apps/docs/content/docs/orm/prisma-client/deployment/edge/deploy-to-vercel.mdx
This page covers everything you need to know to deploy an app that uses Prisma Client for talking to a database in Vercel Edge Middleware or a Vercel Function deployed to the Vercel Edge Runtime.
<details> <summary>Questions answered in this page</summary>Vercel supports both Node.js and edge runtimes for Vercel Functions. The Node.js runtime is the default and recommended for most use cases.
:::note
By default, Vercel Functions use the Node.js runtime. You can explicitly set the runtime if needed:
export const runtime = "edge"; // 'nodejs' is the default
export function GET(request: Request) {
return new Response(`I am a Vercel Function!`, {
status: 200,
});
}
:::
You can use Prisma Postgres in Vercel's edge runtime. Follow this guide for an end-to-end tutorial on deploying an application to Vercel using Prisma Postgres.
Vercel's Edge Runtime currently only supports a limited set of database drivers:
@libsql/client is used to access Turso databasesNote that node-postgres (pg) is currently not supported on Vercel Edge Functions.
When deploying a Vercel Edge Function that uses Prisma ORM, you need to use one of these edge-compatible drivers and its respective driver adapter for Prisma ORM.
:::note
If your application uses PostgreSQL, we recommend using Prisma Postgres. It is fully supported on edge runtimes and does not require a specialized edge-compatible driver. For other databases, Prisma Accelerate extends edge compatibility so you can connect to any database from any edge function provider.
:::
First, ensure that your datasource block in your Prisma schema is configured correctly. Database connection URLs are configured in prisma.config.ts:
datasource db {
provider = "postgresql" // this might also be `mysql` or another value depending on your database
}
import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
datasource: {
url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
},
});
When in development, you can configure your database connection via the DATABASE_URL environment variable (e.g. using .env files).
When deploying your Edge Function to production, you'll need to set the database connection using the vercel CLI:
npx vercel env add DATABASE_URL
This command is interactive and will ask you to select environments and provide the value for the DATABASE_URL in subsequent steps.
Alternatively, you can configure the environment variable via the UI of your project in the Vercel Dashboard.
postinstall hookIn your package.json, you should add a "postinstall" section as follows:
{
// ...,
"postinstall": "prisma generate"
}
Vercel has a size limit of 1 MB on free accounts. If your application bundle with Prisma ORM exceeds that size, we recommend upgrading to a paid account or using Prisma Accelerate to deploy your application.
This section provides database-specific instructions for deploying a Vercel Edge Functions with Prisma ORM.
As a prerequisite for the following section, you need to have a Vercel Edge Function (which typically comes in the form of a Next.js API route) running locally and the Prisma and Vercel CLIs installed.
If you don't have that yet, you can run these commands to set up a Next.js app from scratch (following the instructions of the Vercel Functions Quickstart):
npm install -g vercel
npx create-next-app@latest
npm install prisma --save-dev && npm install @prisma/client
npx prisma init --output ../app/generated/prisma
We'll use the default User model for the example below:
model User {
id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
email String @unique
name String?
}
If you are using Vercel Postgres, you need to:
use the @prisma/adapter-neon database adapter because Vercel Postgres uses Neon under the hood
be aware that Vercel by default calls the pooled connection string POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL while the direct, non-pooled connection string is exposed as POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING. Configure prisma.config.ts so that the Prisma CLI uses the direct connection string:
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
datasource: {
url: env("POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING"), // direct connection for Prisma CLI
},
});
:::note
If you don't have a project to deploy, follow the instructions in the Prerequisites to bootstrap a basic Next.js app with Prisma ORM in it.
:::
First, ensure that the database connection is configured properly. Database connection URLs are configured in prisma.config.ts:
generator client {
provider = "prisma-client"
output = "./generated"
}
datasource db {
provider = "postgresql"
}
import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
datasource: {
url: env("POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING"), // direct connection for Prisma CLI
},
});
Next, you need to set the POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL and POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING environment variable to the values of your database connection.
If you ran npx prisma init, you can use the .env file that was created by this command to set these:
POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL="postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/name?pgbouncer=true&connect_timeout=15"
POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING="postgres://user:[email protected]:5432/name"
Next, install the required packages:
npm install @prisma/adapter-neon
postinstall hookNext, add a new key to the scripts section in your package.json:
{
// ...
"scripts": {
// ...
"postinstall": "prisma generate" // [!code ++]
}
}
If you ran npx prisma init above, you need to migrate your database schema to create the User table that's defined in your Prisma schema (if you already have all the tables you need in your database, you can skip this step):
npx prisma migrate dev --name init
If you created the project from scratch, you can create a new edge function as follows.
First, create a new API route, e.g. by using these commands:
mkdir src/app/api
mkdir src/app/api/edge
touch src/app/api/edge/route.ts
Here is a sample code snippet that you can use to instantiate PrismaClient and send a query to your database in the new app/api/edge/route.ts file you just created:
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
import { PrismaClient } from "./generated/client";
import { PrismaNeon } from "@prisma/adapter-neon";
export const runtime = "nodejs"; // can also be set to 'edge'
export async function GET(request: Request) {
const adapter = new PrismaNeon({ connectionString: process.env.POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL });
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });
const users = await prisma.user.findMany();
return NextResponse.json(users, { status: 200 });
}
Run the app with the following command:
npm run dev
You can now access the Edge Function via this URL: http://localhost:3000/api/edge.
POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL environment variable and deploy the Edge FunctionRun the following command to deploy your project with Vercel:
npx vercel deploy
Note that once the project was created on Vercel, you will need to set the POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL environment variable (and if this was your first deploy, it likely failed). You can do this either via the Vercel UI or by running the following command:
npx vercel env add POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL
At this point, you can get the URL of the deployed application from the Vercel Dashboard and access the edge function via the /api/edge route.
If you are using a PlanetScale database, you need to:
@prisma/adapter-planetscale database adapter (learn more here):::note
If you don't have a project to deploy, follow the instructions in the Prerequisites to bootstrap a basic Next.js app with Prisma ORM in it.
:::
First, ensure that the database connection is configured properly. Database connection URLs are configured in prisma.config.ts:
generator client {
provider = "prisma-client"
output = "./generated"
}
datasource db {
provider = "mysql"
relationMode = "prisma" // required for PlanetScale (as by default foreign keys are disabled)
}
import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
datasource: {
url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
},
});
Next, you need to set the DATABASE_URL environment variable in your .env file that's used both by Prisma and Next.js to read your env vars:
DATABASE_URL="mysql://32qxa2r7hfl3102wrccj:[email protected]/demo-cf-worker-ps?sslaccept=strict"
Next, install the required packages:
npm install @prisma/adapter-planetscale
postinstall hookNext, add a new key to the scripts section in your package.json:
{
// ...
"scripts": {
// ...
"postinstall": "prisma generate" // [!code ++]
}
}
If you ran npx prisma init above, you need to migrate your database schema to create the User table that's defined in your Prisma schema (if you already have all the tables you need in your database, you can skip this step):
npx prisma db push
If you created the project from scratch, you can create a new edge function as follows.
First, create a new API route, e.g. by using these commands:
mkdir src/app/api
mkdir src/app/api/edge
touch src/app/api/edge/route.ts
Here is a sample code snippet that you can use to instantiate PrismaClient and send a query to your database in the new app/api/edge/route.ts file you just created:
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
import { PrismaClient } from "./generated/client";
import { PrismaPlanetScale } from "@prisma/adapter-planetscale";
export const runtime = "nodejs"; // can also be set to 'edge'
export async function GET(request: Request) {
const adapter = new PrismaPlanetScale({ url: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });
const users = await prisma.user.findMany();
return NextResponse.json(users, { status: 200 });
}
Run the app with the following command:
npm run dev
You can now access the Edge Function via this URL: http://localhost:3000/api/edge.
DATABASE_URL environment variable and deploy the Edge FunctionRun the following command to deploy your project with Vercel:
npx vercel deploy
Note that once the project was created on Vercel, you will need to set the DATABASE_URL environment variable (and if this was your first deploy, it likely failed). You can do this either via the Vercel UI or by running the following command:
npx vercel env add DATABASE_URL
At this point, you can get the URL of the deployed application from the Vercel Dashboard and access the edge function via the /api/edge route.
If you are using a Neon database, you need to:
@prisma/adapter-neon database adapter (learn more here):::note
If you don't have a project to deploy, follow the instructions in the Prerequisites to bootstrap a basic Next.js app with Prisma ORM in it.
:::
First, ensure that the database connection is configured properly. Database connection URLs are configured in prisma.config.ts:
generator client {
provider = "prisma-client"
output = "./generated"
}
datasource db {
provider = "postgresql"
}
import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
datasource: {
url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
},
});
Next, you need to set the DATABASE_URL environment variable in your .env file that's used both by Prisma and Next.js to read your env vars:
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://janedoe:[email protected]/neondb?sslmode=require"
Next, install the required packages:
npm install @prisma/adapter-neon
postinstall hookNext, add a new key to the scripts section in your package.json:
{
// ...
"scripts": {
// ...
"postinstall": "prisma generate" // [!code ++]
}
}
If you ran npx prisma init above, you need to migrate your database schema to create the User table that's defined in your Prisma schema (if you already have all the tables you need in your database, you can skip this step):
npx prisma migrate dev --name init
If you created the project from scratch, you can create a new edge function as follows.
First, create a new API route, e.g. by using these commands:
mkdir src/app/api
mkdir src/app/api/edge
touch src/app/api/edge/route.ts
Here is a sample code snippet that you can use to instantiate PrismaClient and send a query to your database in the new app/api/edge/route.ts file you just created:
import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
import { PrismaClient } from "./generated/client";
import { PrismaNeon } from "@prisma/adapter-neon";
export const runtime = "nodejs"; // can also be set to 'edge'
export async function GET(request: Request) {
const adapter = new PrismaNeon({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });
const users = await prisma.user.findMany();
return NextResponse.json(users, { status: 200 });
}
Run the app with the following command:
npm run dev
You can now access the Edge Function via this URL: http://localhost:3000/api/edge.
DATABASE_URL environment variable and deploy the Edge FunctionRun the following command to deploy your project with Vercel:
npx vercel deploy
Note that once the project was created on Vercel, you will need to set the DATABASE_URL environment variable (and if this was your first deploy, it likely failed). You can do this either via the Vercel UI or by running the following command:
npx vercel env add DATABASE_URL
At this point, you can get the URL of the deployed application from the Vercel Dashboard and access the edge function via the /api/edge route.
Fluid compute is a compute model from Vercel that combines the flexibility of serverless with the stability of servers, making it ideal for dynamic workloads such as streaming data and AI APIs. Vercel's Fluid compute supports both edge and Node.js runtimes. A common challenge in traditional serverless platforms is leaked database connections when functions are suspended and pools can't close idle connections. Fluid provides attachDatabasePool to ensure idle connections are released before a function is suspended.
Use attachDatabasePool together with Prisma's driver adapters to safely manage connections in Fluid:
import { Pool } from "pg";
import { attachDatabasePool } from "@vercel/functions";
import { PrismaPg } from "@prisma/adapter-pg";
import { PrismaClient } from "./generated/client";
const pool = new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.POSTGRES_URL });
attachDatabasePool(pool);
const prisma = new PrismaClient({
adapter: new PrismaPg(pool),
});