Installation

Install Drizzle ORM and database drivers for your project

Quick installation

Install Drizzle ORM and Drizzle Kit using your preferred package manager:

npm

npm install drizzle-orm
npm install -D drizzle-kit

drizzle-orm: The core ORM library for your application

drizzle-kit: CLI companion for migrations and database management (dev dependency)

Database drivers

Drizzle ORM requires a database driver to connect to your database. Install the driver that matches your database:

PostgreSQL drivers

node-postgres (pg)

The most popular PostgreSQL driver for Node.js.

npm

npm install pg
npm install -D @types/pg

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres';
import { Pool } from 'pg';

const pool = new Pool({
  connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
});

const db = drizzle(pool);

postgres.js

Fastest PostgreSQL driver for Node.js and Deno.

npm

npm install postgres

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/postgres-js';
import postgres from 'postgres';

const client = postgres(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);
const db = drizzle(client);

Neon Serverless

Optimized driver for Neon’s serverless PostgreSQL.

npm

npm install @neondatabase/serverless

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/neon-serverless';
import { Pool } from '@neondatabase/serverless';

const pool = new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
const db = drizzle(pool);

Vercel Postgres

Vercel’s PostgreSQL driver with edge runtime support.

npm

npm install @vercel/postgres

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/vercel-postgres';
import { sql } from '@vercel/postgres';

const db = drizzle(sql);

MySQL drivers

mysql2

Fast MySQL driver for Node.js with prepared statement support.

npm

npm install mysql2

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/mysql2';
import mysql from 'mysql2/promise';

const connection = await mysql.createConnection({
  host: 'localhost',
  user: 'root',
  database: 'mydb',
});

const db = drizzle(connection);

PlanetScale

Serverless MySQL driver for PlanetScale.

npm

npm install @planetscale/database

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/planetscale-serverless';
import { Client } from '@planetscale/database';

const client = new Client({
  url: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
});

const db = drizzle(client);

SQLite drivers

better-sqlite3

Fast synchronous SQLite driver for Node.js.

npm

npm install better-sqlite3
npm install -D @types/better-sqlite3

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/better-sqlite3';
import Database from 'better-sqlite3';

const sqlite = new Database('sqlite.db');
const db = drizzle(sqlite);

Bun SQLite

Native SQLite support in Bun runtime.

bun

bun add drizzle-orm

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/bun-sqlite';
import { Database } from 'bun:sqlite';

const sqlite = new Database('sqlite.db');
const db = drizzle(sqlite);

Cloudflare D1

SQLite for Cloudflare Workers.

npm

npm install drizzle-orm

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/d1';

export default {
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env) {
    const db = drizzle(env.DB);
    // Use db here
  },
};

Turso (libSQL)

Edge-hosted SQLite with libSQL.

npm

npm install @libsql/client

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/libsql';
import { createClient } from '@libsql/client';

const client = createClient({
  url: process.env.TURSO_DATABASE_URL!,
  authToken: process.env.TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN!,
});

const db = drizzle(client);

Project setup

After installing Drizzle ORM and your database driver, set up your project structure:

1. Create schema directory

   Create a directory for your database schema files:

   mkdir src/db
   touch src/db/schema.ts
   
2. Configure Drizzle Kit

   Create a drizzle.config.ts file in your project root:

   PostgreSQL

   import { defineConfig } from 'drizzle-kit';
   
   export default defineConfig({
     schema: './src/db/schema.ts',
     out: './drizzle',
     dialect: 'postgresql',
     dbCredentials: {
       url: process.env.DATABASE_URL!,
     },
   });
   
3. Set up environment variables

   Create a .env file with your database connection string:

   .env

   DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@host:5432/database
   

   Never commit your .env file to version control. Add it to .gitignore.

Verify installation

Create a simple test file to verify your installation:

src/db/test.ts

import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/node-postgres';
import { pgTable, serial, text } from 'drizzle-orm/pg-core';

// Define a simple schema
const users = pgTable('users', {
  id: serial('id').primaryKey(),
  name: text('name').notNull(),
});

// Initialize database connection
const db = drizzle(process.env.DATABASE_URL!);

console.log('Drizzle ORM installed successfully!');

Run the test:

node --loader tsx src/db/test.ts

Optional dependencies

TypeScript

Drizzle works best with TypeScript. If you haven’t installed it:

npm

npm install -D typescript tsx @types/node

Schema validation

Integrate with runtime validation libraries:

Zod

npm install drizzle-zod zod

Valibot

npm install drizzle-valibot valibot

TypeBox

npm install drizzle-typebox @sinclair/typebox

ArkType

npm install drizzle-arktype arktype

Next steps

Quickstart

Build your first application with Drizzle ORM

Schema Declaration

Learn how to define your database schema

Database Connection

Configure database connections for different drivers

Migrations

Set up database migrations with Drizzle Kit

Having issues? Check our best practices guide or join our Discord community for help.