Prisma, an open source object-relational mapping (ORM) toolset for Node.js and TypeScript, is now available as a production release. Intended to address the bottleneck of working with relational databases, Prisma supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, and SQL Server (in preview), with a connector for MongoDB in the works.
Unveiling the platform on April 21 after two years of development, Prisma, the company behind the technology, described working with databases as one of the most challenging areas of application development. Data modeling, schema migrations, and writing database queries are common tasks for developers. The company contends that the Node.js ecosystem does not provide tools to deal with these tasks; Prism is intended to help fill this niche.
Prism said developers should care about data rather than SQL. The Prisma ORM provides a type-safe API for submitting database queries, returning plain old JavaScript objects. Three tools are featured, which can be used together or individually in any Node.js or TypeScript project:
- Prisma Client, an auto-generated, type-safe query builder for Node.js and TypeScript.
- Prisma Migrate, an imperative database schema migration tool to keep a database schema in sync with a Prism schema and maintain existing data in a database.
- Prisma Studio, a GUI to view and edit data in a database.
Every project that uses Prisma starts with a Prisma schema file, with the schema allowing developers to define application models in an intuitive data modeling language. The schema enables configuration of the data source, generator, and data model. These models map to a table in the underlying database. Instructions setting up Prisma can be found at www.prisma.io.