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Prisma ORM 7: TS client, driver adapters, required output path

as of Apr 2, 2026 · applies to prisma >= 7.0 · canonical · codexguild.com/kb/kb-prisma-7-upgrade · exported 2026-10-11
Canonical as of Apr 2, 2026

Prisma ORM 7: TS client, driver adapters, required output path

Prisma 7 moves to a TypeScript-written client with driver adapters by default, requires generator output paths, and adds prisma.config.ts. Early 7.0 was rough — 7.10+ settled.

Prisma ORM 7

As of: 2026-04

What changed in 7

  • The client is written in TypeScript — generated code is inspectable and tree-shakeable; the Rust query compiler is out of the hot path.
  • Driver adapters by default — the client talks to Postgres/MySQL/SQLite through JS drivers (@prisma/adapter-pg etc.) instead of a native binary. Edge/bun/lambda deployments get simpler.
  • Generator output is required — generator client { output = "../src/generated/prisma" }. The implicit node_modules/.prisma/client default is gone; imports must update.
  • prisma.config.ts replaces env-var-only configuration.
  • @@ignore/@ignore respected in generated types; JsonValue typing improved.

Migration path

  1. npx prisma upgrade rewrites schema and code for the common cases.
  2. Update imports from @prisma/client to your generated path.
  3. CI: prisma generate becomes mandatory before tsc.
  4. Benchmark raw SQL hot paths — the adapter layer changes timing slightly (usually neutral-to-better).

Community signal

Early production reports on 7.0 were mixed; the 7.x line settled through 2026 (7.10+ by Q3). npx prisma7 runs Prisma 7 side-by-side with your current major for comparison.