Error importing PrismaClient in code compiled from typescript [SyntaxError: Named export 'PrismaClient' not found]

Question

In server.ts, importing PrismaClient like this:

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

export const prisma = new PrismaClient();

throws an Error when building with tsc and running the compiled code:

yarn run build && yarn run start

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^
SyntaxError: Named export 'PrismaClient' not found. The requested module '@prisma/client' is a CommonJS module, which may not support all module.exports as named exports.
CommonJS modules can always be imported via the default export, for example using:

    import pkg from '@prisma/client';
    const { PrismaClient } = pkg;
    
        at ModuleJob._instantiate (internal/modules/esm/module_job.js:104:21)
        at async ModuleJob.run (internal/modules/esm/module_job.js:149:5)
        at async Loader.import (internal/modules/esm/loader.js:166:24)
        at async Object.loadESM (internal/process/esm_loader.js:68:5)
    error Command failed with exit code 1.

So I did what was recommended and changed the code to:

import Prisma from '@prisma/client';

const { PrismaClient } = Prisma;
export const prisma = new PrismaClient();

And this code works after building with tsc and running the resulting code. But now running the typescript files with ts-node-dev throws this Error:

yarn run dev

TypeError: Cannot destructure property 'PrismaClient' of 'client_1.default' as it is undefined.
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\gfs10\Projetos\rest-api\src\server.ts:11:9)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1063:30)
    at Module._compile (C:\Users\gfs10\Projetos\rest-api\node_modules\source-map-support\source-map-support.js:547:25)
    at Module.m._compile (C:\Users\gfs10\AppData\Local\Temp\ts-node-dev-hook-9753341767331849.js:69:33)
    at Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1092:10)
    at require.extensions.<computed> (C:\Users\gfs10\AppData\Local\Temp\ts-node-dev-hook-9753341767331849.js:71:20)
    at Object.nodeDevHook [as .ts] (C:\Users\gfs10\Projetos\rest-api\node_modules\ts-node-dev\lib\hook.js:63:13)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:928:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:769:14)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:952:19)
[ERROR] 19:03:38 TypeError: Cannot destructure property 'PrismaClient' of 'client_1.default' as it is undefined.

And changing the code to:

import Prisma from '@prisma/client';

export const prisma = new Prisma.PrismaClient();

throws this error:

yarn run dev

TypeError: Cannot read property 'PrismaClient' of undefined
    at Object.<anonymous> (C:\Users\gfs10\Projetos\rest-api\src\server.ts:11:34)
    at Module._compile (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1063:30)
    at Module._compile (C:\Users\gfs10\Projetos\rest-api\node_modules\source-map-support\source-map-support.js:547:25)
    at Module.m._compile (C:\Users\gfs10\AppData\Local\Temp\ts-node-dev-hook-7015369495927739.js:69:33)
    at Module._extensions..js (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:1092:10)
    at require.extensions.<computed> (C:\Users\gfs10\AppData\Local\Temp\ts-node-dev-hook-7015369495927739.js:71:20)
    at Object.nodeDevHook [as .ts] (C:\Users\gfs10\Projetos\rest-api\node_modules\ts-node-dev\lib\hook.js:63:13)
    at Module.load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:928:32)
    at Function.Module._load (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:769:14)
    at Module.require (internal/modules/cjs/loader.js:952:19)
[ERROR] 19:09:01 TypeError: Cannot read property 'PrismaClient' of undefined

How come? How can I make both work at the same time?

My tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2020",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "outDir": "./build/",
    "rootDir": "./src/",
    "strict": true,
    "alwaysStrict": true,
    "noImplicitAny": true,
    "noUnusedLocals": true,
    "noUnusedParameters": true,
    "noImplicitReturns": true,
    "strictNullChecks": true,
    "strictPropertyInitialization": true,
    "strictBindCallApply": true,
    "noImplicitThis": true,
    "noFallthroughCasesInSwitch": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "declaration": true
  }
}

My package.json:

{
  "name": "rest-api",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "description": "A REST API boilerplate.",
  "main": "server.ts",
  "author": "Gledyson Ferreira",
  "license": "MIT",
  "type": "module",
  "scripts": {
    "start": "node --experimental-specifier-resolution=node build/server.js",
    "dev": "SET NODE_ENV=development&& ts-node-dev --clear src/server.ts",
    "build": "tsc",
    "lint": "eslint --ext .ts ."
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^4.18.0",
    "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^4.18.0",
    "eslint": "^7.22.0",
    "prisma": "^2.19.0",
    "ts-node-dev": "^1.1.6",
    "typescript": "^4.2.3"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@prisma/client": "^2.19.0",
    "@types/bcrypt": "^3.0.0",
    "@types/cors": "^2.8.10",
    "@types/express": "^4.17.11",
    "@types/jsonwebtoken": "^8.5.1",
    "@types/morgan": "^1.9.2",
    "@types/node": "^14.14.35",
    "@types/passport": "^1.0.6",
    "@types/passport-jwt": "^3.0.5",
    "bcrypt": "^5.0.1",
    "cors": "^2.8.5",
    "express": "^4.17.1",
    "jsonwebtoken": "^8.5.1",
    "morgan": "^1.10.0",
    "passport": "^0.4.1",
    "passport-jwt": "^4.0.0"
  }
}

My server.ts

import express from 'express';
import Prisma from '@prisma/client';
import config from './config';
import api from './api';
import middleware from './middlewares';
import morgan from 'morgan';
import cors from 'cors';
import passport from 'passport';
import setReqUser from './services/passport';

export const prisma = new Prisma.PrismaClient();
const app = express();

app.disable('x-powered-by');
app.use(express.json());
app.use(morgan('tiny'));
app.use(cors());
app.use(passport.initialize());
setReqUser(passport);

app.use('/api/v1', api.authRoute);
app.use('/api/v1/users', api.userRoute);

app.use(middleware.unknownEndpoint);
app.use(middleware.errorHandler);

app.listen(config.port, () => {
  console.log(`
    ################################################
    
    Server running on port ${config.port} in ${config.env} mode.

    ################################################
  `);
});

Timothy Zack Timbol · Accepted Answer · 2022-11-17 06:26:48Z

30

If you just cloned this project then it's likely that you didn't generate the prisma client yet. I've ran npx prisma generate and it seemed to fix it.

answered Nov 17, 2022 at 6:26

Timothy Zack Timbol

3013 silver badges3 bronze badges

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3 Comments

ninsau Over a year ago

this solves it. restart code editor to reset cache if this isn't working for you upon initial try

Mattia Rasulo Over a year ago

This does not solve it for me.

damisparks Over a year ago

It solved the issue for me as well after running npx prisma generate. If you use pnpm, do not forget to add: hoist-pattern[]=*prisma*.

Ryan · Accepted Answer · 2021-03-22 06:31:47Z

2

Prisma doesn't support ES6 modules yet. I would suggest following this request and in the meantime using CommonJS i.e. removing "type": "module" from your package.json and setting the target in tsconfig.json to ES2018.

answered Mar 22, 2021 at 6:31

Ryan

6,4171 gold badge31 silver badges37 bronze badges

Comments

jcode · Accepted Answer · 2021-05-05 23:41:40Z

1

As you may know this issue was being worked on here.

In the mean time what you could do to proceed with your tests is to use dependency injection with a mocked prisma client and to move the deconstruction line

const { PrismaClient } = pkg;

to where your class or function uses it inside an if, i.e:

class MyClass {
  prisma: Prisma.PrismaClient

  def constructor(props) {
    if (!props?.prisma) {
      const { PrismaClient } = Prisma
      this.prisma = new PrismaClient({
        log: ['error']
      })
    } else {
      this.prisma = props.prisma
    }
  }
}

I know its not ideal but hopefully this does the trick.

to mock the PrismaClient you could mock it using jest-mock-extended like so

const mockPrisma = mockDeep<OriginalPrismaClient>();

answered May 5, 2021 at 23:41

jcode

261 silver badge2 bronze badges

1 Comment

Dale Ryan Over a year ago

I used import { PrismaClient } from "@prisma/client" for a while and it was working on production. For some unknown reason it does not work anymore. The deconstruction trick worked!

Onur Doğan · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-12 12:19:12Z

0

tsconfig.ts is No modifications are needed.

I merely added the comments for the "output" directory.

edit schema.prisma -output

Execute the following commands:

npm i  prisma  @prisma/client

npx  npx prisma generate

And, it will be alright like this.

edited Jun 12 at 12:19

Onur Doğan

2,11612 gold badges35 silver badges60 bronze badges

answered Jun 12 at 3:06

One24 Jack

111 bronze badge

1 Comment

zerocukor287 Jun 12 at 9:19

Please use proper code formatting, and include the relevant code as code block (not as image).

Numerator · Accepted Answer · 2025-06-13 10:17:10Z

0

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
  // output   = "../generated/prisma"  ---Comment out this line
}

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = env("DATABASE_URL")
}

Just Comment out the output in schema.prisma file and then run :
npx prisma generate

I worked for me.

edited Jun 13 at 10:17

answered Jun 13 at 10:16

Numerator

12 bronze badges

Comments

Prashant · Accepted Answer · 2025-08-29 13:03:18Z

0

i have solved this problem

using Ctrl+Shift+P → TypeScript: Restart TS Server

because my nodemodules are not read properly by typesript server

answered Aug 29 at 13:03

Prashant

1

Comments

yashwardhan pathak · Accepted Answer · 2025-10-14 18:00:48Z

0

i think your client is not generated yet try to generate it two three times same happened with me i did and it worked for me

answered Oct 14 at 18:00

yashwardhan pathak

1

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