To start a Prisma project, follow these steps:

1. Initialize a Node.js Project

mkdir prisma-project && cd prisma-project
npm init -y

2. Install Prisma and Other Dependencies

npm install @prisma/client
npm install -D prisma typescript ts-node @types/node

3. Initialize Prisma

npx prisma init

This command will create a prisma/ directory with:

• schema.prisma – Your main Prisma schema file
• .env – Environment variables (e.g., database connection string)

4. Configure the Database

Update the .env file with your database URL, for example, for PostgreSQL:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://username:password@localhost:5432/mydb?schema=public"

5. Define Your Database Schema

Edit the schema.prisma file to define your data models:

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

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

model User {
  id    Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  name  String
  email String  @unique
  posts Post[]
}

model Post {
  id        Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  title     String
  content   String
  authorId  Int
  author    User    @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
}

6. Run the Database Migrations

npx prisma migrate dev --name init

This will generate the migration files you see in the prisma/migrations/ folder.

7. Generate Prisma Client

npx prisma generate

8. Create a Simple Script to Test the Connection

Create index.ts to test your connection:

import { PrismaClient } from "@prisma/client";

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

async function main() {
  const user = await prisma.user.create({
    data: {
      name: "John Doe",
      email: "john@example.com",
    },
  });
  console.log(user);
}

main()
  .catch((e) => console.error(e))
  .finally(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect();
  });

9. Run the Script

Make sure you have TypeScript configured (your tsconfig.json is already there). Then, run:

npx ts-node index.ts

10. Use Prisma Studio (Optional)

To visually manage your database, you can use:

npx prisma studio

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