next-forge
Comprehensive guide to upgrading to Prisma 7: ESM-first module system, improved TypeScript type generation, new prisma.config.ts format, and step-by-step migration from Prisma 5 and Prisma 6.
Prisma 7 is a major version upgrade bringing ESM-first module system, improved type generation, a new configuration file format (prisma.config.ts), and other significant changes.
One of the most important changes is that Prisma 7 defaults to ESM and no longer automatically supports CommonJS. If your project still uses CJS, you need to explicitly configure it in prisma.config.ts or gradually migrate to ESM.
The new prisma.config.ts configuration file replaces some of the configuration previously in schema.prisma. Database URLs, generation paths, and more can now be managed in TypeScript configuration with type-safe access to environment variables.
For type generation, Prisma 7 improves type inference for complex relational queries. Return types for select and include are more precise, reducing the need for manual type assertions.
Upgrade recommendation: first test migrations with prisma migrate dev in a development environment, confirm everything is correct, then execute prisma migrate deploy in production to avoid database state inconsistencies.