Revise local development instructions for Prisma Postgres to current …

[stevepiercy]

…experience

Description

After successfully walking through the Quickstart for Prisma Postgres at https://www.prisma.io/docs/prisma-orm/quickstart/prisma-postgres, I then tried Local development at https://www.prisma.io/docs/postgres/database/local-development. I was able to complete Step 1. Note that I used pnpm, not npx.

Loaded Prisma config from prisma.config.ts.

✔  Your local Prisma Postgres server default is now running 👍

🔌 To connect with Prisma ORM use the following connection strings:

DATABASE_URL="postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:51214/template1?sslmode=disable&connection_limit=10&connect_timeout=0&max_idle_connection_lifetime=0&pool_timeout=0&socket_timeout=0"
   SHADOW_DATABASE_URL="postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:51215/template1?sslmode=disable&connection_limit=10&connect_timeout=0&max_idle_connection_lifetime=0&pool_timeout=0&socket_timeout=0"

🐘 You can also use the DATABASE_URL with the pg or postgres.js JavaScript drivers as well as your favorite DB gui.

   For the best experience, set the maximum number of connections to 10, connect timeout to 0 and
   idle timeout to the smallest positive value supported.

🌊 Prisma Streams is available at:

   PRISMA_STREAM_URL="http://127.0.0.1:51216/v1/stream/prisma-wal"

┌─────────────────┐
│ Press q to quit │
└─────────────────┘

This is different from what the documentation shows.

I checked that what I have installed is current as of May 4, 2026.

Prisma schema loaded from prisma/schema.prisma.
prisma               : 7.8.0
@prisma/client       : 7.8.0
Operating System     : darwin
Architecture         : arm64
Node.js              : v24.15.0
TypeScript           : unknown
Query Compiler       : enabled
PSL                  : @prisma/prisma-schema-wasm 7.8.0-6.3c6e192761c0362d496ed980de936e2f3cebcd3a
Schema Engine        : schema-engine-cli 3c6e192761c0362d496ed980de936e2f3cebcd3a (at ../../Library/Caches/pnpm/dlx/8b96e82ed7198c2bd4f4b575220ebeb232bf51e6b54cd352d9811fb6b861b66c/19e012ec58f-1782/node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+engines@7.8.0/node_modules/@prisma/engines/schema-engine-darwin-arm64)
Default Engines Hash : 3c6e192761c0362d496ed980de936e2f3cebcd3a
Studio               : 0.27.3

---

Additionally, I'm not able to complete Step 2. I'm using the same project as that from the Quickstart, with the exception of changing the .env DATABASE_URL to that from Step 1.

Here's the console output from Step 2:

$ pnpm dlx prisma migrate dev            
Loaded Prisma config from prisma.config.ts.

Prisma schema loaded from prisma/schema.prisma.
Datasource "db": PostgreSQL database "template1", schema "public" at "localhost:51214"

Error: P1017
Server has closed the connection.

And I checked whether the server was in fact running.

$ pnpm dlx prisma dev ls                         
Loaded Prisma config from prisma.config.ts.

Fetching latest updates for this subcommand...
npm notice
npm notice New minor version of npm available! 11.6.0 -> 11.14.0
npm notice Changelog: https://github.com/npm/cli/releases/tag/v11.14.0
npm notice To update run: npm install -g npm@11.14.0
npm notice
 name     status   urls                                                                                                                                                                        
 default  running  DATABASE_URL:                                                
                   prisma+postgres://localhost:51213/?api_key=eyJk...AifQ 
                   STREAM: http://127.0.0.1:51216/v1/stream/prisma- 
                   wal                                                    
                   TCP:                                                         
                   postgres://...@localhost:51214/... 
                   Terminal: ...psql -h       
                   localhost -p 51214 ...                                 

I've also asked for support for Step 2 on Discord at https://discord.com/channels/937751382725886062/1501160844875268226/1501160844875268226.

Please let me know if you need further clarification, or if I should try something else.

Also would you please verify whether the current documentation is in fact correct?

Thank you!

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Updated local development guide with explicit connection string information for Prisma Postgres setup, including DATABASE_URL and SHADOW_DATABASE_URL environment variables and guidance for using these with other drivers and tools.

[vercel]

@stevepiercy is attempting to deploy a commit to the Prisma Team on Vercel.

A member of the Team first needs to authorize it.

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

The local development guide for Prisma Postgres is updated with a current example of the npx prisma dev command output. The terminal UI now explicitly displays DATABASE_URL, SHADOW_DATABASE_URL, and PRISMA_STREAM_URL connection strings, along with updated instructions on how developers can view and use these URLs.

Changes

Prisma Postgres Dev Setup Documentation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Example Output and Instructions apps/docs/content/docs/postgres/database/local-development.mdx	The npx prisma dev sample output is updated from a "Great Success" message to a detailed output showing DATABASE_URL, SHADOW_DATABASE_URL, and PRISMA_STREAM_URL connection strings. The keyboard instructions are updated to reflect these new options.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'Revise local development instructions for Prisma Postgres to current...' clearly and specifically identifies the primary change: updating documentation to reflect the current developer experience with Prisma Postgres local development.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

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[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

🤖 Prompt for all review comments with AI agents

Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

Inline comments:
In `@apps/docs/content/docs/postgres/database/local-development.mdx`:
- Around line 33-36: The DATABASE_URL and SHADOW_DATABASE_URL examples currently
use a plain postgres:// scheme but later text instructs copying a
prisma+postgres:// value into .env causing confusion for Prisma migrations;
update the docs so the two examples and the later instruction are consistent:
either (A) change the example connection strings to prisma+postgres:// for
Prisma/ORM usage and note any different ports if required for shadow DB, or (B)
explicitly state that the shown postgres:// strings are direct Postgres URLs and
show a second example of the prisma+postgres:// format to be placed in .env for
prisma migrate dev, and update the prose around copying into .env to reference
DATABASE_URL/SHADOW_DATABASE_URL accordingly (mention DATABASE_URL,
SHADOW_DATABASE_URL, and prisma migrate dev in the text to make the mapping
explicit).

🪄 Autofix (Beta)

Fix all unresolved CodeRabbit comments on this PR:

• Push a commit to this branch (recommended)
• Create a new PR with the fixes

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• apps/docs/content/docs/postgres/database/local-development.mdx

[aidankmcalister]

Thank you!