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
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
