create-prisma

Scaffold a new app with Prisma already wired up.

create-prisma gives you a project template, Prisma setup, database scripts, and a working starting point without making you assemble everything by hand.

What It Does

• creates a new app from a supported template
• adds Prisma 7 dependencies for your database
• scaffolds prisma/schema.prisma, prisma/seed.ts, prisma.config.ts, and Compute deploy defaults for Compute-ready templates
• writes a Prisma client singleton in the right place for the selected template
• adds db:generate, db:migrate, and db:seed scripts
• creates or updates the template env file with DATABASE_URL
• can install dependencies and run prisma generate for you
• can deploy the finished app to Prisma Compute and return a live URL

Quick Start

Use the package runner you already have:

npx create-prisma@latest

pnpm dlx create-prisma@latest

yarn dlx create-prisma@latest

bunx create-prisma@latest

deno run -A npm:create-prisma@latest

If you already have it available locally:

create-prisma

Common Examples

Create a project interactively:

create-prisma

Create a Hono app non-interactively:

create-prisma --name my-api --template hono --provider postgresql

Scaffold into the current directory:

create-prisma --name . --template hono --provider postgresql

Create a monorepo with a shared Prisma package:

create-prisma --name my-monorepo --template turborepo --provider postgresql

Use Prisma Postgres auto-provisioning:

create-prisma --name my-app --template nest --provider postgresql --prisma-postgres

Deploy a supported app to Prisma Compute:

create-prisma --name my-api --template hono --provider postgresql --deploy

With PostgreSQL and no --database-url, the Compute flow asks whether to use Prisma Postgres. If accepted, or if --prisma-postgres is passed, it creates a Prisma Compute project, creates a main Prisma Postgres database on the main branch, writes DATABASE_URL to the template env file, and deploys the app with the env file configured in prisma.compute.ts. Pass --no-prisma-postgres to deploy without provisioning a database.

Supported Templates

• hono
• elysia
• nest
• next
• svelte
• astro
• nuxt
• tanstack-start
• turborepo

Prisma Compute deployment is currently supported for:

• hono
• elysia
• next
• astro
• nuxt
• tanstack-start
• turborepo

Supported Databases

• postgresql
• mysql
• sqlite
• sqlserver
• cockroachdb

Supported Package Managers

• npm
• pnpm
• yarn
• bun
• deno

Useful Flags

• --name project name or relative path
• --template choose the template
• --provider choose the database provider
• --package-manager choose the package manager/runtime
• --schema-preset empty|basic
• --deploy deploy supported templates to Prisma Compute
• --yes accept defaults and skip prompts
• --no-install scaffold only
• --no-generate skip prisma generate
• --prisma-postgres provision Prisma Postgres for PostgreSQL
• --skills --mcp --extension enable optional add-ons
• --force allow scaffolding into a non-empty directory
• --verbose print full command output

Add-ons

create-prisma can also help with a few optional extras:

• Prisma skills for coding agents
• Prisma MCP setup
• Prisma IDE extension install

These can be selected interactively or enabled with flags. When Prisma Compute deploy is selected, the skills add-on recommends the prisma-compute skill too.

Deploy to Prisma Compute

After scaffolding, create-prisma can deploy your app to Prisma Compute, the serverless hosting for TypeScript apps that runs next to your Prisma Postgres database. It is offered for the templates the Prisma CLI can deploy today: hono, elysia, next, astro, nuxt, tanstack-start, and turborepo.

Accept the deploy prompt when it appears, or pass the flag:

create-prisma --name my-api --template hono --provider postgresql --deploy

The deploy step signs you in with the Prisma CLI if you are not signed in yet. With PostgreSQL and no --database-url, create-prisma asks whether to use Prisma Postgres. If accepted, or if --prisma-postgres is passed, setup creates a Prisma Compute project, creates a main Prisma Postgres database on the main branch, writes DATABASE_URL to the template env file, runs the requested Prisma setup, then deploys the app with the env file configured in prisma.compute.ts. Pass --no-prisma-postgres to deploy without provisioning a database.

A prisma.compute.ts file is generated with the app framework, runtime port, target, and env-file defaults. When deployment is selected, a compute:deploy script is added to the generated project so you can redeploy app changes later. That script runs @prisma/cli@latest app deploy using prisma.compute.ts; it does not create a new project, create a new database, run migrations, or seed data.

The deploy prompt is skipped in --yes runs unless you pass --deploy. Browser sign-in may still need a person at the keyboard if no Prisma CLI session exists.

Local Development

bun install
bun run check
bun run build
bun run start

Useful repo scripts:

• bun run dev
• bun run typecheck
• bun run format
• bun run lint
• bun run bump

Telemetry

Published builds may send anonymous usage telemetry to help improve the CLI. It does not include project names, file paths, or database URLs.

Disable it with any of:

• DO_NOT_TRACK
• CREATE_PRISMA_DISABLE_TELEMETRY
• CREATE_PRISMA_TELEMETRY_DISABLED