Fly.io (/docs/guides/postgres/flyio)

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Learn how to deploy applications using Prisma Postgres to Fly.io

Location: Guides > Postgres > Fly.io

[!NOTE] This guide uses Prisma ORM 7

The commands and code on this page target Prisma ORM 7, which remains fully supported. To start a new Prisma ORM 8 project, see the Prisma ORM 8 quickstart; to add Prisma ORM 8 to an existing app, see Add to an existing project. A Prisma ORM 8 version of this guide is planned.

Fly.io is a cloud application platform that lets you deploy full-stack applications globally. This guide shows you how to deploy a Node.js application using Prisma Postgres to Fly.io.

• A Fly.io account
• The Fly CLI installed
• An existing application using Prisma Postgres (see Quickstart)

Ensure your package.json includes a postinstall script to generate Prisma Client during deployment:

{  // ...  "scripts": {    // ...    "postinstall": "prisma generate"  }}

From your project directory, run:

fly launch

Follow the prompts to configure your application. Fly.io will auto-detect your Node.js application and create the necessary configuration.

Add your Prisma Postgres DATABASE_URL as a secret in Fly.io:

fly secrets set DATABASE_URL="your-prisma-postgres-connection-string"

[!NOTE] You can find your DATABASE_URL in your .env file or in the Prisma Console.

If not already deployed during fly launch, deploy your application:

fly deploy

Once the deployment completes, you'll see a success message with your app's URL:

🎉  SUCCESS! Your app is live and ready to use!  🎉

Visit: https://your-app-name.fly.dev/

[!NOTE] In the Fly.io dashboard, your app's status may show as "Pending" initially. It typically transitions to "Deployed" within a few minutes.

Ensure that the data source in your prisma.config.ts file is configured to use the DATABASE_URL environment variable:

import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";

export default defineConfig({
  datasource: {
    url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
  },
  schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
});

To run migrations on your deployed Fly.io app, you can use:

fly ssh console -C "npx prisma migrate deploy"

Or add a release command to your fly.toml:

[deploy]
  release_command = "npx prisma migrate deploy"

Fly.io lets you scale and place your application in multiple regions. To reduce latency, deploy your app in a region close to your Prisma Postgres database region.

fly scale count 2 --region iad

If you're using a custom Dockerfile and your build fails because the Prisma Client cannot be found, it's likely due to one of two reasons:

1. Order of operations: npm install (which runs postinstall) runs before the schema is copied.
2. Incorrect copy path: The schema is copied to the root instead of the prisma folder.

Solution: In your Dockerfile, copy the prisma/ directory to ./prisma before running npm install:

# ❌ Wrong order or path
COPY package*.json ./
COPY prisma .                   # Copies contents to root (wrong structure)
RUN npm install                 # postinstall runs but might fail or generate in wrong place

# ✅ Correct order and path
COPY package*.json ./
COPY prisma ./prisma            # Copies to ./prisma folder (preserves structure)
RUN npm install                 # postinstall finds schema in expected location
COPY . .

• Fly.io Node.js documentation
• Fly.io Prisma documentation
• Prisma Postgres documentation

• Firebase Studio: Learn how to use Prisma Postgres in the online Firebase Studio
• Netlify: Learn how to create Prisma Postgres databases via the official Netlify extension and deploy your applications with it
• Vercel: Learn how to create Prisma Postgres databases via the Vercel Marketplace and deploy your Next.js, Nuxt, and SvelteKit applications.
• Viewing data: Viewing and editing data in Prisma Postgres via Prisma Studio or other database GUIs
• VS Code: The Prisma VS Code extension provides a management UI for Prisma Postgres and agent-mode support for GitHub Copilot