Issue: Prisma 7 prisma failing on Vercel with "Missing required environment variable: DATABASE_URL
Environment:
Prisma ORM v7.0.0 (upgraded from v6.19)
Next.js 16.0.3
Turborepo monorepo with pnpm
Database package location: database
Error during Vercel build:
Failed to load config file "/vercel/path0/packages/database" as a TypeScript/JavaScript module.
Error: PrismaConfigEnvError: Missing required environment variable: DATABASE_URL
Configuration:
DATABASE_URL IS set in Vercel environment variables (for Production, Preview, and Development)
Using prisma.config.ts with import 'dotenv/config' and env("DATABASE_URL") as per Prisma v7 docs
dotenv package is installed
.env file with DATABASE_URL exists locally in .env (but gitignored)
What worked:
Everything worked fine with Prisma v6.19
Local development works perfectly
The issue only occurs on Vercel during turbo run build → db:generate step
What I've tried:
Verified DATABASE_URL is set in Vercel dashboard
Confirmed dotenv is installed in dependencies
Following exact Prisma v7 documentation for monorepos
Configuration matches official examples
4 Replies
You're in no rush, so we'll let a dev step in. Enjoy your coffee, or drop into
#ask-ai if you get antsy for a second opinion!By default, dotenv only loads environment variables from the root of the working directory.
In a monorepo, you can point it to the actual location of your
.env file by specifying a custom path, like this:
dotenv.config({ path: '../apps/server/.env' });
i have manged to fix it simply by this
Nice to see that you were able to fix this 👍