diff --git a/packages/schema/src/cli/cli-util.ts b/packages/schema/src/cli/cli-util.ts
index 78beb7ee0..25ee919a3 100644
--- a/packages/schema/src/cli/cli-util.ts
+++ b/packages/schema/src/cli/cli-util.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { URI } from 'vscode-uri';
 import { STD_LIB_MODULE_NAME } from '../language-server/constants';
 import { createZModelServices } from '../language-server/zmodel-module';
 import { Context } from '../types';
-import { installPackage, PackageManagers } from '../utils/pkg-utils';
+import { ensurePackage, installPackage, PackageManagers } from '../utils/pkg-utils';
 import { CliError } from './cli-error';
 import { PluginRunner } from './plugin-runner';
 
@@ -54,6 +54,8 @@ export async function initProject(
         }
     }
 
+    ensurePackage('prisma', true, packageManager, 'latest', projectPath);
+    ensurePackage('@prisma/client', false, packageManager, 'latest', projectPath);
     installPackage('zenstack', true, packageManager, tag, projectPath);
     installPackage('@zenstackhq/runtime', false, packageManager, tag, projectPath);
 
diff --git a/packages/schema/src/utils/pkg-utils.ts b/packages/schema/src/utils/pkg-utils.ts
index a1be85b98..dedef31d7 100644
--- a/packages/schema/src/utils/pkg-utils.ts
+++ b/packages/schema/src/utils/pkg-utils.ts
@@ -42,11 +42,12 @@ export function ensurePackage(
     pkg: string,
     dev: boolean,
     pkgManager: PackageManagers | undefined = undefined,
+    tag = 'latest',
     projectPath = '.'
 ) {
     try {
         require(pkg);
     } catch {
-        installPackage(pkg, dev, pkgManager, projectPath);
+        installPackage(pkg, dev, pkgManager, tag, projectPath);
     }
 }
diff --git a/packages/schema/tests/cli/cli.test.ts b/packages/schema/tests/cli/cli.test.ts
index f42ee4846..a3ead5df9 100644
--- a/packages/schema/tests/cli/cli.test.ts
+++ b/packages/schema/tests/cli/cli.test.ts
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ describe('CLI Tests', () => {
         createNpmrc();
 
         const program = createProgram();
-        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'canary'], { from: 'user' });
+        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'latest'], { from: 'user' });
 
         expect(fs.readFileSync('schema.zmodel', 'utf-8')).toEqual(fs.readFileSync('prisma/schema.prisma', 'utf-8'));
     });
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ describe('CLI Tests', () => {
         fs.renameSync('prisma/schema.prisma', 'prisma/my.prisma');
 
         const program = createProgram();
-        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'canary', '--prisma', 'prisma/my.prisma'], { from: 'user' });
+        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'latest', '--prisma', 'prisma/my.prisma'], { from: 'user' });
 
         expect(fs.readFileSync('schema.zmodel', 'utf-8')).toEqual(fs.readFileSync('prisma/my.prisma', 'utf-8'));
     });
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ describe('CLI Tests', () => {
         fs.writeFileSync('package.json', JSON.stringify({ name: 'my app', version: '1.0.0' }));
         createNpmrc();
         const program = createProgram();
-        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'canary'], { from: 'user' });
+        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'latest'], { from: 'user' });
         expect(fs.readFileSync('schema.zmodel', 'utf-8')).toBeTruthy();
     });
 
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ describe('CLI Tests', () => {
         fs.writeFileSync('schema.zmodel', origZModelContent);
         createNpmrc();
         const program = createProgram();
-        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'canary'], { from: 'user' });
+        program.parse(['init', '--tag', 'latest'], { from: 'user' });
         expect(fs.readFileSync('schema.zmodel', 'utf-8')).toEqual(origZModelContent);
     });
 });