SQLite

SQLite is a lightweight, file-based database that's perfect for development, prototyping, and small applications. It requires no setup and stores data in a local file.

In this guide, you will learn how to set up a new TypeScript project from scratch, connect it to SQLite using Prisma ORM, and generate a Prisma Client for easy, type-safe access to your database.

Prerequisites

1. Create a new project

2. Install required dependencies

Install the packages needed for this quickstart:

npm install prisma @types/node @types/better-sqlite3 -D

npm install @prisma/client @prisma/adapter-better-sqlite3 dotenv

Here's what each package does:

• prisma - The Prisma CLI for running commands like prisma init, prisma migrate, and prisma generate
• @prisma/client - The Prisma Client library for querying your database
• @prisma/adapter-better-sqlite3 - The SQLite driver adapter that connects Prisma Client to your database
• @types/better-sqlite3 - TypeScript type definitions for better-sqlite3
• dotenv - Loads environment variables from your .env file

3. Configure ESM support

Update tsconfig.json for ESM compatibility:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "target": "ES2023",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "ignoreDeprecations": "6.0"
  }
}

Update package.json to enable ESM:

{
  "type": "module"
}

4. Initialize Prisma ORM

You can now invoke the Prisma CLI by prefixing it with npx:

npx prisma

Next, set up your Prisma ORM project by creating your Prisma Schema file with the following command:

npx prisma init --datasource-provider sqlite --output ../generated/prisma

This command does a few things:

• Creates a prisma/ directory with a schema.prisma file containing your database connection and schema models
• Creates a .env file in the root directory for environment variables
• Creates a prisma.config.ts file for Prisma configuration

The generated prisma.config.ts file looks like this:

import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
  migrations: {
    path: "prisma/migrations",
  },
  datasource: {
    url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
  },
});

The generated schema uses the ESM-first prisma-client generator with a custom output path:

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client"
  output   = "../generated/prisma"
}

datasource db {
  provider = "sqlite"
}

A .env file should be created with the following value:

DATABASE_URL="file:./dev.db"

5. Define your data model

Open prisma/schema.prisma and add the following models:

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client"
  output   = "../generated/prisma"
}

datasource db {
  provider = "sqlite"
}

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

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

6. Create and apply your first migration

Create your first migration to set up the database tables:

npx prisma migrate dev --name init

This command creates the database tables based on your schema.

Now run the following command to generate the Prisma Client:

npx prisma generate

7. Instantiate Prisma Client

Now that you have all the dependencies installed, you can instantiate Prisma Client. You need to pass an instance of Prisma ORM's driver adapter to the PrismaClient constructor:

import "dotenv/config";
import { PrismaBetterSqlite3 } from "@prisma/adapter-better-sqlite3";
import { PrismaClient } from "../generated/prisma/client";

const connectionString = `${process.env.DATABASE_URL}`;

const adapter = new PrismaBetterSqlite3({ url: connectionString });
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });

export { prisma };

import "dotenv/config";
import { PrismaLibSql } from "@prisma/adapter-libsql";
import { PrismaClient } from "../generated/prisma/client";

const adapter = new PrismaLibSql({
  url: process.env.DATABASE_URL ?? "",
});

const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });

export { prisma };

8. Write your first query

Create a script.ts file to test your setup:

import { prisma } from "./lib/prisma";

async function main() {
  // Create a new user with a post
  const user = await prisma.user.create({
    data: {
      name: "Alice",
      email: "alice@prisma.io",
      posts: {
        create: {
          title: "Hello World",
          content: "This is my first post!",
          published: true,
        },
      },
    },
    include: {
      posts: true,
    },
  });
  console.log("Created user:", user);

  // Fetch all users with their posts
  const allUsers = await prisma.user.findMany({
    include: {
      posts: true,
    },
  });
  console.log("All users:", JSON.stringify(allUsers, null, 2));
}

main()
  .then(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect();
  })
  .catch(async (e) => {
    console.error(e);
    await prisma.$disconnect();
    process.exit(1);
  });

Run the script:

npx tsx script.ts

You should see the created user and all users printed to the console!

9. Explore your data with Prisma Studio

npx -p better-sqlite3 -p prisma prisma studio --url file:./dev.db

Next steps

More info

• SQLite database connector
• Prisma Config reference
• Database connection management