = req.params;

const orderDetailQuery = prisma.orderDetail.deleteMany({
  where: { orderId: id },
});

const orderQuery = prisma.order.deleteMany({
  where: { id },
});

await prisma.$transaction([orderDetailQuery, orderQuery]);

In Drizzle ORM, the query is implemented as follows:

src/controllers/order.controller.ts
import { eq } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { db } from '../drizzle/db';
import { orderDetails, orders } from '../drizzle/schema';

const { id } = req.params;

try {
  await db.transaction(async (tx) => {
    await tx.delete(orderDetails).where(eq(orderDetails.orderId, id));

    await tx.delete(orders).where(eq(orders.id, id));
  });
} catch (e) {
  console.error(e);
}