ESM Support

Prisma ORM v7 ships as an ES module only. Your project must be configured for ESM.

Required Changes

package.json

Add the type field:

{
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "start": "node dist/index.js"
  }
}

tsconfig.json

Configure for ESM:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "target": "ES2023",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "outDir": "dist"
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*", "prisma/**/*"]
}

Alternative: Node16/NodeNext

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "Node16",
    "moduleResolution": "Node16",
    "target": "ES2022"
  }
}

Import Syntax Changes

Named imports

// ESM (v7)
import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/client'

// Not: require()

File extensions

With moduleResolution: "Node16", add .js extensions:

import { helper } from './utils/helper.js'

With moduleResolution: "bundler", extensions are optional.

Minimum Versions

Requirement	Minimum Version
Node.js	20.19.0
TypeScript	5.4.0

CommonJS Compatibility

If you must use CommonJS:

Dynamic import

// CommonJS file
async function main() {
  const { PrismaClient } = await import('../generated/client.js')
  const prisma = new PrismaClient()
}

Separate ESM file

Create an ESM wrapper:

// prisma.mjs
import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/client'
export const prisma = new PrismaClient()

Framework Considerations

Next.js

Next.js supports ESM. Ensure next.config.js → next.config.mjs:

// next.config.mjs
export default {
  // config
}

Express

Update entry point:

// index.js (with "type": "module")
import express from 'express'
import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/client'

const app = express()
const prisma = new PrismaClient()

Jest

Configure Jest for ESM:

{
  "jest": {
    "preset": "ts-jest/presets/default-esm",
    "extensionsToTreatAsEsm": [".ts"],
    "transform": {
      "^.+\\.tsx?$": ["ts-jest", { "useESM": true }]
    }
  }
}

Or use Vitest which has native ESM support.

Troubleshooting

"ERR_REQUIRE_ESM"

Your code is using require() on an ESM module. Switch to import.

"Cannot use import statement outside a module"

Add "type": "module" to package.json.

TypeScript compilation errors

Ensure module and moduleResolution are set correctly in tsconfig.json.