orm_flutter 0.2.0

The engine of Prisma ORM for Flutter, Library for binding Prisma's C-Abi engine with Flutter.

---

title: Flutter Integration

Flutter Integration

Prisma ORM for Dart allows you to integrate it in Flutter Project.

Platform Support

Platform	Support	Nots
iOS	✅
Android	✅
macOS	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
Linux	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
Windows	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
Web	❌	No plans at the moment

Database Support

Database	Suppoprt	Notes
Sqlite	✅
MySQL/MariaDB	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
PostgreSQL	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
MongoDB	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
Microsoft SQL Server	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support
CockroachDB	❌	Prisma C-ABI not support

Installation

You should first read the Installation Documentation, and Setup Prisma ORM of the orm package.

Now, let’s install the orm_flutter package, you can use the command line:

flutter pub add orm_flutter

Or edit your Flutter project’s pubspce.yaml file:

dependencies:
  orm_flutter: latest

Integration

Set your generator engine type to flutter in your Prisma schema (schema.prisma):

generator client {
  provider   = "dart run orm"
  output     = "../lib/_generated_prisma_client"
  engineType = "flutter" // [!code focus]
}

Migrations

Unlike server-side, databases in Flutter are not typically handled by you in the Prisma CLI before building.

Create migration file

::: code-group

bun prisma migrate dev

npx prisma migrate dev

pnpx prisma migrate dev

:::

Notes: By default it is created in the prisma/migrations/ folder.

Set migration files to flutter assets

Now, let's edit your pubspec.yaml:

flutter:
  assets:
    - prisma/migrations/ # Migrations root dir
    - prisma/migrations/<dir>/ # Set first migration files dir
    # ... More assets

Notes: Each migration folder generated using the prisma migrate dev command needs to be added.

Run migration

final engine = prisma.$engine as LibraryEngine;

await engine.applyMigrations(
     path: 'prisma/migrations/', // You define in `flutter.assets` migrations root dir
);

Notes:

In addition to using flutter.assets, you can customize AssetBundle to achieve:

await engine.applyMigrations(
  path: '<Your migration dir prefix>',
  bundle: <You custon bundle>,
);

Also, engine.applyMigrations may throw exceptions. This is usually caused by your destructive changes to the migration files, and you should handle this yourself. The most common method is to delete the database file after throwing the exception, and then rerun the migration.

If you are adding a new migration, there will be almost no problems.

Complete integration example

In this Example, we will install these packages:

• path
• path_provider

We install the database in the <Application Support Directory>/database.sqlite location and then use flutter.assets to run the migration

::: code-group

import 'package:flutter/widgets.dart';
import 'package:orm_flutter/orm_flutter.dart';
import 'package:path/path.dart';
import 'package:path_provider/path_provider.dart';

import '_generated_prisma_client/client.dart';

late final PrismaClient prisma;

Future<void> initPrismaClient() async {
  WidgetsFlutterBinding.ensureInitialized();

  final supportDir = await getApplicationSupportDirectory();
  final database = join(supportDir.path, 'database.sqlite.db');

  prisma = PrismaClient(datasourceUrl: 'file:$database');
  final engine = switch (prisma.$engine) {
    LibraryEngine engine => engine,
    _ => null,
  };

  await prisma.$connect();
  await engine?.applyMigrations(path: 'prisma/migrations');
}

import 'prisma.dart';

Future<void> main() async {
     await initPrismaClient();

     // ...
}

:::

Example App

We provide you with a demo App that integrates Prisma ORM in Flutter 👉 Flutter with ORM

FAQ

Error (Xcode): Undefined symbol: prisma_*

This is due to a library compilation failure, which will persist even if you download a new fixed version.

Solution: Run the command:

flutter clean

Not fond */query_engine/*/libquery_engine.a file

This is because the automatic download of the Prisma static query engine library failed.

To fix it, run the following command:

dart run orm_flutter:dl_engine

Other unknown error solutions:

Most problems can be solved by using the following combination of commands:

flutter clean # Clean flutter cache files
flutter pub get # Reinstall deps
dart run orm_flutter:dl_engine # Download prisma engine static library
<bun/npx/pnpx/yarn> prisma generate # Regenerate prisma client

Every time you update the orm_flutter version

Since the Prisma C-ABI engine is available on CDN, the Flutter plugin does not support running a script before build. Plus, pub.dev has a package size limit.

So, after you install the new orm_flutter package, it does not include the Prisma Engine, and you need to run the following command to download it:

dart run orm_flutter:dl_engine

It is best to run flutter clean to reset the native build after re-downloading the engine. Note that the cleanup is only required for iOS.

If you have installed both orm and orm_flutter dependencies and generated the Prisma client for Flutter, you only need to run prisma generate, which will automatically find and download the engine. This greatly simplifies the initialization work.