ESM and CommonJS Support

Prisma ORM v7 is ESM-first, but the prisma-client generator can target either ESM or CommonJS. Use ESM by default, and opt into CommonJS with moduleFormat = "cjs" if your project still needs it.

ESM Projects

Add "type": "module" to package.json and use an ESM-compatible tsconfig.json:

{
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc",
    "start": "node dist/index.js"
  }
}

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "target": "ES2023",
    "strict": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "outDir": "dist"
  },
  "include": ["src/**/*", "prisma/**/*"]
}

CommonJS Projects

If the rest of your app is still CommonJS, keep that setup and make the generated Prisma Client CommonJS too:

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "module": "CommonJS",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "target": "ES2022",
    "esModuleInterop": true
  }
}

generator client {
  provider     = "prisma-client"
  output       = "../generated/prisma"
  moduleFormat = "cjs"
}

Generator Fields That Matter

moduleFormat: esm or cjs
runtime: nodejs, bun, deno, workerd, vercel-edge, react-native
generatedFileExtension: ts, mts, or cts
importFileExtension: ts, mts, cts, js, mjs, cjs, or empty

Example:

generator client {
  provider               = "prisma-client"
  output                 = "../generated/prisma"
  runtime                = "nodejs"
  moduleFormat           = "esm"
  generatedFileExtension = "ts"
  importFileExtension    = "ts"
}

Import Paths

Server Code

import { PrismaClient } from '../generated/prisma/client'

Browser-Safe Types

import { Prisma } from '../generated/prisma/browser'
import { Role } from '../generated/prisma/enums'
import type { UserModel } from '../generated/prisma/models/User'

File Extensions

With moduleResolution: "Node16" or "NodeNext", use .js/.mjs/.cjs extensions that match your emitted files.

With moduleResolution: "bundler", bare relative imports are usually fine.

Minimum Versions

Requirement	Minimum Version
Node.js	20.19.0
TypeScript	5.4.0

Framework Considerations

Next.js

Next.js works well with the default ESM output. If you need generated types in client components, import them from browser, models, or enums, not from client.

Bun

Bun loads .env files automatically, so ESM plus env() is the smoothest default. You can still choose moduleFormat = "cjs" if the rest of your project requires it.

Troubleshooting

"ERR_REQUIRE_ESM"

Your generated client is ESM, but your app is requiring it as CommonJS. Either switch the project to ESM or set moduleFormat = "cjs" and regenerate.

"Cannot use import statement outside a module"

Your app is still being executed as CommonJS. Add "type": "module" or use moduleFormat = "cjs" instead.

TypeScript compilation errors

Ensure module, moduleResolution, and your generator's moduleFormat agree with one another.

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