create-prisma

Create a Prisma 8 app with Prisma Composer built in.

Quick start

Use your package manager:

npx create-prisma@latest my-app
pnpm dlx create-prisma@latest my-app
yarn dlx create-prisma@latest my-app
bunx create-prisma@latest my-app

The CLI initializes Prisma 8 with prisma@latest, installs dependencies, emits the contract, and generates a deployable Composer app. PostgreSQL projects use Composer's native Prisma Postgres provider, including migrations and a typed runtime client.

PostgreSQL apps with Composer include @prisma/dev as a project devDependency for local Postgres. In a monorepo it belongs at the root, where Composer runs. Prisma 8 does not include this runtime itself. MongoDB and Deno-only apps do not need it.

For npm, use 11.6.0 or newer, which includes the upstream resolver fix. Older npm releases can crash resolving the dependency tree (Cannot read properties of null (reading 'edgesOut')). Run npm install --global npm@11 to update. create-prisma checks the selected npm version before writing project files and never upgrades your package manager automatically.

The deployment prompt is:

Deploy to Prisma now?

Choose no to deploy later with the generated deploy script.

New apps explicitly use us-east-1 in prisma-composer.config.ts. Change the prismaCloud({ region }) option before deploying if you need another region. Composer requires a region when creating a new project; leaving it unspecified only works when deploying into an existing project whose region can be inherited.

When multiple Prisma workspace sessions are available, the CLI asks which workspace should receive the deployment. For unattended usage, pass --workspace <id-or-name> or omit it to use the active workspace. Choosing another workspace also updates the Prisma CLI's active workspace session.

Templates

• minimal
• hono
• elysia
• nest
• next
• turborepo (Hello World Node.js server in apps/server, shared Prisma package in packages/database)
• svelte (SvelteKit)
• astro
• nuxt
• tanstack-start

PostgreSQL and MongoDB are supported with PSL or TypeScript contract authoring. npm, pnpm, Yarn, and Bun are supported.

Deno is supported for local minimal PostgreSQL apps:

deno run -A --minimum-dependency-age=0 npm:create-prisma@latest my-deno-app --template minimal --provider postgres --package-manager deno --no-deploy

Deno 2.9 blocks packages published within the previous 24 hours by default. The explicit dependency-age flag ensures a newly published create-prisma release is selected instead of an older cached version. Prisma Compute does not support Deno deployments yet.

Options

• positional project name or --name
• --template
• --provider postgres|postgresql|mongo|mongodb
• --authoring psl|typescript
• --package-manager npm|pnpm|yarn|bun|deno
• --deploy / --no-deploy
• --workspace <id-or-name>
• --skills <agents>|none: agents to install skill files for, comma-separated from claude, cursor, agents, devin (default: all). --skills none writes no .claude/, .cursor/, .agents/, or .devin/ directories, no postinstall hook, and no skills:sync script, and records skills: { agents: [] } in prisma.config.ts. Interactive runs ask instead.
• --yes
• --force: overwrite generated starter and Prisma files in a non-empty directory. This replaces existing Prisma config, contract, and database-client files; back up edits first. A non-empty standard migrations path is protected: use a new directory for a fresh starter, or continue working in the existing project with the Prisma CLI. Custom migration paths are not detected.
• --verbose
• --json

JSON output for agents and automation

Use --json when another program is driving create-prisma:

bunx create-prisma@latest my-app --template next --package-manager bun --no-deploy --json

JSON mode is non-interactive and deploys by default; pass --no-deploy to generate locally only. It writes exactly one compact result object to stdout and suppresses all human UI and subprocess output. Successful results include the generated project, deployment metadata, next steps, and warnings. Errors use the same envelope with ok: false, an actionable message, and the stage that failed. --verbose is intentionally incompatible with --json so the machine-readable contract stays deterministic.

This branch intentionally targets Prisma 8 only. It does not generate a Prisma 7 compatibility path.

Development

bun install
bun run test:unit
bun run typecheck
bun run check
bun run build

Telemetry

Published builds may send anonymous usage telemetry. It never includes project names, file paths, or database URLs. Disable it with DO_NOT_TRACK, CREATE_PRISMA_DISABLE_TELEMETRY, or CREATE_PRISMA_TELEMETRY_DISABLED.