Database Client

The zen generate command compiles the ZModel schema into TypeScript code, which we can in turn use to initialize a type-safe database client. ZenStack uses Kysely to handle the low-level database operations, so the client is initialize with a Kysely dialect - an object that encapsulates database details.

The samples below only shows creating a client using SQLite (via better-sqlite3) and PostgreSQL (via node-postgres), however you can also use any other Kysely dialects.

SQLite

npm

npm install --save-dev @types/better-sqlite3
npm install better-sqlite3

pnpm

pnpm add --save-dev @types/better-sqlite3
pnpm add better-sqlite3

bun

bun add --dev @types/better-sqlite3
bun add better-sqlite3

yarn

yarn add --dev @types/better-sqlite3
yarn add better-sqlite3

db.ts

import { ZenStackClient } from '@zenstackhq/runtime';
import { SqliteDialect } from 'kysely';
import SQLite from 'better-sqlite3';
import { schema } from '@/zenstack/schema';

export const db = new ZenStackClient(schema, {
    dialect: new SqliteDialect({
        database: new SQLite(':memory:'),
    }),
});

PostgreSQL

npm

npm install --save-dev @types/pg
npm install pg

pnpm

pnpm add --save-dev @types/pg
pnpm add pg

bun

bun add --dev @types/pg
bun add pg

yarn

yarn add --dev @types/pg
yarn add pg

db.ts

import { ZenStackClient } from '@zenstackhq/runtime';
import { schema } from '@/zenstack/schema';
import { PostgresDialect } from 'kysely';
import { Pool } from 'pg';

export const db = new ZenStackClient(schema, {
    dialect: new PostgresDialect({
        pool: new Pool({
            connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
        }),
    }),
});

The created db object has the full ORM API inferred from the type of the schema parameter. When necessary, you can also explicitly get the inferred client type like:

import type { ClientContract } from '@zenstackhq/runtime';
import type { SchemaType } from '@/zenstack/schema';

export type DbClient = ClientContract<SchemaType>;