clientPath incompatible with Prisma 7's prisma-client generator (TypeScript output)

[tywenk]

⚠️ 🤖 Fair warning, I had Claude Code write up this following bug report, but it accurately reflects my experience trying to integrate this package into a greenfield product.

---

This package uses createRequire() to load the Prisma client at runtime:

// src/context.ts from the bundled node_modules
var require2 = createRequire(import.meta.url);
const { PrismaClient } = require2(options.clientPath);

This is incompatible with Prisma 7's new prisma-client generator, which outputs TypeScript files instead of compiled JavaScript. Node.js require() cannot load .ts files natively.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Prisma 7 with the new prisma-client generator:

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

2. Configure vitest with the environment:

environmentOptions: {
  "prisma-postgres": {
    clientPath: "./lib/generated/prisma/client.ts",
    // or with absolute path
    clientPath: path.resolve(__dirname, "lib/generated/prisma/client.ts"),
  },
},

3. Run tests

Expected Behavior

The Prisma client should load successfully.

Actual Behavior

Error: Cannot find module './lib/generated/prisma/client.ts'

Or if using an absolute path:

Error: Cannot find module '/path/to/lib/generated/prisma/enums'
imported from /path/to/lib/generated/prisma/client.ts

The second error occurs because the TypeScript file uses extensionless imports (import * from "./enums") which ESM resolution cannot resolve.

Environment

• vitest-environment-prisma-postgres: 1.0.1
• Prisma: 7.2.0
• Vitest: 4.0.17
• Node.js: 24.x

Workaround

Add the legacy prisma-client-js generator alongside the new one:

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

generator clientJs {
  provider = "prisma-client-js"
}

Then use clientPath: "@prisma/client" in the vitest config.

Suggested Fix

Consider using dynamic import() instead of require() to load the client, which would allow Vitest's module transformation to handle TypeScript files. Alternatively, document the Prisma 7 incompatibility and the workaround.

[codepunkt]

Thanks for the report @tywenk, I'm happy someone finds this useful.

I'm running it on prisma 7 with the prisma-client generator myself.
However, my setup is a little different:

    environmentOptions: {
      'prisma-postgres': {
        clientPath: '@sitelens/database',
      },
    },

and this:

generator client {
  provider            = "prisma-client"
  output              = "../src/__generated__/prisma"
  importFileExtension = "js"
}

I'm not sure if it's the importFileExtension making a difference or me passing a monorepo workspace package name into the clientPath.

Did you try using dynamic import()? If that works for you, feel free to provide a PR to fix it.
I don't like the double prisma client generation workaround, but it's good to see you made it work.

[tywenk]

Hi @codepunkt ! I opened a PR that implemented the suggested import() fix, which now works! Please let me know if you have any comments