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prisma-next db schema connects to a live database, queries its catalog, and renders the discovered schema as a human-readable tree or a machine-consumable JSON envelope. The command is entirely read-only — it never writes files, modifies schema, or touches the contract marker. This is useful for spot-checking what a database actually contains, debugging schema drift, or confirming the result of a migration before signing. The output reflects native database types (for example int4, text, timestamptz) rather than mapped codec IDs, giving you an accurate view of the actual database state.

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Options

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query.--db
string
Database connection string. Optional when db.connection is set in your config file.
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query.--config
string
Path to prisma-next.config.ts. Defaults to ./prisma-next.config.ts in the current working directory.
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query.--json
string
Output a JSON result envelope to stdout instead of the TTY tree.
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query.-q
boolean
Quiet mode. Suppresses all output except errors.
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query.-v
boolean
Verbose mode. Prints debug information and timing data.
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query.-vv
boolean
Trace mode. Prints deep internals and full stack traces.
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query.--color
boolean
Force color output. Use --no-color to disable color output entirely.

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Config requirements

db schema requires a driver entry in your config to open a database connection. A contract entry is not required since this command does not read or compare contract artifacts.
prisma-next.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@prisma-next/cli/config-types';
import postgresAdapter from '@prisma-next/adapter-postgres/control';
import postgresDriver from '@prisma-next/driver-postgres/control';
import postgres from '@prisma-next/target-postgres/control';
import sql from '@prisma-next/family-sql/control';

export default defineConfig({
  family: sql,
  target: postgres,
  adapter: postgresAdapter,
  driver: postgresDriver,
  extensionPacks: [],
  db: {
    connection: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  },
});

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Usage examples

# Use config defaults
prisma-next db schema

# Specify database URL explicitly
prisma-next db schema --db postgresql://user:pass@localhost/db

# Output as JSON for scripting
prisma-next db schema --json

# Verbose output with timing data
prisma-next db schema -v

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Output formats

sql schema (tables: 2)
├─ table user
│  ├─ id: int4 (not null)
│  ├─ email: text (not null)
│  └─ unique user_email_key
├─ table post
│  ├─ id: int4 (not null)
│  ├─ title: text (not null)
│  └─ userId: int4 (not null)
├─ extension plpgsql
└─ extension vector
Column types in the output are native database types (int4, text, timestamptz), not Prisma Next codec IDs (pg/int4@1). This reflects the actual database state and may differ from the codec mappings defined in your contract.

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Introspection process

The command follows these steps internally:
  1. Connects to the database using config.driver.create(url).
  2. Builds a ControlStack and creates a family instance via config.family.create(stack).
  3. Calls familyInstance.introspect() to query the database catalog and return a family-specific schema IR (for example, SqlSchemaIR for the SQL family).
  4. Calls familyInstance.toSchemaView() to project the schema IR into a CoreSchemaView for display.
  5. Renders the CoreSchemaView as a tree (TTY) or JSON envelope (--json).

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Error codes

CodeMeaning
PN-CLI-4005Missing database connection. Provide --db <url> or set db.connection in config.
PN-CLI-4010Missing driver in config. Add a driver descriptor to your config.
To capture a baseline snapshot of your database schema before making changes, pipe the JSON output to a file: prisma-next db schema --json > schema-snapshot.json. You can diff two snapshots to understand what changed between deployments.

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