Generating Prisma Client

Prisma Client is an auto-generated database client that's tailored to your database schema. By default, Prisma Client is generated into the node_modules/.prisma/client folder, but you can specify a custom location.

To generate and instantiate Prisma Client:

Ensure that you have Prisma CLI installed on your machine.
Add the following generator definition to your Prisma schema:
```
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}
```
Install the @prisma/client npm package:
```
npm install @prisma/client
```
warning
We recommend that you keep both the prisma and @prisma/client packages in sync to avoid any unexpected errors or behaviors.
Generate Prisma Client with the following command:
```
prisma generate
```
You can now instantiate Prisma Client in your code:

TypeScript
JavaScript

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'
const prisma = new PrismaClient()
// use `prisma` in your application to read and write data in your DB

const { PrismaClient } = require('@prisma/client')
const prisma = new PrismaClient()
// use `prisma` in your application to read and write data in your DB

Important: You need to re-run the prisma generate command after every change that's made to your Prisma schema to update the generated Prisma Client code.

Here is a graphical illustration of the typical workflow for generation of Prisma Client:

Graphical illustration of the typical workflow for generation of Prisma Client

Note also that prisma generate is automatically invoked when you're installing the @prisma/client npm package. So, when you're initially setting up Prisma Client, you can typically save the third step from the list above.

The `@prisma/client` npm package

The @prisma/client npm package consists of two key parts:

The @prisma/client module itself, which only changes when you re-install the package
The .prisma/client folder, which is the default location for the unique Prisma Client generated from your schema

@prisma/client/index.d.ts exports .prisma/client:

export * from '.prisma/client'

This means that you still import @prisma/client in your own .ts files:

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'

Prisma Client is generated from your Prisma schema and is unique to your project. Each time you change the schema (for example, by performing a schema migration) and run prisma generate, Prisma Client's code changes:

The .prisma and @prisma folders

The .prisma folder is unaffected by pruning in Node.js package managers.

The location of Prisma Client

If you do not specify a custom output in the generator block, Prisma Client is generated into the ./node_modules/.prisma/client folder by default. There are some advantages to maintaining the default location.

Using a custom `output` path

You can also specify a custom output path on the generator configuration, for example (assuming your schema.prisma file is located at the default prisma subfolder):

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

After running prisma generate for that schema file, the Prisma Client package will be located in:

./src/generated/client

To import the PrismaClient from a custom location (for example, from a file named ./src/script.ts):

import { PrismaClient } from './generated/client'

Why is Prisma Client generated into `node_modules/.prisma/client` by default?

Importing Prisma Client

By generating Prisma Client into node_modules/.prisma/client and exporting it from @prisma/client, you can import it and instantiate Prisma Client in your code as follows:

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client'

const prisma = new PrismaClient()

// use `prisma` in your application to read and write data in your DB

const { PrismaClient } = require('@prisma/client')

const prisma = new PrismaClient()

// use `prisma` in your application to read and write data in your DB

Keeping the query engine out of version control by default

Prisma Client uses a query engine to run queries against the database. This query engine is downloaded when prisma generate is invoked and stored in the output path together with the generated Client.

By generating Prisma Client into node_modules, the query engine is usually kept out of version control by default since node_modules is typically ignored for version control. When using a custom output path for the generated Prisma Client, it is advised to exclude it from your version control. For Git, this means adding the output path to your .gitignore file.