Prisma Postgres Upgrade: Prisma ORM 6 or 7 to Prisma 8

Move a Node.js server on Prisma ORM 6 or 7 and PostgreSQL to Prisma 8 in one pass. The schema, the database and its data stay, and the app keeps running wherever it runs today.

This skill is the bridge. It covers only what is specific to leaving Prisma ORM 6 or 7. Prisma 8 itself (the contract, migrations, queries, errors) is covered by the

prisma-8

skill that ships inside

@prisma/orm-postgres

, which step 2 installs. Follow it for anything Prisma 8 specific; it matches the installed version, and this skill does not.

prisma-8

says it does not apply to a project that still has

schema.prisma

and

@prisma/client

. That is expected mid-upgrade: this skill keeps both until step 5, and

prisma7Schema(...)

reads that

schema.prisma

. Use

prisma-8

for the Prisma 8 side anyway.

The Prisma ORM 6 or 7 to 8 (PostgreSQL) guide is the source of truth for the steps.

Never do either of these:

Never route a PostgreSQL Prisma ORM 6 app through Prisma ORM 7 first. Prisma 8 reads a Prisma ORM 6
```
schema.prisma
```
unchanged, so
```
prisma-upgrade-v7
```
is only for apps that stay on 7.
Never install
```
prisma@latest
```
or
```
@prisma/orm-postgres@latest
```
when the app will deploy on Prisma Compute: the latest pair does not work with the Composer version the Console's setup installs, so the deploy fails.

When to Apply

A PostgreSQL project on Prisma ORM 6 or 7 asks to upgrade to Prisma 8 in one pass
A Prisma ORM 6 or 7 app wants to deploy on Prisma Compute, or the Console blocked its setup with "move to Prisma 8": upgrade here, then deploy with
```
prisma-compute
```

Not for: deploying on Compute (use

prisma-compute

deploy-existing-app

), MongoDB (use

prisma-mongodb-upgrade

), a Prisma ORM 7 app moving one route at a time beside Prisma 8 (follow the route-by-route guide), a project already on Prisma 8 (use the synced

prisma-8

skill), or a new project (use

prisma-orm-setup

Versions

Install exact versions with

--save-exact

. For an app headed to Compute, use the versions the Console's setup uses: today

prisma

8.0.0-rc.27

(dev dependency) and

@prisma/orm-postgres

8.0.0-rc.20

. If the Console's message or an existing setup pull request names other versions, use those. Use Node.js 24.11 or newer if the app will run under

prisma dev

The path


verify-upgrade-checklist
prisma
adopt-schema-and-migrations
adopt-schema-and-migrations
client-api-mapping
@prisma/client
verify-upgrade-checklist

Step	What happens	Where the detail is
0	Run the repo's own checks and record the results	`verify-upgrade-checklist`
1	Remove `prisma` , install the versions above, remove `prisma generate` from scripts	this file
2	Write the Prisma 8 `prisma.config.ts` , then `npx prisma skills sync`	`adopt-schema-and-migrations`
3	`contract emit` , `db sign` , baseline migration, retire `prisma/migrations`	`adopt-schema-and-migrations`
4	Create the Prisma 8 client and rewrite every query	`client-api-mapping`
5	Remove `@prisma/client` , the adapter and the generated client	this file
6	Run the same checks again and start the app	`verify-upgrade-checklist`

In step 1, also remove

prisma generate

from

build

postinstall

and any other script: the Prisma 8 CLI has no

generate

and fails with

CLI.UNKNOWN_COMMAND

. Step 1 removes the only command that generated the old client. It keeps working locally, but a fresh install (CI, a new clone) has none, so finish step 4 before pushing to a branch CI builds.

The sync in step 2 installs

prisma-8

prisma-platform-core-concepts

and

prisma-composer-core-concepts

in one go, because the CLI depends on Composer. It writes them for every agent it knows unless

skills.agents

in the config lists only the ones the repository uses. In a Prisma ORM 7 app, replace the old

prisma.config.ts

before syncing: the sync fails with

CLI.CONFIG_UNREADABLE

while the old one is in place.

Commit what Prisma 8 writes:

src/prisma/contract.json

src/prisma/contract.d.ts

and the whole

migrations/

folder. There is no generate step to recreate them in CI.

In step 5,

npm uninstall @prisma/client

leaves the generated client behind; delete

node_modules/.prisma

too, then run a fresh install and the checks so nothing still imports it.

Deploying on Compute

When the upgrade is done and the checks pass, deploy with the

prisma-compute

skill (

references/deploy-existing-app.md

). Compute runs only Prisma 8, so the upgrade has to be finished first.

What the user does

The agent cannot do these; stop and ask:

Decide what to do about a database time zone other than UTC (see
```
client-api-mapping
```
).
Sign every other existing database (staging, production) with
```
npx prisma db sign
```
. The agent has only the local one.
Review the change before it ships, especially when the repository has no tests.

Reference files

Reference	What it covers
`references/adopt-schema-and-migrations.md`	The first `prisma.config.ts` , keeping `schema.prisma` as the contract, CommonJS `tsconfig` , the baseline, retiring the old migration setup
`references/client-api-mapping.md`	The Prisma 8 client, Prisma ORM 6/7 calls to Prisma 8, and the differences that break rewrites
`references/verify-upgrade-checklist.md`	Proving the upgrade with the repo's own checks

Verified against

A Prisma ORM 6.19 app (Express 4, EJS,

tsc

, CommonJS) on PostgreSQL 18, with

prisma

8.0.0-rc.27 and

@prisma/orm-postgres

8.0.0-rc.20. Two agents with no context and only these skills upgraded it: pages and API output were identical before and after against the same database, and

prisma db verify

passed.

Hand-off rule

Once the app runs on Prisma 8, use the synced

prisma-8

skill for day-to-day work and

prisma-compute

to deploy and operate it on Compute. This skill covers the upgrade only.

prisma-postgres-upgrade

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content