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Nabin Kandel
Nabin Kandel

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Building a NestJS + Prisma + Vercel Serverless API :quick setup

#api #serverless #tutorial #typescript

NestJS + Prisma + Vercel Starter

Minimal REST API built with NestJS, Prisma v6, PostgreSQL — ready for Vercel serverless deployment.

Why Prisma v6?

Prisma v7 introduced breaking changes that require extra serverless adapters and additional configuration files. Prisma v6 works with Vercel out of the box — no extra setup needed.

Quick Setup

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/nabinkdl/prisma-Nest-vercel-setup.git my-app
cd my-app
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Rename the folder to whatever fits your project (my-app above). Then remove the original git history so you can start fresh:

rm -rf .git
git init

🏷️ Set Project Details (No manual editing)

Instead of editing package.json, run:

npm pkg set name="your name"
npm pkg set description="this is your description"
npm pkg set author=" set author name"
npm pkg set license=" set license"
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2. Install

npm install
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3. Configure environment

cp .env.example .env
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Set DATABASE_URL in .env:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@host:5432/mydb?schema=public"
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Provider Connection string tip
Neon append ?sslmode=require
Supabase append ?pgbouncer=true
Railway use the provided string as-is

4. Migrate database

npx prisma migrate dev --name init
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Prisma Studio

 npx prisma studio
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5. Start dev server

npm run start:dev
# → http://localhost:3000
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Deploy to Vercel

  1. Push repo to GitHub
  2. Import project at vercel.com/new
  3. Add environment variables:
    • DATABASE_URL — your PostgreSQL connection string
    • NODE_ENV — production
  4. Deploy — Vercel automatically runs: 
   prisma generate && npm run build
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API Endpoints

Method Route Body Description
GET / — API info
GET /todos — List all todos
POST /todos { "title": "string" } Create a todo
DELETE /todos/:id — Delete a todo

Project Structure 

src/
├── app.module.ts         # Root module
├── prisma/
│   ├── prisma.service.ts   # Singleton Prisma client
│   └── prisma.module.ts    # Global Prisma module
└── todo/
    ├── todo.controller.ts
    ├── todo.service.ts
    └── todo.module.ts
api/
└── index.js              # Vercel serverless entry point
prisma/
└── schema.prisma         # Database schema
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Notes

  • Singleton pattern — PrismaService reuses a single client instance across serverless invocations to prevent connection exhaustion.
  • Two entry points — main.ts is for local development only (app.listen(3000)). Vercel uses api/index.js with ExpressAdapter and no listen call.
  • Never commit .env — use .env.example as the template for your team.
  • Best for — hobby/small projects

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