Fullstack Example with Next.js (REST API)

This example shows how to implement a fullstack app in TypeScript with Next.js using React (frontend), Express and Prisma Client (backend). It uses a SQLite database file with some initial dummy data which you can find at ./backend/prisma/dev.db.

Getting Started

1. Download example and install dependencies

Download this example:

curl https://codeload.github.com/prisma/prisma-examples/tar.gz/latest | tar -xz --strip=2 prisma-examples-latest/typescript/rest-nextjs-express

Navigate to the example:

cd rest-nextjs-express

Alternative: Clone the entire repo

Clone this repository:

git clone [email protected]:prisma/prisma-examples.git --depth=1

Navigate to the example:

cd prisma-examples/typescript/rest-nextjs-express

Install npm dependencies:

Install dependencies for your backend. Open a terminal window and install the backend's dependencies

cd backend
npm install

Open a separate terminal window and navigate to your frontend directory and install its dependencies

cd frontend
npm install

2. Create and seed the database (backend)

On the terminal window used to install the backend npm dependencies, run the following command to create your SQLite database file. This also creates the User and Post tables that are defined in prisma/schema.prisma:

npx prisma migrate dev --name init

Now, seed the database with the sample data in prisma/seed.ts by running the following command:

npx prisma db seed

3. Start the server (backend)

On the same terminal used in step 2, run the following command to start the server:

npm run dev

The server is now running at http://localhost:3001/.

4. Start the app (frontend)

On the terminal window used to install frontend npm dependencies, run the following command to start the app:

npm run dev

The app is now running, navigate to http://localhost:3000/ in your browser to explore its UI.

Expand for a tour through the UI of the app

Blog (located in ./pages/index.tsx

Signup (located in ./pages/signup.tsx)

Create post (draft) (located in ./pages/create.tsx)

Drafts (located in ./pages/drafts.tsx)

View post (located in ./pages/p/[id].tsx) (delete or publish here)

Using the REST API

You can also access the REST API of the API server directly. It is running localhost:3001 (so you can e.g. reach the API with localhost:3000/feed).

GET

• /api/post/:id: Fetch a single post by its id
• /api/feed: Fetch all published posts
• /api/filterPosts?searchString={searchString}: Filter posts by title or content

POST

• /api/post: Create a new post
  • Body:
    • title: String (required): The title of the post
    • content: String (optional): The content of the post
    • authorEmail: String (required): The email of the user that creates the post
• /api/user: Create a new user
  • Body:
    • email: String (required): The email address of the user
    • name: String (optional): The name of the user

PUT

• /api/publish/:id: Publish a post by its id

DELETE

• /api/post/:id: Delete a post by its id

Evolving the app

Evolving the application typically requires three steps:

1. Migrate your database using Prisma Migrate
2. Update your server-side application code
3. Build new UI features in React

For the following example scenario, assume you want to add a "profile" feature to the app where users can create a profile and write a short bio about themselves.

1. Migrate your database using Prisma Migrate

The first step is to add a new table, e.g. called Profile, to the database. You can do this by adding a new model to your Prisma schema file file and then running a migration afterwards:

// schema.prisma

model Post {
  id        Int     @default(autoincrement()) @id
  title     String
  content   String?
  published Boolean @default(false)
  author    User?   @relation(fields: [authorId], references: [id])
  authorId  Int
}

model User {
  id      Int      @default(autoincrement()) @id 
  name    String? 
  email   String   @unique
  posts   Post[]
+ profile Profile?
}

+model Profile {
+  id     Int     @default(autoincrement()) @id
+  bio    String?
+  userId Int     @unique
+  user   User    @relation(fields: [userId], references: [id])
+}

Once you've updated your data model, you can execute the changes against your database with the following command:

npx prisma migrate dev

2. Update your application code

You can now use your PrismaClient instance to perform operations against the new Profile table. Here are some examples:

Create a new profile for an existing user

const profile = await prisma.profile.create({
  data: {
    bio: "Hello World",
    user: {
      connect: { email: "[email protected]" },
    },
  },
});

Create a new user with a new profile

const user = await prisma.user.create({
  data: {
    email: "[email protected]",
    name: "John",
    profile: {
      create: {
        bio: "Hello World",
      },
    },
  },
});

Update the profile of an existing user

const userWithUpdatedProfile = await prisma.user.update({
  where: { email: "[email protected]" },
  data: {
    profile: {
      update: {
        bio: "Hello Friends",
      },
    },
  },
});

3. Build new UI features in React

Once you have added a new endpoint to the API (e.g. /api/profile with /POST, /PUT and GET operations), you can start building a new UI component in React. It could e.g. be called profile.tsx and would be located in the pages directory.

In the application code, you can access the new endpoint via fetch operations and populate the UI with the data you receive from the API calls.

Switch to another database (e.g. PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server, MongoDB)

If you want to try this example with another database than SQLite, you can adjust the the database connection in prisma/schema.prisma by reconfiguring the datasource block.

Learn more about the different connection configurations in the docs.

Expand for an overview of example configurations with different databases

PostgreSQL

For PostgreSQL, the connection URL has the following structure:

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = "postgresql://USER:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/DATABASE?schema=SCHEMA"
}

Here is an example connection string with a local PostgreSQL database:

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = "postgresql://janedoe:mypassword@localhost:5432/notesapi?schema=public"
}

MySQL

For MySQL, the connection URL has the following structure:

datasource db {
  provider = "mysql"
  url      = "mysql://USER:PASSWORD@HOST:PORT/DATABASE"
}

Here is an example connection string with a local MySQL database:

datasource db {
  provider = "mysql"
  url      = "mysql://janedoe:mypassword@localhost:3306/notesapi"
}

Microsoft SQL Server

Here is an example connection string with a local Microsoft SQL Server database:

datasource db {
  provider = "sqlserver"
  url      = "sqlserver://localhost:1433;initial catalog=sample;user=sa;password=mypassword;"
}

MongoDB

Here is an example connection string with a local MongoDB database:

datasource db {
  provider = "mongodb"
  url      = "mongodb://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST/DATABASE?authSource=admin&retryWrites=true&w=majority"
}

Because MongoDB is currently in Preview, you need to specify the previewFeatures on your generator block:

generator client {
  provider        = "prisma-client-js"
  previewFeatures = ["mongodb"]
}

Next steps

• Check out the Prisma docs
• Share your feedback in the prisma2 channel on the Prisma Slack
• Create issues and ask questions on GitHub
• Watch our biweekly "What's new in Prisma" livestreams on Youtube