diff

The prisma migrate diff command compares two database schema sources and outputs a description of the migration needed to transform the first into the second.

:::info

This command is only partially supported for MongoDB. See options below for details.

:::

Usage

bash

prisma migrate diff --from-... <source1> --to-... <source2>

The output can be a human-readable summary (default) or an executable script.

:::warning

The migrate diff command can only compare database features supported by Prisma. Differences in unsupported features (views, triggers, etc.) won't be shown.

:::

Prerequisites

If using --from-config-datasource or --to-config-datasource, configure your database connection in prisma.config.ts:

prisma

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

datasource db {
  provider = "sqlite"
}

typescript

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

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

Source types

Both sources must use the same database provider.

From options (one required)

Option	Description	Notes
`--from-empty`	Assume the source is an empty data model
`--from-schema`	Path to a Prisma schema file
`--from-migrations`	Path to Prisma migrations directory	Not supported in MongoDB
`--from-config-datasource`	Use datasource from Prisma config file	Prisma v7+

To options (one required)

Option	Description	Notes
`--to-empty`	Assume the destination is an empty data model
`--to-schema`	Path to a Prisma schema file
`--to-migrations`	Path to Prisma migrations directory	Not supported in MongoDB
`--to-config-datasource`	Use datasource from Prisma config file	Prisma v7+

Other options

Option	Description	Notes
`--config`	Custom path to your Prisma config file
`--script`	Output a SQL script instead of human-readable summary	Not supported in MongoDB
`-o`, `--output`	Write to a file instead of stdout	Available since 5.12.1
`--exit-code`	Change exit code behavior: Empty=0, Error=1, Not empty=2	Default: Success=0, Error=1
`--help`	Display help message

:::info

Prisma v7 breaking change: The --from-url, --to-url, --from-schema-datasource, --to-schema-datasource, and --shadow-database-url options have been removed. Use --from-config-datasource and --to-config-datasource instead.

:::

Examples

Compare database to schema

Roll forward after a migration failed:

npm

npx prisma migrate diff \
  --from-config-datasource \
  --to-schema=next_datamodel.prisma \
  --script

Compare schema to database

npm

npx prisma migrate diff \
  --from-schema=schema.prisma \
  --to-config-datasource \
  --script

Compare migrations to database

Generate a migration for a hotfix already applied on production:

npm

npx prisma migrate diff \
  --from-migrations ./migrations \
  --to-config-datasource \
  --script

Pipe output to db execute

npm

npx prisma migrate diff \
  --from-config-datasource \
  --to-schema=schema.prisma \
  --script | prisma db execute --stdin

Check if sources are in sync

Exits with code 2 if changes are detected:

npm

npx prisma migrate diff \
  --exit-code \
  --from-config-datasource \
  --to-schema=schema.prisma