Drizzle MySQL Starter

The Drizzle MySQL Starter is a database foundation provided by servercn for projects that use MySQL with Drizzle ORM.

Drizzle Official Docs

Installation Guide

npx servercn-cli init drizzle-mysql-starter

What This Starter Solves

Setting up Drizzle with MySQL repeatedly involves:

Database connection management
Schema organization
Migration configuration
Environment‑based credentials
Type safety across queries

The Drizzle MySQL Starter standardizes these concerns using a minimal, explicit setup.

What You Get Out of the Box

After initialization, your project includes:

Database Core

Drizzle ORM configured for MySQL
Type‑safe schema definitions
Centralized database client

Configuration

Environment‑based database config
Safe startup validation
Production‑ready connection handling

Migrations

Drizzle migration setup
Structured migration folder
CLI‑ready workflow

Developer Experience

Fully typed queries
Clean schema organization
Zero runtime magic

Environment Configuration

Database credentials are loaded via environment variables.

NODE_ENV='development'
PORT='9000'
LOG_LEVEL='info'
 
DATABASE_URL=mysql://root:password@localhost:3306/db-name

The server fails fast if required database variables are missing.

Defining Schemas

Schemas are written using Drizzle’s SQL‑first, type‑safe API.

src/drizzle/schemas/user.schema.ts

import { mysqlTable, serial, varchar } from "drizzle-orm/mysql-core";
 
export const usersTable = mysqlTable("users", {
  id: serial().primaryKey(),
  name: varchar({ length: 255 }).notNull(),
  email: varchar({ length: 255 }).notNull().unique(),
  password: varchar("password", { length: 255 }).notNull()
});

Schemas are:

Explicit
Version‑controlled
Fully typed across queries

Database Client Setup

src/configs/db.ts or src/db/db.ts

import { drizzle } from "drizzle-orm/mysql2";
import env from "./env";
 
const db = drizzle(env.DATABASE_URL!, {
  logger: env.NODE_ENV === "development"
});
 
export default db;

No repositories or hidden layers — you interact directly with Drizzle.

Migrations Workflow

Generate migrations

npm run db:generate

Apply migrations

npm run db:migrate

Migrations are SQL‑first and fully auditable.

Database Studio

npm run db:studio

Production Considerations

The starter is designed for production:

No dynamic schema generation at runtime
Controlled migration execution
Environment‑safe credentials
Predictable connection behavior

Integration with Express Starter Foundation

The Drizzle MySQL Starter is designed to layer cleanly on top of:

Express Starter Foundation
Request validation (Zod)

This keeps responsibilities separated:

Express handles HTTP
Drizzle handles data

Summary

The Drizzle MySQL Starter gives you a clean, production‑ready database foundation using MySQL + Drizzle ORM.

It prioritizes clarity, type safety, and long‑term maintainability — without taking control away from you.