[BUG]: drizzle.config.ts doesn't follow tsconfig.json for module path aliases (@/app/lib/env) but works for absolute paths (./src/app/lib/env)

What version of `drizzle-orm` are you using?

^0.28.6

What version of `drizzle-kit` are you using?

^0.19.13

Describe the Bug

if i import using '@/app/lib/env', it doesn't work but if i import using './src/app/lib/env', it works.

for example, this works fine:

drizzle.config.ts

import type { Config } from 'drizzle-kit'
import * as dotenv from 'dotenv'

import { requireEnvVariable } from './src/app/lib/env'

dotenv.config({ path: '.env.local' })

const PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL = requireEnvVariable('PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL')

export default {
  schema: './src/app/db/schema.ts',
  out: './src/app/db/migrations',
  driver: 'mysql2',
  dbCredentials: {
    connectionString: PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL,
  },
} satisfies Config

but the following throws an error Error: Cannot find module '@/app/lib/env':

drizzle.config.ts

import type { Config } from 'drizzle-kit'
import * as dotenv from 'dotenv'

import { requireEnvVariable } from '@/app/lib/env'

dotenv.config({ path: '.env.local' })

const PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL = requireEnvVariable('PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL')

export default {
  schema: './src/app/db/schema.ts',
  out: './src/app/db/migrations',
  driver: 'mysql2',
  dbCredentials: {
    connectionString: PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL,
  },
} satisfies Config

my env file looks like this:

lib/env.ts

export const requireEnvVariable = (key: string) => {
  const value = process.env[key]
  if (value) {
    return value
  }

  throw new Error(`Environment variable ${key} was not defined!`)
}

Expected behavior

this should work.

drizzle.config.ts

import type { Config } from 'drizzle-kit'
import * as dotenv from 'dotenv'

import { requireEnvVariable } from '@/app/lib/env'

dotenv.config({ path: '.env.local' })

const PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL = requireEnvVariable('PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL')

export default {
  schema: './src/app/db/schema.ts',
  out: './src/app/db/migrations',
  driver: 'mysql2',
  dbCredentials: {
    connectionString: PLANETSCALE_DATABASE_URL,
  },
} satisfies Config

Environment & setup

windows 10!

my tsconfig looks like:

tsconfig.json

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ESNext",
    "lib": ["dom", "dom.iterable", "esnext"],
    "allowJs": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "strict": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "node",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "incremental": true,
    "plugins": [
      {
        "name": "next"
      }
    ],
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./src/*"]
    }
  },
  "include": ["next-env.d.ts", "**/*.ts", "**/*.tsx", ".next/types/**/*.ts"],
  "exclude": ["node_modules"]
}

Any updates on that?

drizzle.config.ts doesn't have a way to follow your path aliases because it doesn't know about them. It depends on how you are running the script. The workaround will depend on if you're running it with ts-node, tsc, tsx or any other. You probably just need to point the script runner/transpiler to your tsconfig.json.

@Angelelz

@Angelelz how do i do that then?

i already have this in my package.json scripts:

"db:push": "drizzle-kit push:mysql --config drizzle.config.ts",
"db:generate": "drizzle-kit generate:mysql --config drizzle.config.ts",
"db:studio": "drizzle-kit studio --host localhost --port 3001 --verbose --config drizzle.config.ts",

all i do is pnpm run db:push so idk how tsc and the likes come into play.

This is how I'm doing:

"db:generate": "ts-node -r tsconfig-paths/register --project ./tsconfig.json ./node_modules/drizzle-kit/index.cjs generate:pg --config ./drizzle.config.ts"

This is how I'm doing:

"db:generate": "ts-node -r tsconfig-paths/register --project ./tsconfig.json ./node_modules/drizzle-kit/index.cjs generate:pg --config ./drizzle.config.ts"

I honestly just used relative paths and called it a day, lol. Drizzle kit just need the schema and the migration folder. I felt like an alias for those wasn't necessary. So there you go.

@Angelelz

you're right @Angelelz!

thank you @matheuspuel for the solution but i'll stick with relative paths.

i always followed 1 right way of doing things for 10 years now. i guess its time to drop bad habits with whatever works. not gonna install ts-node ha.

still keeping this one open if drizzle team finds a solution.

still keeping this one open if drizzle team finds a solution.

I agree with this. Maybe they can include an option to point to the tsconfig.json?

This works for me now, at least, in combination with @t3-oss/env-nextjs

See https://github.com/deadcoder0904/drizzle-t3-oss-env/blob/main/drizzle.config.ts#L5

This is more of a TS issue than a Drizzle one. We'll keep track of this as I do think this should be mentioned in the docs.

In my project I'm using tsx, so I was able to set it up like this:

"db:generate": "tsx node_modules/.bin/drizzle-kit generate --config=src/lib/db/config.ts --name=migration",

The .bin/drizzle-kit symlink points to drizzle-kit/bin.cjs.

@AndriiSherman

@AndriiSherman completed by what?

yeah I don't understand it either, it still doesn't read tsconfig

might not being released yet tho. Last release was dec 13th, this was closed on dec 16th.

But yeah it could be useful to know which PR/commit fixed this

This is how I'm doing:
"db:generate": "ts-node -r tsconfig-paths/register --project ./tsconfig.json ./node_modules/drizzle-kit/index.cjs generate:pg --config ./drizzle.config.ts"

I honestly just used relative paths and called it a day, lol. Drizzle kit just need the schema and the migration folder. I felt like an alias for those wasn't necessary. So there you go.

In my case, we have schema files split, and they all have their own imports for types, for example. Those are also in other parts of the project. So, having that part of the codebase use relative paths feels very wrong and like a workaround. Please reconsider re-opening this issue. I'm also happy to file a new one if you need more context.

You can fix by adding tsx as a devDependency and setting your db:migrate, db:push, etc. to "tsx node_modules/drizzle-kit/bin.cjs [cmd]"

@AndriiSherman

@AndriiSherman ?

You can fix by adding tsx as a devDependency and setting your db:migrate, db:push, etc. to "tsx node_modules/drizzle-kit/bin.cjs [cmd]"

Confirming that this worked as a solution for me. I was already using tsx to run seed & migration scripts, so it wasn't even an extra dependency.

I had to combine a few things to make it work for me:

"scripts": {
  "db:generate": "dotenv -e .env.local -- tsx --tsconfig ./packages/db/tsconfig.json node_modules/drizzle-kit/bin.cjs generate --config=packages/db/drizzle.config.ts",
}

dotenv -e .env.local # I use `dotenv` and `dotenv-cli` to get environment variables working

--  # This is needed otherwise dotenv won't work

tsx # Need to use tsx to get module resolution

--tsconfig ./packages/db/tsconfig.json # This is needed to specify which tsconfig.json file to target. 
# Otherwise it didn't work for me without this explicit specification

node_modules/drizzle-kit/bin.cjs # Same as `node_module/.bin/drizzle-kit/` to trigger drizzle-kit using tsx

generate # drizzle-kit's generate function

--config=packages/db/drizzle.config.ts # where my drizzle.config file was

Long and ugly but it works. Main addition being specifying where the tsx file is with --tsconfig in addition to what was mentioned above

Edit: You can also just add a tsconfig.json file in the root of your project and remove the --tsconfig <path> part

@AndriiSherman

@AndriiSherman why closed?
using tsx you can do something like this in your package.json

"db:drizzle": "tsx node_modules/drizzle-kit/bin.cjs --config ./drizzle.config.ts",
"db:generate": "pnpm db:drizzle generate",
"db:migrate": "pnpm db:drizzle migrate"

this also happens with sveltekit's $lib alias,

Error: Cannot find module '$lib/utils/mymodule'

If you are having issues with SvelteKit and you are using Bun, you can just

"scripts": {
    "db:generate": "bunx --bun drizzle-kit generate",
}

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[BUG]: `drizzle.config.ts` doesn't follow `tsconfig.json` for module path aliases (`@/app/lib/env`) but works for absolute paths (`./src/app/lib/env`) #1228

What version of `drizzle-orm` are you using?

What version of `drizzle-kit` are you using?

Describe the Bug

drizzle.config.ts

drizzle.config.ts

lib/env.ts

Expected behavior

drizzle.config.ts

Environment & setup

tsconfig.json

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[BUG]: drizzle.config.ts doesn't follow tsconfig.json for module path aliases (@/app/lib/env) but works for absolute paths (./src/app/lib/env) #1228

Description

What version of drizzle-orm are you using?

What version of drizzle-kit are you using?

Describe the Bug

drizzle.config.ts

drizzle.config.ts

lib/env.ts

Expected behavior

drizzle.config.ts

Environment & setup

tsconfig.json

Activity

lefuncq commented on Nov 21, 2023

Angelelz commented on Nov 28, 2023

deadcoder0904 commented on Nov 30, 2023

matheuspuel commented on Nov 30, 2023

Angelelz commented on Nov 30, 2023

deadcoder0904 commented on Dec 1, 2023

Angelelz commented on Dec 1, 2023

deadcoder0904 commented on Feb 9, 2024

L-Mario564 commented on Oct 16, 2024

msikma commented on Dec 13, 2024

Mardoxx commented on Dec 23, 2024

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MattpaulKing commented on Feb 2, 2025

Mardoxx commented on Feb 2, 2025

oliverpeng commented on Feb 18, 2025

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rebasecase commented on Jun 17, 2025

kuroski commented on Dec 29, 2025

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[BUG]: `drizzle.config.ts` doesn't follow `tsconfig.json` for module path aliases (`@/app/lib/env`) but works for absolute paths (`./src/app/lib/env`) #1228

What version of `drizzle-orm` are you using?

What version of `drizzle-kit` are you using?