Environment Variables

Prisma v7 no longer automatically loads environment variables. You must load them explicitly.

The Change

v6 Behavior

Prisma CLI automatically loaded .env files.

v7 Behavior

You must manually load environment variables using dotenv or similar.

Setup

1. Install dotenv

npm install dotenv

2. Import in prisma.config.ts

import 'dotenv/config'  // Must be first import
import { defineConfig, env } from 'prisma/config'

export default defineConfig({
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})

Bun Users

Bun automatically loads .env files. No additional setup needed:

// prisma.config.ts (Bun)
import { defineConfig, env } from 'prisma/config'

export default defineConfig({
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})

Multiple .env Files

Using dotenv-cli

npm install -D dotenv-cli

{
  "scripts": {
    "db:migrate": "dotenv -e .env.local -- prisma migrate dev",
    "db:push": "dotenv -e .env.development -- prisma db push"
  }
}

Using dotenv with path

// prisma.config.ts
import { config } from 'dotenv'
import path from 'path'

// Load specific .env file
config({ path: path.join(__dirname, '.env.local') })

import { defineConfig, env } from 'prisma/config'

export default defineConfig({
  datasource: {
    url: env('DATABASE_URL'),
  },
})

Application Code

For your application, load env vars at startup:

Entry point

// index.ts
import 'dotenv/config'

import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/client'
import { PrismaPg } from '@prisma/adapter-pg'

const adapter = new PrismaPg({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL!
})

const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter })

Or use dotenv explicitly

import { config } from 'dotenv'
config()

// Now process.env.DATABASE_URL is available

Removed Environment Variables

These Prisma-specific env vars are removed in v7:

Removed Variable	Alternative
PRISMA_CLI_QUERY_ENGINE_TYPE	Not needed (no engines)
PRISMA_CLIENT_ENGINE_TYPE	Not needed (no engines)
PRISMA_QUERY_ENGINE_BINARY	Not needed
PRISMA_QUERY_ENGINE_LIBRARY	Not needed
PRISMA_GENERATE_SKIP_AUTOINSTALL	Not needed
PRISMA_SKIP_POSTINSTALL_GENERATE	Not needed
PRISMA_GENERATE_IN_POSTINSTALL	Not needed
PRISMA_GENERATE_DATAPROXY	Use --no-engine flag
PRISMA_GENERATE_NO_ENGINE	Use --no-engine flag
PRISMA_CLIENT_NO_RETRY	Configure on adapter
PRISMA_MIGRATE_SKIP_GENERATE	Not needed (auto-generate removed)
PRISMA_MIGRATE_SKIP_SEED	Not needed (auto-seed removed)

TypeScript env() Helper

The env() function from prisma/config provides type safety:

import { env } from 'prisma/config'

// Type-safe environment variable access
const url = env('DATABASE_URL')  // string

Note: This only works within prisma.config.ts, not in your application code.

CI/CD Considerations

Ensure environment variables are set in your CI environment:

# GitHub Actions
env:
  DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}

steps:
  - run: npx prisma migrate deploy

No need for dotenv in CI if variables are set directly.