# Configuration (/docs/cli/configuration)

Configure Prisma ORM CLI commands with prisma.config.ts and global flags.

Location: CLI > Configuration

Prisma ORM CLI commands read `prisma.config.ts`, starting in the directory you run them from. The file has one section per part of the CLI. The `orm` section holds your schema, database, and migration settings, which the `contract`, `db`, and `migration` commands read. The `skills` section holds the settings for the [agent skills commands](/guides/utility-skills), which copy Prisma's instructions for AI coding agents into your project.

## Config file

The outer `definePrismaConfig` comes from `prisma/config` and marks the file as a Prisma ORM 8 CLI config. A Prisma ORM 7 `prisma.config.ts` without that marker is rejected rather than misread. The import resolves from your project's `node_modules`, so `prisma` must be a local dependency. The `orm` section uses the config helper for your database. For PostgreSQL:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import "dotenv/config";
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: "./prisma/contract.prisma",
    db: {
      connection: process.env["DATABASE_URL"]!,
    },
  }),
});
```

For MongoDB projects, import the section helper from `@prisma/orm-mongo/config` instead. Both packages export this helper as `defineConfig`, and the examples on this page rename it to `ormConfig` when they import it.

This paragraph is only for a config written for a Prisma ORM 8 release candidate before `8.0.0-rc.12`. Such a config may import `defineConfig` from `@prisma/cli-engine`. That import no longer exists, so the config fails to load. Replace it with `definePrismaConfig` from `prisma/config`, and rename the call to match: it is the same function under its new name. Leave the `defineConfig` import from `@prisma/orm-postgres/config` or `@prisma/orm-mongo/config` as it is. That one is the helper for the `orm` section, and its name has not changed.

[`orm init`](/guides/orm-orm-init) writes this file for you. Without `--config`, the CLI looks for `prisma.config.ts` in the directory you run the command from and in the directories above it, as [How the CLI finds the config](#how-the-cli-finds-the-config) explains. Pass `--config` to use a config file in another place, such as a subdirectory:

#### bun

```bash
bunx prisma contract emit --config ./config/prisma.config.ts
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm prisma contract emit --config ./config/prisma.config.ts
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn prisma contract emit --config ./config/prisma.config.ts
```

#### npm

```bash
npx prisma contract emit --config ./config/prisma.config.ts
```

## How the CLI finds the config

The CLI starts with `prisma.config.ts` in the current directory, or with the file you pass to `--config`. It then also reads the `prisma.config.ts` in each parent directory that has one, up to the root of the repository, which is the first directory that has a `.git` entry. If neither the starting directory nor any directory above it has a `.git` entry, the CLI reads only the file it started with.

The CLI combines the files it finds one section at a time. Inside a section such as `orm`, it takes each top-level key, such as `contract`, `db`, or `migrations`, from the nearest file that sets it, and it takes the whole value of that key from that one file. So if a config higher up sets `db.connection` and your project's config sets only `contract`, the CLI uses your `contract` and the other file's `db`.

Extensions are the exception: if your project config has its own `orm` section, it never inherits `extensions` from a config higher up, even when it lists none. List the extensions your contract uses, as [Extension packs](#extension-packs) shows, in each project's own config.

> \[!WARNING]
> More than one project in a repository
>
> If a `prisma.config.ts` higher up sets `db` or `migrations`, a project config that leaves them out uses that file's database and migrations folder. `db update`, `db migrate` and `db verify` then connect to the other project's database, and `migration plan` writes into the other project's migrations folder, without a warning. Set `db` and `migrations`, such as `migrations: { dir: "./migrations" }`, in every project's own config, or add `parent: false` to it.

To stop a project's config from inheriting anything, add `parent: false` to it. The search then ends at that file:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  parent: false,
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: "./prisma/contract.prisma",
  }),
});
```

`parent` can also be a path to another config file, which the CLI reads next in place of the one in the parent directory. The path is relative to the directory of the config file that sets it, and it may point outside the repository. After reading that file, the CLI goes on to search the directories above that file in the usual way, unless that file sets `parent` too:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  parent: "../shared/prisma.config.ts",
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: "./prisma/contract.prisma",
  }),
});
```

A relative path in a config file, such as `contract`, `output`, or `migrations.dir`, resolves from the directory of the config file that sets it, not from the directory you run the command in. So `--config ./config/prisma.config.ts` with `contract: "./prisma/contract.prisma"` reads `./config/prisma/contract.prisma`.

## Split the schema across several files

`contract` accepts a glob, a path pattern where `*` matches any file name and `**` matches any number of folders, so one schema can span several `.prisma` files:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: "./prisma/**/*.prisma",
  }),
});
```

`contract emit` builds one contract from every matched file whose first line is `// use prisma-8`. The same rule applies when `contract` names a single file: that file must start with the line too. `contract emit` skips a matched file without that line and does not warn, so the line is what makes a file part of the schema. The Prisma editor extension uses the same rule, so the editor and `contract emit` agree on which files make up the schema.

If the glob matches files but none of them starts with the line, `contract emit` fails with `CONTRACT.SOURCE_LOAD_FAILED`, and the error's details name the problem `PSL_NO_OPTED_IN_SCHEMA_FILES`. If the glob matches no file at all, for example because of a typo in the pattern, they name it `PSL_NO_SCHEMA_FILES_MATCHED` instead. [What `contract emit` creates](/guides/orm-contract-emit#what-it-creates) says where these details appear in the output.

A new file joins the schema the next time you run `contract emit`, with no change to the config. The emitted files go in the folder before the first wildcard, here `./prisma/contract.json` and `./prisma/contract.d.ts`.

## Use a Prisma ORM 7 schema

On PostgreSQL, Prisma ORM 8 can read a Prisma ORM 7 `schema.prisma` directly as its contract source, so the two versions can run side by side on the database that Prisma ORM 7 migrates. Wrap the path in `prisma7Schema`:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import "dotenv/config";
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig, prisma7Schema } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: prisma7Schema("prisma/schema.prisma"),
    db: {
      connection: process.env["DATABASE_URL"]!,
    },
  }),
});
```

`prisma7Schema` takes one schema file, or a directory of `.prisma` files as Prisma ORM 7 reads it. It reads every `.prisma` file it is given, so these files do not need the `// use prisma-8` first line. `contract emit` writes `contract.json` and `contract.d.ts` into the directory that holds the schema, here `prisma/`, unless you set `output`. Prisma ORM 7 keeps owning the database and its migrations, and you run its commands as `prisma7`, the Prisma ORM 7 CLI that [`orm init --from-prisma7-schema`](/guides/orm-orm-init#on-a-prisma-orm-7-project) installs next to Prisma ORM 8.

Once the config is in place, run `npx prisma contract emit` and then [`npx prisma db sign`](/guides/orm-db-sign). `db sign` checks that the database matches the contract and then records that in the database, without changing your tables. Run both commands again after each Prisma ORM 7 migration, whether you ran `npx prisma7 migrate dev` or `npx prisma7 migrate deploy`, so that the record names the new contract.

`contract emit` fails on any part of the schema that Prisma ORM 8 cannot represent exactly, such as a `view` block, `Unsupported(...)`, or `relationMode = "prisma"`. The error names the file and the line and suggests an edit to the Prisma ORM 7 schema. When that edit would also change the database on the next Prisma ORM 7 migration, the error says so. For example, removing an `Unsupported(...)` field drops its column, so for that field the error suggests adding `@@ignore` to the model instead, which leaves the next Prisma ORM 7 migration empty but removes the model from the Prisma ORM 7 client. Prisma ORM 8 has no views, so for a `view` block the error suggests removing the view or replacing it with a model over the table the view reads. `orm init --from-prisma7-schema` writes this config for you.

## Use a Prisma ORM 6 MongoDB schema

On MongoDB, Prisma ORM 8 can read a Prisma ORM 6 `schema.prisma` directly as its contract source. Wrap the path in `prisma6Schema`:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import "dotenv/config";
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig, prisma6Schema } from "@prisma/orm-mongo/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: prisma6Schema("prisma/schema.prisma"),
    db: {
      connection: process.env["DATABASE_URL"]!,
    },
  }),
});
```

The schema file does not need the `// use prisma-8` first line. Run `npx prisma contract emit` and then [`npx prisma db sign`](/guides/orm-db-sign), which checks that the database Prisma ORM 6 built matches the contract.

`contract emit` fails on any part of the schema that Prisma ORM 8 cannot represent exactly, with an error code that starts with `PSL.PRISMA6_MONGO_`. The [error reference](/guides/reference-2-reference-error-reference) lists each code and what to change.

## Write your own contract source

A config that builds `contract.source` itself, as an object with a `load` function, must give the object a `format`: `"psl"` when its inputs are PSL text, and `"typescript"` when it builds the contract in TypeScript. Without it, every command that reads the config fails with `CONFIG.VALIDATION_FAILED`. A path, a glob, `prisma7Schema` and `prisma6Schema` set the format for you.

## Emit-only config

`contract emit` does not connect to a database, so the `orm` section can omit `db.connection`:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: "./prisma/contract.prisma",
  }),
});
```

Add `db.connection` before running commands such as `db verify`, `db sign`, `db init`, `db update`, `db schema`, `contract infer`, or `db migrate`.

## Extension packs

Add extension control descriptors to the `orm` section when your contract uses extension-provided types:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";
import { defineConfig as ormConfig } from "@prisma/orm-postgres/config";
import pgvector from "@prisma/orm-extension-pgvector/control";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  orm: ormConfig({
    contract: "./prisma/contract.prisma",
    extensions: [pgvector],
    db: {
      connection: process.env["DATABASE_URL"]!,
    },
  }),
});
```

Re-run `contract emit` after changing extension packs, then update the matching runtime client.

## Agent skills

The `skills` section controls the [agent skills commands](/guides/utility-skills) and the staleness check:

```typescript title="prisma.config.ts"
import { definePrismaConfig } from "prisma/config";

export default definePrismaConfig({
  skills: {
    agents: ["claude", "cursor"],
    check: true,
  },
});
```

| Field    | What it does                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `agents` | The agent harnesses `skills sync` writes and `skills list` reports: `claude`, `cursor`, `agents`, `devin`. An empty array records that no agent skills are wanted, and the next `skills sync` removes the copies already on disk. Default: all of them. |
| `check`  | Set `false` to stop commands reporting out-of-date skills, for everyone working in the project. Default: `true`.                                                                                                                                        |

[`init`](/guides/platform-init) scaffolds this section for you.

## Database URLs

Database commands accept `--db <url>`. If you omit it, Prisma ORM uses the database connection from `prisma.config.ts`.

#### bun

```bash
bunx prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL"
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL"
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL"
```

#### npm

```bash
npx prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL"
```

## Environment variables

The variables the CLI reads, such as `PRISMA_DISABLE_TELEMETRY`, `PRISMA_SKILLS_CHECK`, and the `PRISMA_SERVICE_TOKEN` pair for CI, are listed on [Environment variables](/guides/introduction-6-environment-variables). `DATABASE_URL` is not one of them: your config file reads it, as in the example above.

## Output modes

Use the default text output when running commands locally. Use `--json` in CI or automation:

#### bun

```bash
bunx prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL" --json
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL" --json
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL" --json
```

#### npm

```bash
npx prisma db verify --db "$DATABASE_URL" --json
```

For an AI agent that reads the output as text rather than parsing JSON, use `--format markdown`; see [Global flags](/guides/introduction-6-global-flags#output-formats).

Use `--no-interactive` for scripts that must never pause for user input. Use `--confirm <token>` to grant a consent prompt non-interactively. For example, [`db update`](/guides/orm-db-update) asks for the database name before a destructive change.

## JSON output

In `--json` mode, commands emit newline-delimited JSON events. Progress events have `kind: "step-finished"`. The final event has `kind: "result"` and carries the `envelope` object your script branches on:

- `envelope.ok`: `true` or `false`.
- `envelope.result`: the command's data, when `ok` is `true`.
- `envelope.error.code`: a dotted `NAMESPACE.SUBCODE`, for example `PROJECT.NOT_FOUND` or `SERVICE.PROJECT_SETUP_REQUIRED`.
- `envelope.error.summary` and `envelope.error.why`: what failed and why it was rejected.
- `envelope.nextActions`: machine-readable follow-up commands, so agents can drive the CLI.

Branch on `envelope.error.code`, not the message text: codes are a stable contract, while message wording can change between releases.

## Related pages

- [`auth`](/guides/platform-auth): Sign in to your Prisma account from the CLI, sign out, and manage workspace sessions.
- [`branch`](/guides/platform-branch): List platform branches for a project.
- [`bucket`](/guides/platform-bucket): Create and manage object-store buckets.
- [`contract emit`](/guides/orm-contract-emit): Emit Prisma ORM contract artifacts.
- [`contract infer`](/guides/orm-contract-infer): Infer a starter contract from an existing database.

## Related pages

- [Authentication & Tools](./authentication-tools-index.md)
- [Build](./build-index.md)
- [Changelog](../changelog.md)
- [Concepts](./concepts-index.md)
- [Console commands](./console-commands-index.md)
- [Contract Authoring](./contract-authoring-index.md)
- [Core Concepts](./core-concepts-index.md)
- [Data Modeling](./data-modeling-index.md)
- [Database](./database-index.md)
- [DB commands](./db-commands-index.md)

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