Prisma ORM - Type-safe Database Operations

VerifiedCaution

Modern ORM for PostgreSQL providing declarative schemas, automatic type generation, and migration management. Replaces raw SQL queries with type-safe operations and built-in SQL injection protection.

Sby Skills Guide Bot
DevelopmentIntermediate
306/2/2026
Claude CodeCursorWindsurfCopilotCodex
#prisma#orm#postgresql#type-safe#database

Recommended for

Our review

Provides type-safe database operations using Prisma ORM as an alternative to raw SQL for PostgreSQL.

Strengths

  • Automatic TypeScript type generation
  • Migration management and relation handling
  • Eliminates SQL injection risks
  • Declarative schema modeling

Limitations

  • Requires learning Prisma schema syntax
  • May not cover all complex SQL queries
  • Adds an extra dependency to the project
When to use it

Use Prisma when you need type-safe database access and want to avoid raw SQL in a Node.js project with PostgreSQL.

When not to use it

Avoid Prisma for simple scripts or when maximum performance and direct SQL control are required.

Security analysis

Caution
Quality score88/100

The skill includes Bash commands for installing npm packages and running npx, which can execute remote code from the npm registry. However, these are standard development tasks for a widely trusted ORM (Prisma) and not inherently destructive. The skill does not instruct downloading from untrusted sources or executing obfuscated payloads.

No concerns found

Examples

Set up Prisma with PostgreSQL
Set up Prisma in a Node.js project with PostgreSQL. Initialize Prisma, define a Product model with fields like name, price, and a relation to a ProductTranslation model, and run the initial migration.
Create a Prisma migration
Create a Prisma migration to add a 'salePrice' column (nullable Decimal) to the Product model and update the schema.
Fetch product with translation fallback
Write a Prisma query to fetch a product by ID and include its translations where languageCode matches a given language. Fallback to the base product name if no translation is found.

name: prisma description: | Prisma ORM for type-safe database operations with PostgreSQL. Use when: Defining schemas, writing type-safe queries, creating migrations, modeling relations, or replacing raw SQL with ORM patterns. allowed-tools: Read, Edit, Write, Glob, Grep, Bash

Prisma Skill

Provides type-safe database operations as an alternative to raw SQL. This codebase currently uses the pg library with raw SQL queries. Prisma offers automatic type generation, declarative schema modeling, and migration management - eliminating the manual row mapping and SQL injection risks present in raw SQL approaches.

Quick Start

Install and Initialize

cd backend
npm install prisma @prisma/client
npx prisma init

Schema Definition

// 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
  shortDescription String                 @map("short_description")
  description      String
  price            Decimal                @db.Decimal(10, 2)
  salePrice        Decimal?               @map("sale_price") @db.Decimal(10, 2)
  imageUrl         String                 @map("image_url")
  inventory        Int                    @default(0)
  categories       Json
  highlights       Json?
  usage            String?
  isNew            Boolean                @default(false) @map("is_new")
  isFeatured       Boolean                @default(false) @map("is_featured")
  salesCount       Int                    @default(0) @map("sales_count")
  createdAt        DateTime               @default(now()) @map("created_at")
  updatedAt        DateTime               @updatedAt @map("updated_at")
  translations     ProductTranslation[]
  orderItems       OrderItem[]
  variants         ProductVariant[]

  @@map("products")
}

model ProductTranslation {
  id              Int      @id @default(autoincrement())
  productId       Int      @map("product_id")
  languageCode    String   @map("language_code") @db.VarChar(10)
  name            String   @db.VarChar(255)
  shortDescription String  @map("short_description")
  description     String
  highlights      Json?
  usage           String?
  slug            String?  @db.VarChar(255)
  createdAt       DateTime @default(now()) @map("created_at")
  updatedAt       DateTime @updatedAt @map("updated_at")
  product         Product  @relation(fields: [productId], references: [id], onDelete: Cascade)
  language        Language @relation(fields: [languageCode], references: [code], onDelete: Cascade)

  @@unique([productId, languageCode])
  @@map("product_translations")
}

Client Usage

// backend/src/db/prisma.ts
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient({
  log: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' ? ['query', 'warn', 'error'] : ['error'],
});

export { prisma };

Key Concepts

| Concept | Usage | Example | |---------|-------|---------| | @map | Map field to snake_case column | @map("created_at") | | @@map | Map model to table name | @@map("products") | | Relations | Define FK relationships | product Product @relation(...) | | @db.Decimal | Specify PostgreSQL types | @db.Decimal(10, 2) | | @@unique | Composite unique constraints | @@unique([productId, languageCode]) | | Transactions | Atomic operations | prisma.$transaction([...]) |

Common Patterns

Fetching with Translation Fallback

When: Getting localized content with English fallback

const product = await prisma.product.findUnique({
  where: { id: productId },
  include: {
    translations: {
      where: { languageCode: lang },
    },
  },
});

// Apply translation or fallback to base
const name = product.translations[0]?.name ?? product.name;

Transactions for Orders

When: Creating orders with inventory updates

await prisma.$transaction(async (tx) => {
  const order = await tx.order.create({ data: orderData });
  
  for (const item of items) {
    await tx.orderItem.create({
      data: { orderId: order.id, ...item },
    });
    await tx.product.update({
      where: { id: item.productId },
      data: { inventory: { decrement: item.quantity } },
    });
  }
  
  return order;
});

See Also

  • patterns - Query patterns and model design
  • workflows - Migrations and schema management

Related Skills

  • See the postgresql skill for raw SQL patterns and PostgreSQL-specific features
  • See the typescript skill for type inference patterns with Prisma
  • See the zod skill for runtime validation of Prisma inputs
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