Emem Isaac's Musings

Current State of Prisma on Edge

Prisma now supports a range of edge platforms. Below are the platforms that are commonly used with Prisma in 2025:

Vercel Edge Functions
Cloudflare Workers (with some limitations)
Netlify Edge Functions
Deno Deploy
AWS Lambda@Edge

Key Solutions for Edge Deployment

1. Prisma Accelerate (Recommended)

Prisma Accelerate provides client-side extensions that enable query caching and other edge-friendly optimizations.

Example: Prisma Accelerate

600;">import { PrismaClient } 600;">from '@prisma/client'
600;">import { withAccelerate } 600;">from '@prisma/extension-accelerate'

600;">const prisma = 600;">new PrismaClient().$600;">extends(withAccelerate())

// Usage in edge 600;">function
600;">export 600;">async 600;">function GET() {
  600;">const users = 600;">await prisma.user.findMany({
    cacheStrategy: { ttl: 60 } // 60 seconds cache
  })
  
  600;">return 600;">new Response(JSON.stringify(users))
}

2. Connection Pooling with Prisma Data Proxy

Use the Data Proxy or a serverless-friendly database to avoid exhausting connections from edge runtimes.

Schema snippet

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
  previewFeatures = ["driverAdapters"]
}

datasource db {
  provider     = "postgresql"
  url          = env("DATABASE_URL")
  directUrl    = env("DIRECT_URL") // For Data Proxy
}

3. Edge-Compatible Database Options

Choose a DB that plays well with short-lived connections and pooling.

Neon Serverless PostgreSQL (recommended)
PlanetScale (MySQL)
Turso / LibSQL (SQLite-backed)

Turso example (adapter)

600;">import { PrismaClient } 600;">from '@prisma/client'
600;">import { PrismaTurso } 600;">from '@prisma/adapter-turso'
600;">import { createClient } 600;">from '@libsql/client'

600;">const libsql = createClient({
  url: process.env.TURSO_DATABASE_URL,
  authToken: process.env.TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN,
})

600;">const adapter = 600;">new PrismaTurso(libsql)
600;">const prisma = 600;">new PrismaClient({ adapter })

Examples

Global Prisma client (singleton) — best for local dev and edge

// Global Prisma client for edge (singleton pattern)
600;">const globalForPrisma = globalThis 600;">as unknown 600;">as {
  prisma: 600;">import('@prisma/client').PrismaClient | undefined
}

600;">const prisma = globalForPrisma.prisma ?? 600;">new (require('@prisma/client').PrismaClient)()

if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
  globalForPrisma.prisma = prisma
}

Next.js App Router (edge runtime)

// app/api/users/route.ts
600;">export 600;">const runtime = 'edge'

600;">import { NextResponse } 600;">from 'next/server'
600;">import { PrismaClient } 600;">from '@prisma/client'

600;">const prisma = 600;">new PrismaClient()

600;">export 600;">async 600;">function GET() {
  600;">const users = 600;">await prisma.user.findMany()
  600;">return NextResponse.json(users)
}

Best Practices for Edge Environments

Use connection pooling or the Data Proxy to protect your database from connection storms.
Cache at the edge whenever possible (CDN or v8 snapshot caches).
Limit query payloads and paginate results.
Monitor cold starts and optimize dependencies.
Use Prisma Accelerate for caching and edge-oriented optimizations.

Error handling example

600;">export 600;">async 600;">function GET() {
  600;">try {
    600;">const data = 600;">await prisma.user.findMany({
      take: 10 // Limit results on edge
    })
    
    600;">return 600;">new Response(JSON.stringify(data), {
      headers: {
        'Cache-Control': 's-maxage=60'
      }
    })
  } 600;">catch (error) {
    console.error('Database error:', error)
    600;">return 600;">new Response('Error', { status: 500 })
  }
}

Current Limitations

No transactions in some edge environments
Limited WebSocket support
File system access restrictions
Memory limits (typically 128–256 MB)

Getting Started Checklist

Choose an edge-compatible database
Set up connection pooling/Data Proxy
Configure Prisma schema for your environment
Implement global Prisma client instance
Add proper error handling
Set up monitoring and logging
Implement caching strategies

Prisma on the edge is production-ready for many use cases when following the patterns above. Use Accelerate and edge-optimized databases to get the best developer and runtime experience.

Isaac.

Prisma on the Edge: Practical Guide