prisma-examples: a gallery of runnable Prisma demos, with one root test script

A gallery of directories, with nothing to install

The repository holds example projects rather than a library, which is worth saying first because it decides how you use it. The root package.json is marked private, and the project has no releases, so there is no prisma-examples package to add to a dependency tree and no version to pin. What you get is a set of directories, each one a small application demonstrating a single use case, each with its own README carrying the instructions for that case. The top level says it plainly: pick an example and follow the instructions in the corresponding README. That is the whole contract, and it is a sensible one for a repository whose job is to be read, cloned and copied from.

The default branch is called latest, and that breaks some habits

The default branch here is latest, not main or master, and that choice shows up everywhere. The CI badge at the top of the README queries workflow test on branch latest, and every example link in the tables points at a tree/latest path. A clone therefore lands you on latest. If you write automation against this repository, or if you have a habit of asking for main, both break here. A second consequence of the same design is that links in this README are absolute paths under the latest branch, and the file carries an explicit request to keep them that way, because the same text is copied into the readme of the main Prisma repository.

One script at the root, and a toolchain that partly floats

Everything the root package.json does is run checks. It declares a single script and five devDependencies, with no workspace field, so the examples keep their own dependency trees:

{
  "name": "prisma-examples",
  "type": "module",
  "private": true,
  "scripts": {
    "test": "vitest run"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@prisma/dev": "latest",
    "@types/node": "25.5.0",
    "execa": "9.6.1",
    "typescript": "5.9.3",
    "vitest": "3.2.6"
  }
}

Running it from the root is the one command the project gives you:

npm test

vitest 3.2.6 drives it, execa 9.6.1 is pinned beside it, and a tests/ directory sits beside them. Note the asymmetry in those pins: typescript and @types/node are fixed to exact versions, while @prisma/dev is set to latest, so the harness under your examples can change without a commit here.

Next.js takes three of the seven fullstack rows

The ORM section splits into Fullstack and Backend only, and the Fullstack table is where the coverage bias shows. Seven rows, of which three are Next.js: nextjs, a Next.js 15 app on the App Router using Prisma Postgres, nextjs-graphql, which adds a GraphQL API through Apollo Server and GraphQL Nexus, and nextjs-trpc, which uses tRPC. The rest spread across other meta-frameworks: nuxt with a REST API, sveltekit using SvelteKit actions and load functions, remix, and nuxt-prisma-module, which uses the Prisma Nuxt module. If your framework is on this list you have a direct match; if it is not, you are adapting, not copying.

The backend-only table is a GraphQL survey

The Backend only table opens with a run of GraphQL servers. graphql-auth adds email-password authentication and permissions. graphql-sdl-first is built on GraphQL Yoga. graphql-subscriptions does realtime subscriptions on apollo-server with Nexus Schema. graphql-typegraphql and graphql-typegraphql-crud use @apollo/server with TypeGraphQL, the second one stripped down to CRUD. fastify-graphql combines Fastify, Mercurius and the SDL-first approach of graphql-tools, with fastify-graphql-sdl-first as its counterpart. Pick the server library you already have rather than the one you fancy.

The interesting categories sit outside orm/

orm/ is only one of several top level directories. Alongside it sit accelerate/, compute/, databases/, deployment-platforms/ and generator-prisma-client/, which is where everything outside the ORM lives, and the root also carries config files for the toolchain itself: tsconfig.json, .prettierrc, .editorconfig, .nvmrc and a .coderabbit.yaml. The README also says links to real-world and production ready examples appear further down, which suggests what sits above them is demonstration code. Useful for learning shape, unfit for copying into something that has to hold up under load.

What this repository will not tell you

A few gaps are worth pricing in before you rely on the demos. No Prisma version is stated in the root package.json, so you cannot tell from here which version the examples target, and the floating @prisma/dev dependency does not answer it. A .nvmrc file exists in the tree for the Node version. And the repository gives no upgrade path, because there is nothing released to upgrade from: examples move as their directories move, which is why the last push on 2026-10-03 matters more to you than any version number would.

Apache-2.0, and an invitation to add what is missing

The licence is Apache-2.0, so the examples can be copied into a codebase of your own and modified without the copyleft obligation that would follow. That matters more than usual for a gallery, since the intended use is exactly that kind of borrowing. The repository is also open to additions: the top of the README invites an issue when an example is missing and points at CONTRIBUTING.md for the rules, and the presence of .coderabbit.yaml suggests pull requests go through automated review. Read those guidelines before opening a pull request, since the file exists precisely to describe what a contribution should look like.

Editorial conclusion

Read prisma-examples when you need a whole working Prisma setup for one framework instead of snippets. Skip it if you need a published package or a pinned Prisma version, because nothing here is released and the root package.json states no Prisma version. Before copying a directory, check the Prisma version its own files ask for, since the root toolchain floats @prisma/dev on latest.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. License: Apache-2.0
3. prisma/prisma-examples on GitHub
4. Project website
5. README