Drizzle ORM
Schema-first, type-safe SQL with minimal abstraction
Drizzle Schema
Drizzle is a lightweight TypeScript ORM that generates SQL you can read. Unlike Prisma's custom schema language, Drizzle schemas are pure TypeScript. It's 'SQL-like' — if you know SQL, you know Drizzle.
typescript
// Schema & Queries
import { pgTable, serial, text, integer, boolean, timestamp } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';
import { relations } from 'drizzle-orm';
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres';
import { eq, gt, and, desc } from 'drizzle-orm';
// Schema definition (pure TypeScript)
export const users = pgTable('users', {
id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
name: text('name').notNull(),
email: text('email').notNull().unique(),
age: integer('age'),
createdAt: timestamp('created_at').defaultNow(),
});
export const posts = pgTable('posts', {
id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
title: text('title').notNull(),
content: text('content'),
published: boolean('published').default(false),
authorId: integer('author_id').references(() => users.id),
});
// Relations
export const usersRelations = relations(users, ({ many }) => ({
posts: many(posts),
}));
export const postsRelations = relations(posts, ({ one }) => ({
author: one(users, { fields: [posts.authorId], references: [users.id] }),
}));
// Queries
const db = drizzle(pool);
// Select with filter
const result = await db.select().from(users)
.where(and(gt(users.age, 18), eq(users.email, 'alice@ex.com')))
.orderBy(desc(users.createdAt))
.limit(10);
// Insert
await db.insert(users).values({ name: 'Alice', email: 'alice@ex.com' });
// Update
await db.update(users).set({ name: 'Alice S.' }).where(eq(users.id, 1));
// Delete
await db.delete(users).where(eq(users.id, 1));
// JOIN
const usersWithPosts = await db.select()
.from(users)
.leftJoin(posts, eq(users.id, posts.authorId));Migrations
- npx drizzle-kit generate — generate SQL migration from schema changes
- npx drizzle-kit migrate — apply pending migrations
- npx drizzle-kit push — push schema directly (prototyping)
- npx drizzle-kit studio — visual database browser
💬 Drizzle vs Prisma — key differences?
Drizzle: TypeScript schemas, SQL-like API, thinner abstraction, smaller bundle, no code generation step. Prisma: custom schema language, higher-level API, auto-generated client, better for rapid prototyping. Drizzle is closer to SQL; Prisma is more ORM-like.