Prisma can't find generated client even though it's present using default boilerplate.

[abrakazinga]

Summary

After deploying a fresh nuxt 3 app with prisma I am encountering the following error, which makes Prisma currently unusable with Nuxt.

@prisma/client did not initialize yet. Please run "prisma generate" and try to import it again.

However, the client has already been generated and is present in "./lib/generated/prisma"

Using a workaround presented in this comment the error disappears.

Full Error

Error: @prisma/client did not initialize yet. Please run "prisma generate" and try to import it again.

 ⁃ at new PrismaClient (node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+client@6.6.0_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3/node_modules/.prisma/client/default.js:43:11)

   38 ┃  var clientVersion = version;
   39 ┃  
   40 ┃  // src/scripts/default-index.ts
   41 ┃  var PrismaClient = class {
   42 ┃    constructor() {
 ❯ 43 ┃      throw new Error('@prisma/client did not initialize yet. Please run "prisma generate" and try to import it again.');
   44 ┃    }
   45 ┃  };
   46 ┃  function defineExtension(ext) {
   47 ┃    if (typeof ext === "function") {
   48 ┃      return ext;

 ⁃ at prismaClientSingleton (node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+nuxt@0.3.0_magicast@0.3.5_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3_vite@_8a31613188780f4a229d1d52658694f7/node_modules/@prisma/nuxt/dist/runtime/server/utils/prisma.mjs:4:10)
 ⁃ (node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+nuxt@0.3.0_magicast@0.3.5_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3_vite@_8a31613188780f4a229d1d52658694f7/node_modules/@prisma/nuxt/dist/runtime/server/utils/prisma.mjs:6:43)
 ⁃ at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
 ⁃ at async ViteNodeRunner.runModule (node_modules/.pnpm/vite-node@3.1.2_@types+node@22.15.2_jiti@2.4.2_lightningcss@1.29.2_terser@5.39.0_yaml@2.7.1/node_modules/vite-node/dist/client.mjs:354:3)
 ⁃ at async ViteNodeRunner.directRequest (node_modules/.pnpm/vite-node@3.1.2_@types+node@22.15.2_jiti@2.4.2_lightningcss@1.29.2_terser@5.39.0_yaml@2.7.1/node_modules/vite-node/dist/client.mjs:333:3)
 ⁃ at async ViteNodeRunner.cachedRequest (node_modules/.pnpm/vite-node@3.1.2_@types+node@22.15.2_jiti@2.4.2_lightningcss@1.29.2_terser@5.39.0_yaml@2.7.1/node_modules/vite-node/dist/client.mjs:168:11)
 ⁃ at async ViteNodeRunner.dependencyRequest (node_modules/.pnpm/vite-node@3.1.2_@types+node@22.15.2_jiti@2.4.2_lightningcss@1.29.2_terser@5.39.0_yaml@2.7.1/node_modules/vite-node/dist/client.mjs:216:10)
 ⁃ (async node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+nuxt@0.3.0_magicast@0.3.5_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3_vite@_8a31613188780f4a229d1d52658694f7/node_modules/@prisma/nuxt/dist/runtime/plugin.mjs:2:31)
 ⁃ at async ViteNodeRunner.runModule (node_modules/.pnpm/vite-node@3.1.2_@types+node@22.15.2_jiti@2.4.2_lightningcss@1.29.2_terser@5.39.0_yaml@2.7.1/node_modules/vite-node/dist/client.mjs:354:3)

[CAUSE]
Error {
  stack: '@prisma/client did not initialize yet. Please run "prisma generate" and try to import it again.\n' +
  'at new PrismaClient (./node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+client@6.6.0_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3/node_modules/.prisma/client/default.js:43:11)\n' +
  'at prismaClientSingleton (./node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+nuxt@0.3.0_magicast@0.3.5_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3_vite@_8a31613188780f4a229d1d52658694f7/node_modules/@prisma/nuxt/dist/runtime/server/utils/prisma.mjs:4:10)\n' +
  'at ./node_modules/.pnpm/@prisma+nuxt@0.3.0_magicast@0.3.5_prisma@6.6.0_typescript@5.8.3__typescript@5.8.3_vite@_8a31613188780f4a229d1d52658694f7/node_modules/@prisma/nuxt/dist/runtime/server/utils/prisma.mjs:6:43)\n' +
  '    at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)\n' +
  'at async ViteNodeRunner.runModule (./node_modules/.pnpm/vite-n'... 1322 more characters,
  message: '@prisma/client did not initialize yet. Please run "prisma generate" 
  and try to import it again.',
}

Package.json

{
	"name": "todo-list",
	"version": "1.0.0",
	"private": true,
	"main": "index.js",
	"packageManager": "pnpm@10.5.2",
	"engines": {
		"node": ">=18"
	},
	"scripts": {
		"build": "nuxt build",
		"dev": "nuxt dev",
		"generate": "nuxt generate",
		"preview": "nuxt preview",
		"postinstall": "nuxt prepare"
	},
	"dependencies": {
		"@prisma/client": "6.6.0",
		"@prisma/nuxt": "^0.3.0",
		"@tailwindcss/vite": "^4.1.4",
		"class-variance-authority": "^0.7.1",
		"clsx": "^2.1.1",
		"lucide-vue-next": "^0.503.0",
		"nuxt": "^3.16.2",
		"pathe": "^2.0.3",
		"reka-ui": "^2.2.0",
		"shadcn-nuxt": "2.1.0",
		"sortablejs": "^1.15.6",
		"sortablejs-vue3": "^1.2.11",
		"tailwind-merge": "^3.2.0",
		"tailwindcss": "^4.1.4",
		"tw-animate-css": "^1.2.8",
		"vue": "^3.5.13",
		"vue-router": "^4.5.0"
	},
	"devDependencies": {
		"prisma": "6.6.0",
		"typescript": "^5.8.3"
	},
	"pnpm": {
		"onlyBuiltDependencies": [
			"@parcel/watcher",
			"@prisma/client",
			"@prisma/engines",
			"esbuild",
			"prisma",
			"vue-demi"
		]
	}
}

Schema.prisma

generator client {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
  output   = "../lib/generated/prisma"
}

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = env("DATABASE_URL")
}

Project Files

Notice that the Prisma Client is indeed generated under the default path: "./lib/generated/prisma"

Steps to reproduce:

• Create clean nuxt project npx nuxi@latest init
• pnpm install @prisma/nuxt
• add @prisma/nuxt to nuxt.config.ts modules
• pnpm dev
• select prisma console defaults
• open browser `https://localhost:3000/'

Repo with reproduction

https://github.com/abrakazinga/todo-list

[abrakazinga]

In the end I downgraded to

"@prisma/nuxt": "0.0.35",
"prisma": "5.22.0",
"@prisma/client": "^5.22.0",

which works fine for now.

[jpleclerc]

I had the same problem recently. The error is caused by the server/utils not importing the correct prisma client.

My workaround is to define an alias in my nuxt.config.ts:

// Replace ./prisma/client with the path to your generated Prisma client
'alias': {
  '@/prisma/client': fileURLToPath(new URL('./prisma/client', import.meta.url)),
},

[yfdoor]

I had the same problem recently. The error is caused by the server/utils not importing the correct prisma client.

My workaround is to define an alias in my nuxt.config.ts:

// Replace ./prisma/client with the path to your generated Prisma client
'alias': {
  '@/prisma/client': fileURLToPath(new URL('./prisma/client', import.meta.url)),
},

It works, but it still shows some errors in the browser’s console.
And a tpye error, should be '@prisma/client': fileURLToPath(new URL('./prisma/client', import.meta.url)),

Uncaught SyntaxError: The requested module '/_nuxt/generated/prisma/index-browser.js' does not provide an export named 'PrismaClient' (at prisma.mjs:1:10)

[AmanVarshney01]

Sadly, we are deprecating this module. You can read more about the explanation here

How to use Nuxt with Prisma 7 - https://www.prisma.io/docs/guides/nuxt