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Adding an API and database to your Nuxt App with Prisma

Ruheni Alex on February 18, 2021

Note: The application is built using Nuxt version 2 at the time it was written. Prisma runs on the server-side and you can use Nuxt version 3's se...

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Ruheni Alex • Jul 19 '23

I appreciate the feedback.

At the time of writing, the article used Nuxt v2. However, it should be possible with Nuxt 3 without Express. I would recommend checking out sidebase.io which is more up to date. 🙂

AxelBriche • Apr 17 '22 • Edited

Is it possible to use prisma with Nuxt 3 and /server/api folder for useAsyncData/useFetch methods (for send form data) without Express?

I don't find find how to sent (PUT/POST) my form data with useAsyncData/useFetch.
And Nuxt 3 come with the /server/api dir, why use Express?

Ruheni Alex • Apr 18 '22

Hi Axel 👋🏽

At the time the guide was written, the sample application was using Nuxt 2 (I'll add a note about this). You can exclude Express in your project. You can still use Prisma with in server routes.

Aldwin Filoteo • Oct 22 '22

how can we fetch data from database without using Express ? can we have samples using nuxt 2 . thank you

Gareth • Mar 16 '23

This was almost a year ago so I'm pretty sure you worked it out between then and now.

And then you'd just call const { data } = await useFetch('/api/user/1'); in app.vue or which ever Vue component you'd like.

liamb13 • Mar 13 '22 • Edited

If I had an array of posts pulled from another api. How could I add them in bulk to prismas?

E.g:

result = [
  {
    title: 'Post Title 1',
    content: 'An example post',
    author: 'liam@example.com',
  },
    {
    title: 'Post Title 2',
    content: 'An example post by a different author',
    author: 'liamb@example.com',
  },
]

liamb13 • Mar 14 '22

The age old adage... 'read the docs'

const createMany = await prisma.user.createMany({
  data: result,
  skipDuplicates: true, // Skip 'Bobo'
})

or replace result with:

data = [
  {
    title: 'Post Title 1',
    content: 'An example post',
    author: 'liam@example.com',
  },
    {
    title: 'Post Title 2',
    content: 'An example post by a different author',
    author: 'liamb@example.com',
  },
]

Reference: Create multiple records

Sébastien Chopin • May 13 '21

Great article 🙌

MANOJ AP • Jul 25 '21

do you configure database properly ? double check schema..... try to run the migrate command

also try npx prisma studio ( for make sure the connection is set properly)

Nathalie Magdalena Schönwetter • Nov 18 '21

Hi, did you mean me? Yes the DB is running in dev mode. prisma studio is also running. When i try to build, generate and start the nuxt app the api is not available.

Prashant Raval • Dec 30 '21

How to use or call this API in vue file to display result data? Can you please share example?

Ruheni Alex • Dec 30 '21

Hi Prashant 👋🏽

You can use the fetch, axios or http nuxt modules to fetch call the API in either your component or page as follows:

export default {
  data: () => ({
    posts: [],
  }),
  async fetch() {
    this.posts = await this.$http.$get("/posts");
  },
};

You can choose how you would like to display your data in the view.

Prashant Raval • Dec 31 '21

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your response, well the thing is i am starting with Nuxt 3 so later i don't have to rewrite my project, and nuxt 3 have no support for axios.

Nuxt 3 having fetch option and h3, but i am not sure how to use them as Post method to submit my form data.

So do you have any idea about that?

Regards,

Ruheni Alex • Dec 31 '21

For a form submission, you can still use fetch to submit data to the API route.

We created a rest-nuxtjs example but it uses Nuxt v2 and a custom server. In that example, the create.vue page makes a form submission to an API route. You can use this example for inspiration when handling form submission in your application.

Here's what the function resembles:

export default {
  data() {
    return { title: '', authorEmail: '', content: '' }
  },
  methods: {
    createDraft: async function (e) {
      e.preventDefault()
      const body = {
        title: this.title,
        authorEmail: this.authorEmail,
        content: this.content,
      }
      try {
        const res = await fetch(`/api/post`, {
          method: 'POST',
          headers: { 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
          body: JSON.stringify(body),
        })
        const data = await res.json()
        await this.$router.push({ name: 'drafts' })
      } catch (error) {
        console.error(error)
      }
    },
  },
}

Let me know if you run into any other issues. I'd be happy to help! 🙂

Prashant Raval • Jan 2 '22

Hello Alex,

Before i test your example code for form submission, i am stuck with the API call, i have created a file server/api/index.js and here its code part


import express from 'express'
import pkg from '@prisma/client';
const { PrismaClient } = pkg;

const prisma = new PrismaClient({
    log: ['query']
})

const app = express()

// Body parser, to access `req.body`
app.use(express.json())

app.get('/apitest', async (req, res) => {
    res.end('Test API!')
})

app.post('/sendMessage', async (req, res) => {
    const { name, email, company_name, phone, message } = req.body
    const post = await prisma.contact.create({
        data: {
            name,
            email,
            company_name,
            phone,
            message
        }
    })
    res.status(200).json(post)
})

Now, when i run the server localhost:3000 it says handle is not a function
with error code 500

i think as per nuxt 3 document for API ( v3.nuxtjs.org/docs/directory-struc... ) might be it has its own way to handle the request,

So, did you have ever tried this kind of call and have any suggestion for me to fix it?

Thanks a lot

Mojtaba Barari • Sep 16 '21

Great job!! Tanx! also a question! I wanna import an DB from server on local to work offline. should I write the schema of main server BD before import for prisma to work??

Ruheni Alex • Sep 20 '21

Hey Mojtaba 👋

If you're referring to the database schema, you can use the db pull command that the Prisma CLI provides to introspect your database. You can then change the DATABASE_URL in the .env file from the main server to your local database instance, run db push or prisma migrate dev to apply the schema to your local database as well as generate a new Prisma Client.

Mojtaba Barari • Sep 21 '21 • Edited

Tanx. BTW a final question that you may know the answer to.
I'm trying to build an electron app with nuxt-prisma-sqlite . on dev everything is ok, but on built exe file my api wont be handled by express and it gives 404.
Did you have ever came across this??

MANOJ AP • Jul 25 '21

can I use prisma in Vue component as I do in React and Next

Ruheni Alex • Jul 26 '21

Hey Manoj, 👋🏽

Prisma runs on the server-side. If you're using Nuxt, you can run Prisma in the asyncData and fetch hooks at either a page or component level.

I created a small demo you can check out experimenting how this would work. Your feedback on this would be appreciated too 🙂

MANOJ AP • Jul 26 '21

I managed to create a middleware API in Nuxt
I also tried PrismaClient as Vue plugin(Vue.use) and it fails.
Same result in Vuex store.

gist.github.com/manojap/fb0d973551...

MANOJ AP • Jul 27 '21

Here is my sandbox
codesandbox.io/s/nuxt-api-prisma-a...

Ruheni Alex • Aug 9 '21

The sample on Codesandbox should work just fine. I've managed to query data – both the REST and GraphQL API.

Could you share the error you get when you use a Vue plugin?

liamb13 • Oct 20 '21

Would it be possible to expand on this article for user authentication?

Ruheni Alex • Oct 21 '21

Hi @liamb 👋

That sounds like a terrific idea, similar to How to Build a Fullstack App with Next.js, Prisma, and PostgreSQL. Before we get to it, you can have a look at nuxt-auth.

Hendi Santika • Jan 28

Could You upgrade into nuxt 3?

MANOJ AP • Oct 7 '21

right solution

Sebastian hilton • Jun 13 '22

I know its been several months since this post, but how does someone create API routes if you have hundreds of models? Is there an easier way or a generator?

Ruheni Alex • Jun 14 '22

Hi Sebastian 👋🏽
The API routes defined would be depended on the business logic of your application. However, if you're looking to build a generator, take a look at create-prisma-generator. However, the API for building generators is unofficial and undocumented.

Nathalie Magdalena Schönwetter • Nov 17 '21

Hoi, how can i build this correctly? Everytime i try npm run build, generate and start the frontend works fine but the backend (api) is not reachable.