prisma validate

Validate your Prisma schema for errors and warnings

prisma validate

Validate your Prisma schema for syntax errors, configuration issues, and potential problems.

Usage

prisma validate [options]

Options

--help · boolean

Display help message.

Alias: -h

prisma validate --help

--config · string

Custom path to your Prisma config file.

prisma validate --config=./custom/prisma.config.ts

--schema · string

Custom path to your Prisma schema.

prisma validate --schema=./prisma/schema.prisma

Examples

Basic validation

prisma validate

Output (valid schema):

Prisma schema loaded from prisma/schema.prisma
The schema at prisma/schema.prisma is valid 🚀

Output (invalid schema):

Prisma schema loaded from prisma/schema.prisma
Error: 
  --> schema.prisma:10
   | 
 9 |   id    Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
10 |   email String @unique
   | 
Error parsing attribute "@unique": The model `User` cannot use `@unique` on the `email` field because it doesn't have a unique constraint.

Validate custom schema

prisma validate --schema=./database/schema.prisma

Validate with custom config

prisma validate --config=./prisma.config.ts

What Gets Validated

The validate command checks:

1. Syntax Errors

• Proper Prisma schema syntax
• Correct use of keywords and attributes
• Valid field types and modifiers

// Invalid: Missing @id
model User {
  name String
}

2. Schema Structure

• Required datasource and generator blocks
• Valid model definitions
• Proper relation syntax

// Invalid: Missing datasource
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}

model User {
  id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
}

3. Relations

• Valid relation fields
• Correct referential actions
• Proper foreign key definitions

// Invalid: Missing relation fields
model User {
  id    Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
  posts Post[] // Missing back-relation
}

model Post {
  id Int @id @default(autoincrement())
}

4. Native Database Types

• Valid native type mappings for the provider
• Supported database-specific features

// Invalid: json type not supported on MySQL < 5.7
model User {
  id       Int  @id @default(autoincrement())
  metadata Json
}

5. Attributes and Directives

• Correct attribute syntax
• Valid attribute arguments
• Compatible attribute combinations

// Invalid: @default with @unique on relation field
model User {
  id      Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
  profile Profile @default @unique // Can't use @default on relations
}

6. Configuration

• Valid datasource URL
• Supported provider
• Valid generator configuration

Linting Warnings

In addition to errors, validation also shows linting warnings:

prisma validate

Output with warnings:

Prisma schema loaded from prisma/schema.prisma

warn Prisma schema warning:
  - The model `User` has a field `createdAt` that is not used in any relation. Consider adding @updatedAt to automatically set the value.

The schema at prisma/schema.prisma is valid 🚀

Warnings don’t prevent the schema from being valid but highlight potential improvements.

Exit Codes

• 0 - Schema is valid
• 1 - Schema has errors

Integration with Development Workflow

Pre-commit Hook

Add validation to your pre-commit hooks:

// package.json
{
  "scripts": {
    "precommit": "prisma validate"
  }
}

CI/CD Pipeline

# .github/workflows/validate.yml
name: Validate Schema

on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  validate:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
      - run: npm install
      - run: npx prisma validate

IDE Integration

The Prisma VS Code extension validates your schema in real-time as you type.

Common Validation Errors

Missing @id

Error: Each model must have at least one unique criteria that can be used to uniquely identify a record.
Consider adding an `@id` or `@@id` attribute to the model.

Fix: Add an @id field:

model User {
  id   Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
  name String
}

Invalid Relation

Error: The relation field `user` on model `Post` is missing an opposite relation field on the model `User`.

Fix: Add the back-relation:

model User {
  id    Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
  posts Post[]
}

model Post {
  id     Int  @id @default(autoincrement())
  userId Int
  user   User @relation(fields: [userId], references: [id])
}

Unsupported Type

Error: Native type `Json` is not supported for postgresql connector.

Fix: Use the correct native type for your database:

model User {
  id       Int  @id @default(autoincrement())
  metadata Json @db.JsonB // Use JsonB for PostgreSQL
}

Multi-File Schema Validation

When using multi-file schemas, validate checks all schema files:

prisma validate

Output:

Prisma schemas loaded from prisma/base.prisma, prisma/user.prisma, prisma/post.prisma
The schemas at prisma/base.prisma are valid 🚀

Related Commands

• prisma format - Format your schema
• prisma generate - Generate Prisma Client (also validates)
• prisma migrate dev - Create migrations (also validates)