Prisma MongoDB Starter

The Prisma MongoDB Starter is a database foundation provided by servercn for projects that use MongoDB with Prisma ORM. When you run:

Installation Guide

npx servercn init prisma-mongo-starter

you get a production‑ready MongoDB + Prisma setup that integrates cleanly with the Express Server Foundation.

This starter focuses on type safety, auto-generated queries, and intuitive data modeling, providing a modern way to interact with MongoDB.

Official Docs

What This Starter Solves

Setting up Prisma with MongoDB involves:

  • Configuring the Prisma client
  • Defining the schema.prisma file
  • Managing database connections
  • Handling ObjectIDs correctly
  • Type generation

The Prisma MongoDB Starter standardizes these concerns using a predictable, type-safe setup.

What You Get Out of the Box

After initialization, your project includes:

Database Core

  • Prisma ORM configured for MongoDB
  • schema.prisma with a sample model
  • Centralized Prisma Client instance

Configuration

  • Environment‑based database config
  • Production‑ready connection handling

Developer Experience

  • Auto-generated TypeScript types
  • IntelliSense for database queries
  • Prisma Studio for data visualization

Environment Configuration

Database credentials are loaded via environment variables.

NODE_ENV='development'
PORT='9000'
LOG_LEVEL='info'
 
DATABASE_URL="mongodb+srv://root:password@cluster0.ab1cd.mongodb.net/myDatabase?retryWrites=true&w=majority"

Defining Schemas

Schemas are defined in prisma/schema.prisma using Prisma's schema language.

prisma/schema.prisma 
generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}
 
datasource db {
  provider = "mongodb"
  url      = env("DATABASE_URL")
}
 
model User {
  id              String   @id @default(auto()) @map("_id") @db.ObjectId
  email           String   @unique
  name            String
  password        String
  role            Role     @default(USER)
  isEmailVerified Boolean  @default(false)
  createdAt       DateTime @default(now())
  updatedAt       DateTime @updatedAt
}
 
enum Role {
  USER
  ADMIN
}

Schemas are:

  • Declarative
  • Single source of truth
  • Used to generate the client

Database Client Setup

src/configs/db.ts 
import { PrismaClient } from "@prisma/client";
 
declare global {
  var prisma: PrismaClient | undefined;
}
 
const prisma = global.prisma || new PrismaClient();
 
if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production") global.prisma = prisma;
 
export default prisma;

This setup ensures a singleton instance of Prisma Client, preventing connection exhaustion during development (especially with hot-reloading).

Production Considerations

The starter is designed for production:

  • Efficient connection management
  • Type-safe queries reduce runtime errors
  • Environment‑safe credentials

Integration with Express Server Foundation

The Prisma MongoDB Starter is designed to layer cleanly on top of:

  • Express Server Foundation
  • Request validation (Zod)
  • Auth and RBAC blocks

Why This Is a Starter

This setup intentionally avoids:

  • Complex boilerplate
  • Manual type definitions for models

You use standard Prisma patterns with auto-generated types.

When to Use Prisma MongoDB Starter

Use this starter when:

  • You want the best type safety available
  • You prefer a unified query API over Mongoose's API
  • You want to visualize your data easily with Prisma Studio

Extending the Starter

Once initialized, you can:

  • Add more models to schema.prisma
  • Run npx prisma generate to update the client
  • Use npx prisma db push to synchronize indexes

Summary

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

It prioritizes type safety and developer productivity.

Installation

npx servercn init prisma-mongo-starter