# Deploy to Render

This guide explains how to deploy a Node.js server that uses Prisma ORM and PostgreSQL to Render.

:::accordion{title="Questions answered in this page"}
- How to deploy Prisma apps on Render?
- How to run migrations before start?
- What Render settings are recommended?
:::

The [Prisma Render deployment example](https://github.com/prisma/prisma-examples/tree/latest/deployment-platforms/render) contains an Express.js application with REST endpoints and a simple frontend. This app uses Prisma Client to fetch, create, and delete records from its database.

## [About Render](#about-render)

[Render](https://render.com/) is a cloud application platform for deploying and scaling full-stack applications. For this example, it's helpful to know:

- Render lets you deploy long-running, "serverful" full-stack applications. You can configure Render services to [autoscale](https://docs.render.com/scaling) based on CPU and/or memory usage. This is one of several [deployment paradigms](/guides/prisma-client-v7-deployment-deploy-prisma) you can choose from.
- Render natively supports [common runtimes](https://docs.render.com/language-support), including Node.js and Bun. In this guide, we'll use the Node.js runtime.
- Render [integrates with Git repos](https://docs.render.com/github) for automatic deployments upon commits. You can deploy to Render from GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. In this guide, we'll deploy from a Git repository.

## [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)

- Sign up for a [Render](https://render.com/) account

## [Get the example code](#get-the-example-code)

Download the [example code](https://github.com/prisma/prisma-examples/tree/latest/deployment-platforms/render) to your local machine.

```
curl https://codeload.github.com/prisma/prisma-examples/tar.gz/latest | tar -xz --strip=2 prisma-examples-latest/deployment-platforms/render
cd render
```

## [Understand the example](#understand-the-example)

Before deploying, review the example code.

### [Web application](#web-application)

The logic for the Express app is in two files:

- `src/index.js`: The API. The endpoints use Prisma Client to fetch, create, and delete data from the database.
- `public/index.html`: The web frontend. The frontend calls a few of the API endpoints.

### [Prisma schema and migrations](#prisma-schema-and-migrations)

The Prisma components of this app are in two files:

- `prisma/schema.prisma`: The data model of this app. This example defines two models, `User` and `Post`. The format of this file follows the [Prisma schema](/guides/prisma-schema-v7-overview).
- `prisma/migrations/<migration name>/migration.sql`: The SQL commands that construct this schema in a PostgreSQL database. You can auto-generate migration files like this one by running [`prisma migrate dev`](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-understanding-prisma-migrate-mental-model#what-is-prisma-migrate).

### [Render Blueprint](#render-blueprint)

The `render.yaml` file is a [Render blueprint](https://docs.render.com/infrastructure-as-code). Blueprints are Render's Infrastructure as Code format. You can use a Blueprint to programmatically create and modify services on Render.

A `render.yaml` defines the services that will be spun up on Render by a Blueprint. In this `render.yaml`, we see:

- **A web service that uses a Node runtime**: This is the Express app.
- **A PostgreSQL database**: This is the database that the Express app uses.

The format of this file follows the [Blueprint specification](https://docs.render.com/blueprint-spec).

### [How Render deploys work with Prisma Migrate](#how-render-deploys-work-with-prisma-migrate)

In general, you want all your database migrations to run before your web app is started. Otherwise, the app may hit errors when it queries a database that doesn't have the expected tables and rows.

You can use the Pre-Deploy Command setting in a Render deploy to run any commands, such as database migrations, before the app is started.

For more details about the Pre-Deploy Command, see [Render's deploy guide](https://docs.render.com/deploys#deploy-steps).

In our example code, the `render.yaml` shows the web service's build command, pre-deploy command, and start command. Notably, `npx prisma migrate deploy` (the pre-deploy command) will run before `npm run start` (the start command).

| **Command**        | **Value**                        |
| ------------------ | -------------------------------- |
| Build Command      | `npm install --production=false` |
| Pre-Deploy Command | `npx prisma migrate deploy`      |
| Start Command      | `npm run start`                  |

## [Deploy the example](#deploy-the-example)

### [1. Initialize your Git repository](#1-initialize-your-git-repository)

1. Download [the example code](https://github.com/prisma/prisma-examples/tree/latest/deployment-platforms/render) to your local machine.
2. Create a new Git repository on GitHub, GitLab, or BitBucket.
3. Upload the example code to your new repository.

### [2. Deploy manually](#2-deploy-manually)

1. In the Render Dashboard, click **New** > **PostgreSQL**. Provide a database name, and select a plan. (The Free plan works for this demo.)
2. After your database is ready, look up its [internal URL](https://docs.render.com/postgresql-creating-connecting#internal-connections).
3. In the Render Dashboard, click **New** > **Web Service** and connect the Git repository that contains the example code.
4. Provide the following values during service creation:

| **Setting**                                                  | **Value**                                              |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Language                                                     | `Node`                                                 |
| Build Command                                                | `npm install --production=false`                       |
| Pre-Deploy Command (Note: this may be in the "Advanced" tab) | `npx prisma migrate deploy`                            |
| Start Command                                                | `npm run start`                                        |
| Environment Variables                                        | Set `DATABASE_URL` to the internal URL of the database |

Your web service will be live at its `onrender.com` URL as soon as the build finishes.

### [3. (optional) Deploy with Infrastructure as Code](#3-optional-deploy-with-infrastructure-as-code)

You can also deploy the example using the Render Blueprint. Follow Render's [Blueprint setup guide](https://render.com/docs/infrastructure-as-code#setup) and use the `render.yaml` in the example.

## [Bonus: Seed the database](#bonus-seed-the-database)

Prisma ORM includes a framework for [seeding the database](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-workflows-seeding) with starter data. In our example, `prisma/seed.js` defines some test users and posts.

To add these users to the database, we can either:

1. Add the seed script to our Pre-Deploy Command, or
2. Manually run the command on our server via an SSH shell

### [Method 1: Pre-Deploy Command](#method-1-pre-deploy-command)

If you manually deployed your Render services:

1. In the Render dashboard, navigate to your web service.
2. Select **Settings**.
3. Set the Pre-Deploy Command to: `npx prisma migrate deploy; npx prisma db seed`

If you deployed your Render services using the Blueprint:

1. In your `render.yaml` file, change the `preDeployCommand` to: `npx prisma migrate deploy; npx prisma db seed`
2. Commit the change to your Git repo.

### [Method 2: SSH](#method-2-ssh)

Render allows you to SSH into your web service.

1. Follow [Render's SSH guide](https://docs.render.com/ssh) to connect to your server.
2. In the shell, run: `npx prisma db seed`

## 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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