Build a Simple CRUD Node.js App with CockroachDB and Prisma

On this page

Warning:

CockroachDB v21.2 is no longer supported. For more details, see the Release Support Policy.

This tutorial shows you how build a simple Node.js application with CockroachDB and Prisma.

Step 1. Start CockroachDB

Create a free cluster

If you haven't already, sign up for a CockroachDB Cloud account.
Log in to your CockroachDB Cloud account.
On the Clusters page, click Create Cluster.
On the Create your cluster page, select Serverless.
Click Create cluster.

Your cluster will be created in a few seconds and the Create SQL user dialog will display.

Create a SQL user

The Create SQL user dialog allows you to create a new SQL user and password.

Enter a username in the SQL user field or use the one provided by default.
Click Generate & save password.
Copy the generated password and save it in a secure location.
Click Next.

Currently, all new users are created with full privileges. For more information and to change the default settings, see [Manage SQL users on a cluster.

Get the connection string

The Connect to cluster dialog shows information about how to connect to your cluster.

Select General connection string from the Select option dropdown.
Open the General connection string section, then copy the connection string provided and save it in a secure location.

The sample application used in this tutorial uses system CA certificates for server certificate verification, so you can skip the Download CA Cert instructions.

Note:

The connection string is pre-populated with your username, password, cluster name, and other details. Your password, in particular, will be provided only once. Save it in a secure place (Cockroach Labs recommends a password manager) to connect to your cluster in the future. If you forget your password, you can reset it by going to the SQL Users page for the cluster, found at https://cockroachlabs.cloud/cluster/<CLUSTER ID>/users.

If you haven't already, download the CockroachDB binary.
Run the cockroach start-single-node command:
```
$ cockroach start-single-node --advertise-addr 'localhost' --insecure
```
This starts an insecure, single-node cluster.

Take note of the following connection information in the SQL shell welcome text:

CockroachDB node starting at 2021-08-30 17:25:30.06524 +0000 UTC (took 4.3s)
build:               CCL v21.1.6 @ 2021/07/20 15:33:43 (go1.15.11)
webui:               http://localhost:8080
sql:                 postgresql://root@localhost:26257?sslmode=disable

You'll use the sql connection string to connect to the cluster later in this tutorial.

Warning:

The --insecure flag used in this tutorial is intended for non-production testing only. To run CockroachDB in production, use a secure cluster instead.

Step 2. Get the code

Clone the code's GitHub repo:
```
$ git clone https://github.com/cockroachlabs/example-app-node-prisma
```
Install the application dependencies:
```
$ cd example-app-node-prisma
```
```
$ npm install
```

Step 3. Initialize the database

Create a .env file for your project, and set the DATABASE_URL environment variable to a valid connection string to your cluster.
```
$ echo "DATABASE_URL=<connection-string>" >> .env
```
Where <connection-string> is the connection string you obtained earlier from the CockroachDB Cloud Console.
```
$ echo "DATABASE_URL=postgresql://root@localhost:26257?sslmode=disable" >> .env
```
Note:

postgresql://root@localhost:26257?sslmode=disable is the sql connection string you obtained earlier from the cockroach welcome text.
Prisma loads the variables defined in .env to the project environment. By default, Prisma uses the DATABASE_URL environment variable as the connection string to the database.
Run Prisma Migrate to initialize the database with the schema defined in prisma/prisma.schema.
```
$ node_modules/.bin/prisma migrate dev --name init
```
You should see the following output:
```
Your database is now in sync with your schema.

✔ Generated Prisma Client (3.12.0 | library) to ./node_modules/@prisma/client in 73ms
```
This command also initializes Prisma Client to communicate with your CockroachDB cluster, based on the configuration in the prisma/schema.prisma file.

Step 4. Run the code

The index.js file contains the code for INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE, and DELETE SQL operations:

const { PrismaClient } = require('@prisma/client')
const { v4: uuidv4 } = require('uuid')

const prisma = new PrismaClient({
  datasources: {
    db: {
      url: process.env.DATABASE_URL + "&application_name=$ docs_simplecrud_node-prisma",
    },
  },
})

const main = async () => {
  const customerIds = Array(10).fill().map(() => ({ id: uuidv4() }))
  const accountValues = Array(10).fill().map((_, index) => ({
    id: uuidv4(),
    customer_id: customerIds[index].id,
    balance: Math.floor(Math.random() * 1000)
  }))

  const insertCustomerRows = await prisma.customer.createMany({
    data: customerIds
  })

  console.log('Customer rows inserted.', insertCustomerRows)

  const insertAccountRows = await prisma.account.createMany({
    data: accountValues
  })

  console.log('Account rows inserted.', insertAccountRows)
  console.log('Initial Account row values:\n', await prisma.account.findMany())

  const updateRows = await prisma.account.updateMany({
    where: {
      balance: {
        gt: 100
      }
    },
    data: {
      balance: {
        decrement: 5
      }
    }
  })

  console.log('Account rows updated.', updateRows)
  console.log('Updated Account row values:\n', await prisma.account.findMany())

  const deleteAllRows = await prisma.customer.deleteMany()

  console.log('All Customer rows deleted.', deleteAllRows)
}

main()
  .catch((e) => {
    throw e
  })
  .finally(async () => {
    await prisma.$disconnect()
  })

Note:

In production, we recommend implementing client-side transaction retries for all database operations.

Run the application code:

$ node index.js

Customer rows inserted. { count: 10 }
Account rows inserted. { count: 10 }
Initial Account row values:
 [
  {
    id: '1961432f-f93e-4568-b2a5-ba08f73afde5',
    customer_id: '079daee3-ecf2-4a0f-980b-4c3ea4c8b6a3',
    balance: 914n
  },
  {
    id: '4ccd7eea-eb47-4aa9-9819-30b5aae58bf8',
    customer_id: 'c0eeb465-ab60-4f02-9bf3-3451578d400d',
    balance: 176n
  },
  {
    id: '53ed4f7d-72ee-4390-9487-9bf318357c77',
    customer_id: 'a4c9e26e-f9d8-4c1b-ac20-1aa8611b134f',
    balance: 54n
  },
  {
    id: '79a1f1b2-4050-4329-bf52-5df53fec749e',
    customer_id: '392c7d15-5ab2-4149-9eee-8a3a44b36e9d',
    balance: 482n
  },
  {
    id: '7e30f1e0-e873-4565-9ea3-3079a48a4886',
    customer_id: '12cb3406-264a-417c-b0e6-86593e60dc18',
    balance: 478n
  },
  {
    id: '94f461d5-3985-46c1-98f4-1896f15f0a16',
    customer_id: 'e4c909a4-6683-429d-9831-dfcf792f4fb0',
    balance: 240n
  },
  {
    id: 'a0c081f5-fb15-47cc-8dbb-85c6f15677d2',
    customer_id: '91ece5f2-df03-4023-b112-2b4d5677981b',
    balance: 520n
  },
  {
    id: 'a45b7c41-2f62-4620-be69-57d5d61186e4',
    customer_id: 'c1824327-d6a1-4916-a666-ea157ef2a409',
    balance: 50n
  },
  {
    id: 'dbe0dec5-257b-42ff-9d36-1b5a57e1a4ac',
    customer_id: '6739eb2f-bcb1-4074-aab4-5860b04d227d',
    balance: 468n
  },
  {
    id: 'ebc520b4-8df0-4e2f-8426-104594f6341c',
    customer_id: 'f83e02cb-77cf-4347-9e0c-28cad65fac34',
    balance: 336n
  }
]
Account rows updated. { count: 8 }
Updated Account row values:
 [
  {
    id: '1961432f-f93e-4568-b2a5-ba08f73afde5',
    customer_id: '079daee3-ecf2-4a0f-980b-4c3ea4c8b6a3',
    balance: 909n
  },
  {
    id: '4ccd7eea-eb47-4aa9-9819-30b5aae58bf8',
    customer_id: 'c0eeb465-ab60-4f02-9bf3-3451578d400d',
    balance: 171n
  },
  {
    id: '53ed4f7d-72ee-4390-9487-9bf318357c77',
    customer_id: 'a4c9e26e-f9d8-4c1b-ac20-1aa8611b134f',
    balance: 54n
  },
  {
    id: '79a1f1b2-4050-4329-bf52-5df53fec749e',
    customer_id: '392c7d15-5ab2-4149-9eee-8a3a44b36e9d',
    balance: 477n
  },
  {
    id: '7e30f1e0-e873-4565-9ea3-3079a48a4886',
    customer_id: '12cb3406-264a-417c-b0e6-86593e60dc18',
    balance: 473n
  },
  {
    id: '94f461d5-3985-46c1-98f4-1896f15f0a16',
    customer_id: 'e4c909a4-6683-429d-9831-dfcf792f4fb0',
    balance: 235n
  },
  {
    id: 'a0c081f5-fb15-47cc-8dbb-85c6f15677d2',
    customer_id: '91ece5f2-df03-4023-b112-2b4d5677981b',
    balance: 515n
  },
  {
    id: 'a45b7c41-2f62-4620-be69-57d5d61186e4',
    customer_id: 'c1824327-d6a1-4916-a666-ea157ef2a409',
    balance: 50n
  },
  {
    id: 'dbe0dec5-257b-42ff-9d36-1b5a57e1a4ac',
    customer_id: '6739eb2f-bcb1-4074-aab4-5860b04d227d',
    balance: 463n
  },
  {
    id: 'ebc520b4-8df0-4e2f-8426-104594f6341c',
    customer_id: 'f83e02cb-77cf-4347-9e0c-28cad65fac34',
    balance: 331n
  }
]
All Customer rows deleted. { count: 10 }

Cockroach
University

Docs Hub

Build a Simple CRUD Node.js App with CockroachDB and Prisma

Step 1. Start CockroachDB

Create a free cluster

Create a SQL user

Get the connection string

Step 2. Get the code

Step 3. Initialize the database

Step 4. Run the code

What's next?

Cockroach University

Docs Hub

Cockroach University

Docs Hub

Build a Simple CRUD Node.js App with CockroachDB and Prisma

Step 1. Start CockroachDB

Create a free cluster

Create a SQL user

Get the connection string

Step 2. Get the code

Step 3. Initialize the database

Step 4. Run the code

What's next?

Cockroach
University

Cockroach
University