Migrating from Prisma to ZenStack V3

ZenStack V3 is designed as a drop-in upgrade path for Prisma: it keeps a Prisma-compatible query API and a schema language (ZModel) that is a superset of the Prisma schema. Most apps migrate with mechanical changes and no query rewrites. Supported databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite.

For general setup/CLI details see zenstack-project-setup; for the client/dialect see zenstack-querying; for schema syntax see zenstack-schema-modeling.

At a glance

Step 1 — Swap dependencies

npm uninstall prisma @prisma/client
npm install @zenstackhq/schema @zenstackhq/orm
npm install --save-dev @zenstackhq/cli

ZenStack does not bundle a database engine — install the driver for your database:

@zenstackhq/cli has a peer dependency on prisma, which is installed automatically when needed for migration commands (ZenStack's migrate commands wrap Prisma Migrate).

Step 2 — Move and rename the schema

Move schema.prisma → zenstack/schema.zmodel. No edits are required — every valid Prisma schema is valid ZModel. Optional cleanup:

• Drop the generator client { ... } block (no effect in ZenStack — code gen is driven by

zen generate).

• The datasource block is kept; its url is used by the migration engine (the ORM runtime gets

its connection from the driver/dialect instead).

• If you used Prisma's multi-file/multi-schema feature, merge files using ZModel import

statements.

Run `zen check` to confirm the converted schema is valid (syntax + semantics) before moving on.

Once moved, you can start adding ZenStack-only features that Prisma lacks — access policies (zenstack-access-control), @@delegate polymorphism, typed JSON, mixins, computed fields (zenstack-schema-modeling).

Step 3 — Update the generate script

{ "scripts": { "generate": "zen generate" } }

Run zen generate after every schema change, before using the client.

Step 4 — Replace the client

Swap new PrismaClient() for new ZenStackClient(schema, { dialect }), supplying a Kysely dialect for your driver (see zenstack-querying for all dialects). PostgreSQL example:

import { ZenStackClient } from '@zenstackhq/orm';
import { PostgresDialect } from '@zenstackhq/orm/dialects/postgres';
import { schema } from './zenstack/schema';
import { Pool } from 'pg';

export const db = new ZenStackClient(schema, {
    dialect: new PostgresDialect({
        pool: new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL }),
    }),
});

Your existing findMany/create/update/etc. calls keep working — the ORM API is Prisma-compatible.

Step 5 — Update type references

• Model types (e.g. User) — import from the generated models.
• Input/argument types (e.g. UserCreateArgs) — import from the generated input.

Most code relies on inferred types and needs no explicit imports.

Step 6 — Update migration scripts

{
  "scripts": {
    "db:push": "zen db push",
    "migrate:dev": "zen migrate dev",
    "migrate:deploy": "zen migrate deploy"
  }
}

Move your existing migration history from prisma/migrations to zenstack/migrations (ZenStack's default location, next to zenstack/schema.zmodel). It continues to work unchanged since ZenStack migrate wraps Prisma Migrate. See the zenstack-db-migration skill for the full migration workflow.

Special case — Prisma custom generators

If you depend on Prisma custom generators (e.g. zod, ERD, type generators) that read a schema.prisma, keep emitting one with the @core/prisma plugin and chain the commands:

plugin prisma {
    provider = '@core/prisma'
    output = './schema.prisma'
}

{ "scripts": { "generate": "zen generate && prisma generate --schema=zenstack/schema.prisma" } }

Mapping Prisma Client extensions

After migrating

Verify with: zen generate → typecheck → run your test suite / app. Then incrementally adopt ZenStack's value-add features (access control, query builder escape hatch, auto CRUD APIs via zenstack-crud-server).

Already on ZenStack V2? Start here (V2 was Prisma-based), then apply the V2→V3 deltas in zenstack-project-setup (package renames, policy plugin, post-update/before(), types+mixins, grouped hooks).

Reference docs

Full ZenStack documentation for this topic is bundled under references/:

• migrate-prisma.md — official "Migrating from Prisma" guide