Learn how to seed your database using Prisma ORM's integrated seeding functionality and Prisma Client

Location: ORM > v7 > Prisma Migrate > Workflows > Seeding

Seeding allows you to consistently re-create the same data in your database and can be used to:

- Populate your database with data that is required for your application to start, such as a default language or currency.
- Provide basic data for validating and using your application in a development environment. This is particularly useful if you are using Prisma Migrate, which sometimes requires resetting your development database.

### Watch video: Seeding your database

[How to seed your database with Prisma ORM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mulzjQ4pZaA)

## How to seed your database in Prisma ORM

Prisma ORM's integrated seeding functionality expects a command in the `"seed"` key in the `migrations` object of your `prisma.config.ts`. This can be any command; `prisma db seed` executes it as given. In this guide and as a default, we recommend writing a seed script inside your project's `prisma/` folder and starting it with the command.

```ts title="prisma.config.ts"
import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
  schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
  migrations: {
    path: "prisma/migrations",
    seed: "tsx prisma/seed.ts",
  },
  datasource: {
    url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
  },
});
```

## Integrated seeding with Prisma Migrate

Database seeding happens when you run `prisma db seed`. With `prisma db seed`, _you_ decide when to invoke the seed command. It can be useful for a test setup or to prepare a new development environment, for example.

> \[!NOTE]
> Prisma ORM v7 changes
>
> In Prisma ORM v7, seeding is **only triggered explicitly** by running `npx prisma db seed`. Automatic seeding during `prisma migrate dev` or `prisma migrate reset` has been removed.

## Example seed scripts

Here we suggest some specific seed scripts for different situations. You are free to customize these in any way, but can also use them as presented here:

### Seeding your database

- Create a new file named `seed.ts`. This can be placed anywhere within your project's folder structure. The example below places it in the `/prisma` folder.

- In the `seed.ts` file, import Prisma Client, initialize it and create some records. As an example, take the following Prisma schema with a `User` and `Post` model:

```prisma title="schema.prisma"
model User {
 id    Int    @id @default(autoincrement())
 email String @unique
 name  String
 posts Post[]
}

model Post {
 id        Int     @id @default(autoincrement())
 title     String
 content   String
 published Boolean
 user      User    @relation(fields: [userId], references: [id])
 userId    Int
}
```

Create some new users and posts in your `prisma/seed.ts` file:

> \[!NOTE]
> Prisma ORM v7 requirement
>
> In Prisma ORM v7, `PrismaClient` must be initialized with a driver adapter. The example below uses `@prisma/adapter-pg` with a PostgreSQL connection pool.

```js title="seed.ts"
import "dotenv/config";
import { Pool } from "pg";
import { PrismaPg } from "@prisma/adapter-pg";
import { PrismaClient } from "../prisma/generated/client";

const connectionString = `${process.env.DATABASE_URL}`;
const pool = new Pool({ connectionString });
const adapter = new PrismaPg(pool);
const prisma = new PrismaClient({ adapter });
async function main() {
  const alice = await prisma.user.upsert({
    where: { email: "alice@prisma.io" },
    update: {},
    create: {
      email: "alice@prisma.io",
      name: "Alice",
      posts: {
        create: {
          title: "Check out Prisma with Next.js",
          content: "https://www.prisma.io/nextjs",
          published: true,
        },
      },
    },
  });
  const bob = await prisma.user.upsert({
    where: { email: "bob@prisma.io" },
    update: {},
    create: {
      email: "bob@prisma.io",
      name: "Bob",
      posts: {
        create: [
          {
            title: "Follow Prisma on Twitter",
            content: "https://twitter.com/prisma",
            published: true,
          },
          {
            title: "Follow Nexus on Twitter",
            content: "https://twitter.com/nexusgql",
            published: true,
          },
        ],
      },
    },
  });
  console.log({ alice, bob });
}
main()
  .then(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect();
    await pool.end();
  })
  .catch(async (e) => {
    console.error(e);
    await prisma.$disconnect();
    await pool.end();
    process.exit(1);
  });
```

- Add `typescript`, `tsx`, `@types/node`, `@prisma/adapter-pg`, `pg`, `@types/pg` and `dotenv` development dependencies:

#### bun

```bash
bun add --dev typescript tsx @types/node @prisma/adapter-pg pg @types/pg dotenv
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm add -D typescript tsx @types/node @prisma/adapter-pg pg @types/pg dotenv
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn add --dev typescript tsx @types/node @prisma/adapter-pg pg @types/pg dotenv
```

#### npm

```bash
npm install -D typescript tsx @types/node @prisma/adapter-pg pg @types/pg dotenv
```

- Add the `seed` field to your `prisma.config.ts` file:

```ts title="prisma.config.ts"
import "dotenv/config";
import { defineConfig, env } from "prisma/config";
export default defineConfig({
  schema: "prisma/schema.prisma",
  migrations: {
    path: "prisma/migrations",
    seed: "tsx prisma/seed.ts", // [!code ++]
  },
  datasource: {
    url: env("DATABASE_URL"),
  },
});
```

- To seed the database, run the `db seed` CLI command:

#### bun

```bash
bunx prisma db seed
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm prisma db seed
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn prisma db seed
```

#### npm

```bash
npx prisma db seed
```

We're using TypeScript here, but it's possible to do the same thing in vanilla JavaScript. The same steps would be followed, expect with a `prisma/seed.js` file (without types), and calling `node prisma/seed.js` instead of `tsx`.

### Seeding your database via raw SQL queries

You can also make use of raw SQL queries in order to seed the database with data.

While you can use a plain-text `.sql` file (such as a data dump) for that, it is often easier to place those raw queries, if they're of short size, into the `seed.js` file because it saves you the hassle of working out database connection strings and creating a dependency on a binary like `psql`.

To seed additional data to the `schema.prisma` above, add the following to the `seed.js` (or `seed.ts`) file:

```js title="seed.js"
async function rawSql() {
  const result =
    await prisma.$executeRaw`INSERT INTO "User" ("id", "email", "name") VALUES (3, 'foo@example.com', 'Foo') ON CONFLICT DO NOTHING;`;
  console.log({ result });
}
```

and chain this function to the promise calls, such as the following change towards the end of the file:

```js title="seed.js"
main()
  .then(rawSql)
  .then(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect();
    await pool.end();
  })
  .catch(async (e) => {
    console.error(e);
    await prisma.$disconnect();
    await pool.end();
    process.exit(1);
  });
```

### Seeding your database via any language (with a Bash script)

In addition to TypeScript and JavaScript, you can also use a Bash script (`seed.sh`) to seed your database in another language such as Go, or plain SQL.

The following example runs a Go script in the same folder as `seed.sh`:

```bash title="seed.sh"
#!/bin/sh
# -e Exit immediately when a command returns a non-zero status.
# -x Print commands before they are executed
set -ex
# Seeding command go
run ./seed/
```

The following example uses [psql](https://www.postgresql.org/docs/13/app-psql.html) to run a SQL script in the same folder as `seed.sh`:

```bash title="seed.sh"
#!/bin/sh
# -e Exit immediately when a command returns a non-zero status.
# -x Print commands before they are executed
set -ex
# Seeding command
psql file.sql
```

### User-defined arguments

`prisma db seed` allows you to define custom arguments in your seed file that you can pass to the `prisma db seed` command. For example, you could define your own arguments to seed different data for different environments or partially seeding data in some tables.

Here is an example seed file that defines a custom argument to seed different data in different environments:

```js title="seed.js"
import { parseArgs } from "node:util";

const options = {
  environment: { type: "string" },
};

async function main() {
  const {
    values: { environment },
  } = parseArgs({ options });

  switch (environment) {
    case "development":
      /** data for your development */
      break;
    case "test":
      /** data for your test environment */
      break;
    default:
      break;
  }
}

main()
  .then(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect();
  })
  .catch(async (e) => {
    console.error(e);
    await prisma.$disconnect();
    process.exit(1);
  });
```

You can then provide the `environment` argument when using `prisma db seed` by adding a [delimiter](https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap12.html#tag_12_02) — `--` —, followed by your custom arguments:

#### bun

```bash
bunx prisma db seed -- --environment development
```

#### pnpm

```bash
pnpm prisma db seed -- --environment development
```

#### yarn

```bash
yarn prisma db seed -- --environment development
```

#### npm

```bash
npx prisma db seed -- --environment development
```

## Going further

Here's a non-exhaustive list of other tools you can integrate with Prisma ORM in your development workflow to seed your database:

- [Supabase community project](https://github.com/supabase-community/seed)
- [Replibyte](https://www.replibyte.com/docs/introduction/)

## Related pages

- [`Baselining a database`](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-workflows-baselining): How to initialize a migration history for an existing database that contains important data.
- [`Customizing migrations`](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-workflows-customizing-migrations): How to edit a migration file before applying it to avoid data loss in production.
- [`Development and production`](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-workflows-development-and-production): How to use Prisma Migrate commands in development and production environments
- [`Generating down migrations`](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-workflows-generating-down-migrations): How to generate a down migration SQL file that reverses a given migration file
- [`Native database functions`](/guides/prisma-migrate-v7-workflows-native-database-functions): How to enable PostgreSQL native database functions for projects that use Prisma Migrate.

## Related pages

- [Authentication & Tools](./authentication-tools-index.md)
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- [Changelog](../changelog.md)
- [Concepts](./concepts-index.md)
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