Prisma Skills

What It Does

prisma/skills is the official Prisma skill pack: nine Agent Skills format (agentskills.io) markdown skills that teach AI coding agents current Prisma ORM practice. The skills cover the CLI command reference (prisma-cli), the client query API (prisma-client-api), per-database setup guides for PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, MongoDB, SQL Server, CockroachDB, and Prisma Postgres (prisma-database-setup, prisma-postgres-setup, prisma-postgres), the v6 to v7 migration (prisma-upgrade-v7), a MongoDB upgrade decision guide (prisma-mongodb-upgrade), driver adapter implementation (prisma-driver-adapter-implementation), and Prisma Compute deployment (prisma-compute). It targets developers whose agents touch a Prisma codebase, and it exists because agents trained on older Prisma docs routinely emit v6 patterns (auto-loaded .env, prisma-client-js generator, no driver adapters) that break on v7.

The Good

The command reference is verifiably accurate against the real CLI. This is the core claim of any vendor knowledge pack and it holds. With real prisma 7.9.1 installed from npm, all 12 documented commands (init, generate, dev, db, migrate, studio, validate, format, debug, complete, mcp, version) appear in prisma --help, and all three documented init flags (--datasource-provider, --db, --with-model) appear in prisma init --help. Pass rate 15 of 15. The version claim is also honest at the file level: prisma-cli and three siblings are stamped 7.9.1, which is exactly what npm serves as latest at test time, consistent with the repo's last commit ("feat: refresh Prisma skills for current releases", 2026-08-04).

The demand-side numbers are the story of the vendor-pack wave. The GitHub repo has 53 stars and 4 forks, but the skills.sh registry reports 1,691,298 all-time installs across the nine skills (each between 179,721 and 196,206). Prisma is the first major database vendor to ship a full official skill pack, and the install counts beat plenty of thousand-star repos. Distribution quality matches the numbers: the default registry-blob install for Claude Code came out diff-identical to the repo, the full-depth install was byte-identical, and a hermes-agent install landed all nine skills in ./.hermes/skills/ with frontmatter intact plus a skills-lock.json for reproducible reinstalls.

The hard knowledge is where the pack earns its keep. prisma-mongodb-upgrade encodes a decision that is easy for an agent to get wrong and costly when wrong: MongoDB projects on Prisma v6 have no upgrade path to v7 (no connector), so the real choice is stay-on-v6 versus migrate to Prisma Next, and the skill opens with a no-go table to stop an impossible "upgrade MongoDB to v7" plan. prisma-upgrade-v7's environment-variables reference is the file that correctly states "Prisma v7 no longer automatically loads environment variables" with the required import 'dotenv/config' fix. GearScope verified that fix end to end: with it, validate passes, generate produced a TypeScript client in 13 ms, db push created the database, and a create/findUnique/count round trip through the PrismaBetterSqlite3 adapter returned the right row.

Structural discipline is better than most packs this size. Across 74 markdown files (1,894 SKILL.md lines plus 8,972 reference lines) there are zero broken references/ links, zero orphaned reference files, and zero broken local links. All nine SKILL.md frontmatter blocks carry matching name, license MIT, author prisma, and a version. The longest body is 271 lines, comfortably under the 500-line rule the repo's own AGENTS.md sets. Descriptions include explicit trigger phrases ("prisma migrate", "sqlite setup", "upgrade to prisma 7"), which is what agent routing keys on.

The Bad

The setup quick-start fails as written, for every provider. prisma-database-setup/references/sqlite.md says to put url: env('DATABASE_URL') in prisma.config.ts and DATABASE_URL="file:./dev.db" in .env, then run the CLI. The first command fails: PrismaConfigEnvError: Cannot resolve environment variable: DATABASE_URL, because Prisma 7 does not auto-load .env. The fix (import dotenv/config as the first line of prisma.config.ts) exists in the same pack, in prisma-upgrade-v7/references/env-variables.md, but none of the six provider guides in prisma-database-setup shows it inside the prisma.config.ts block. Five of the six put import 'dotenv/config' in the application-code example instead, which never runs during validate, generate, db push, or migrate. sqlite.md does not mention dotenv at all. An agent that loads only the natural entry-point skill for "set up sqlite" walks into the error.

One factual claim about SQLite paths is wrong. sqlite.md's troubleshooting section states "file:./dev.db creates it next to schema." In the verified v7 config-file workflow, db push created dev.db at the project root, next to prisma.config.ts, not next to prisma/schema.prisma. The difference matters exactly when the guide deploys it: an agent or script looking for the database file beside the schema will not find it there.

The README has drifted from the repo it describes. It documents eight skills with headings and install examples, but the repo ships nine: prisma-postgres-setup (184,320 installs) appears only in the skills CLI listing, never in the README. The "Prisma Version" section says the ORM skills target 7.6.x while four of them are stamped 7.9.1. AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md both describe a skills/{skill-name}/ directory layout that does not exist; the skill directories sit at the repo root. For a pack whose value proposition is precision, these are small but real self-consistency gaps.

The CI gate is shallow and there is no release history. The validate-skills workflow checks a name regex and a 20-character minimum description, and nothing else: not cross-references, not the dotenv consistency above, not the accuracy of command lists. There are zero git tags, zero releases, no changelog, and 27 commits from 4 contributors, so a consumer cannot pin or diff a version and skills update has no semver anchor. The per-skill version fields are the only versioning that exists.

Smoke Test Results

Testing ran on the host (macOS 26.5.2, aarch64, Node 24.13.1, npm 11.8.0) because the sbx sandbox daemon was not authenticated this session. The repo was cloned with git clone --depth 1 (74 markdown files, 716 KB). Structural validation ran over all nine skills; install verification ran the skills CLI 1.5.22 in isolated HOME sandboxes against fresh working directories; functional verification followed the pack's own sqlite.md guide verbatim with real prisma 7.9.1.

Run A. Fresh clone, structural validation

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/prisma/skills /tmp/prisma-skills-review
✅ PASS - 74 markdown files, 716 KB, 9 skill directories

$ python3 ~/gearscope/sandbox/skills/prisma-skills/validate.py
✅ PASS - 9 of 9 frontmatter name fields match parent directory
✅ PASS - 9 of 9 declare version, license MIT, author prisma
✅ PASS - 9 of 9 descriptions between 20 and 1024 chars, all with trigger phrases
✅ PASS - all SKILL.md bodies under the 500-line rule (longest 271 lines)
✅ PASS - 0 broken references/ links, 0 orphaned reference files
✅ PASS - 0 broken local .md links across all 74 markdown files
✅ PASS - LICENSE file present (MIT, Copyright 2025 Prisma)
❌ FAIL - README documents every shipped skill (missing: prisma-postgres-setup)
❌ FAIL - AGENTS.md layout section matches real repo layout (stale skills/ prefix)
✅ PASS - validate-skills and pr-code-security CI workflows present

Pass rate: 16 of 18. Both failures are documentation drift, not broken content: the README omits one shipped skill, and the contributor guide describes a directory layout the repo does not use.

Full structure log ->

Run B. Install paths (with deps)

$ npx -y skills@latest add prisma/skills --list
✅ PASS - registry lists all 9 skills (skills CLI 1.5.22)

$ npx skills add prisma/skills --skill prisma-cli -a claude-code --copy --yes # isolated HOME, fresh cwd
✅ PASS - default registry-blob install lands ./.claude/skills/prisma-cli
✅ PASS - diff -rq against the repo: identical (no registry staleness)

$ npx skills add prisma/skills --skill prisma-cli -a claude-code --full-depth --copy --yes
✅ PASS - full-depth install byte-identical to the repo

$ npx skills add prisma/skills -a hermes-agent --full-depth --copy --yes
✅ PASS - all 9 skills land in ./.hermes/skills/, frontmatter intact
✅ PASS - skills-lock.json written for reproducible installs

Pass rate: 9 of 9. This is the canonical install-correctness verdict. Every documented path works non-interactively, the registry blob matches the repo (unlike the month-stale blob GearScope found on hyperframes), and the Hermes path lands the complete pack at project level.

Full with-deps log ->

Run C. Functional verification

$ npm install prisma @prisma/client @prisma/adapter-better-sqlite3 better-sqlite3
✅ PASS - real prisma 7.9.1 installed; matches the skill's 7.9.1 stamp exactly

$ npx prisma --help && npx prisma init --help
✅ PASS - 15 of 15 documented commands and flags exist in the real CLI

$ npx prisma validate # guide followed verbatim (schema + prisma.config.ts + .env per sqlite.md)
❌ PrismaConfigEnvError: Cannot resolve environment variable: DATABASE_URL
✅ PASS - as-written failure confirmed (v7 does not auto-load .env; fix not in this skill)

$ npm install dotenv && add "import 'dotenv/config'" to prisma.config.ts # per prisma-upgrade-v7
✅ PASS - prisma validate passes; generate produces client in 13 ms; db push syncs schema

$ node query.ts # Node 24 native TS, PrismaBetterSqlite3 adapter
✅ PASS - QUERY_OK id=1 email=review@gearscope.xyz count=1 (create + findUnique + count)

$ npx prisma validate --schema broken-schema.prisma # unknown field type
✅ PASS - rejected exit 1, P1012: Type "Foo" is neither a built-in type... (names the field)

Functional pass rate: 33 of 33, including the intentional as-written failure demonstration. The guide defect is real, the in-pack fix resolves it, and the full round trip works through the adapter the skill teaches.

Full functional log ->

What the runs tell you

The runs say this is an accurate, current knowledge pack with one hole exactly where new users start: every provider guide omits the dotenv import inside prisma.config.ts, so the first CLI command fails until the fix is borrowed from the upgrade skill. Everything else held: 15-of-15 command accuracy against the stamped version, byte-identical installs on three paths, a working database round trip, and a negative case with a field-naming diagnostic.

Setup Walkthrough

1. Install the pack: npx skills add prisma/skills. The CLI auto-detects your agent; use -a hermes-agent (or -a claude-code) to target one, and --skill prisma-cli for a single skill. The Hermes install lands at project level in ./.hermes/skills/.
2. Trigger by task, not by command: the descriptions carry routing phrases, so "help me run migrations" or "upgrade to prisma 7" in your agent session surfaces the right skill.
3. If you follow prisma-database-setup for a SQL provider, add npm install dotenv and make import 'dotenv/config' the first line of prisma.config.ts before running any prisma command. The guides will fail without it, and the fix is documented in prisma-upgrade-v7's env-variables reference rather than in the setup skill.
4. For plain JavaScript projects, note the prisma-client generator emits TypeScript (generated/client.ts with .ts import extensions). Node 24 runs it natively; older runtimes need a TS loader or a different generator config.

Post-install gotcha: expect dev.db at the project root (next to prisma.config.ts), not next to prisma/schema.prisma as sqlite.md's troubleshooting section claims.

Alternatives

1. upstash/context7 (MCP) - serves version-specific library docs for any library, Prisma included. Prefer it for breadth across many libraries; prefer prisma/skills for vendor-authored routing and the upgrade decision guides.
2. The official Prisma docs at prisma.io/docs - the exhaustive source these skills distill. Better for deep reading; the skills win when you want the agent to load the correct current pattern without you pasting links.
3. Hand-written database notes in AGENTS.md - some teams keep project-specific schema and migration conventions locally. Keep those for project rules, and layer this pack for the tool knowledge; they do not conflict.