fix: clarify schema.prisma file location better DC-6209

[ankur-arch]

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Documentation
  • Restructured Prisma schema setup guidance to clarify multi-file organization and directory structure
  • Updated examples to reflect Prisma ORM v7 configuration patterns with explicit migrations and datasource settings
  • Added visual directory illustrations and documented default CLI behavior for schema file discovery

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

This change updates documentation for Prisma schema file organization, shifting guidance from a single-file approach to a structured multi-file workflow aligned with Prisma ORM v7. The update clarifies that schema files reside in a prisma/ directory, emphasizes that the main schema.prisma containing generator blocks must be in the configured location, and updates examples accordingly.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)

Summary

Prisma schema location documentation content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx

Reworked guidance on multi-file schema organization to reflect Prisma ORM v7 config-based setup; updated examples to show explicit migrations and datasource settings with dotenv configuration; replaced single-file references with directory-structured workflow; added info block clarifying default CLI behavior; adjusted narrative to emphasize main schema location within configured prisma/ directory.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~10 minutes

• Verify accuracy of Prisma ORM v7 configuration examples against current documentation standards
• Confirm directory structure illustrations align with Prisma CLI conventions
• Validate that migration path guidance matches actual CLI behavior in v7

Possibly related PRs

• fix: add callout to Prisma Config DC-4961 #7095: Directly modifies the same schema location guidance file, including PrismaConfig examples and clarifications on specifying schema and migrations locations.

Pre-merge checks

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Description Check	✅ Passed	Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and specifically describes the main change: clarifying schema.prisma file location guidance in the documentation.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.

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Errors per input

Errors in 200-orm/050-overview/500-databases/840-cockroachdb.mdx

• [ERROR] https://www.cockroachlabs.com/blog/how-to-choose-db-index-keys/ | Error (cached)

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 0

Caution

Some comments are outside the diff and can’t be posted inline due to platform limitations.

⚠️ Outside diff range comments (1)

content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx (1)

72-72: Fix typo: remove duplicate "the".

Line 72 has a duplicate word: "pass the the --schema" should be "pass the --schema".

- pass the the `--schema` option to your Prisma CLI command (e.g. `prisma migrate dev --schema ./prisma`)
+ pass the `--schema` option to your Prisma CLI command (e.g. `prisma migrate dev --schema ./prisma`)

🧹 Nitpick comments (1)

content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx (1)

68-97: Clarify directory vs. file path specification in the intro text.

The introductory text at line 68 states "you must always explicitly specify the location of the directory that contains your schema files," but the examples show both directory paths (lines 72, 78: ./prisma) and file paths (line 88: prisma/schema.prisma). While both work based on the warning at line 107, this could confuse users about which approach is expected. Consider revising line 68 to clarify that you can specify either the directory or the file path directly.

- When using a multi-file Prisma schema, you must always explicitly specify the location of the directory that contains your schema files (including the main `schema.prisma` file with your `generator` block).
+ When using a multi-file Prisma schema, you must always explicitly specify the location of the schema directory (or file path) to ensure the Prisma CLI can locate the `schema.prisma` file with your `generator` block.

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Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c2671d7 and 4ac932f.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx (4 hunks)

🧰 Additional context used

🧠 Learnings (3)

📓 Common learnings

Learnt from: aidankmcalister
Repo: prisma/docs PR: 7165
File: content/800-guides/550-test-guide.mdx:85-90
Timestamp: 2025-10-08T16:23:00.388Z
Learning: For .mdx files in the prisma/docs repository: All headings and titles should use sentence case (e.g., "Getting started with Prisma ORM", "Best practices for authentication"), not title case. Exception: Always preserve exact casing for product names including "Prisma Postgres", "Prisma", "Prisma ORM", and "Prisma Data Platform".

📚 Learning: 2025-10-08T16:23:00.388Z

Learnt from: aidankmcalister
Repo: prisma/docs PR: 7165
File: content/800-guides/550-test-guide.mdx:85-90
Timestamp: 2025-10-08T16:23:00.388Z
Learning: For .mdx files in the prisma/docs repository: All headings and titles should use sentence case (e.g., "Getting started with Prisma ORM", "Best practices for authentication"), not title case. Exception: Always preserve exact casing for product names including "Prisma Postgres", "Prisma", "Prisma ORM", and "Prisma Data Platform".

Applied to files:

• content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx

📚 Learning: 2025-10-09T21:32:50.340Z

Learnt from: aidankmcalister
Repo: prisma/docs PR: 7167
File: content/900-ai/prompts/astro.mdx:84-84
Timestamp: 2025-10-09T21:32:50.340Z
Learning: The `npx prisma init` command supports the following flags: `--db` (shorthand for `--datasource-provider prisma+postgres`), `--output` (specifies output location for generated client), `--generator-provider` (defines the generator provider), `--datasource-provider`, `--url`, `--preview-feature`, and `--with-model`. These are documented valid CLI options for Prisma init command.

Applied to files:

• content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx

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🔇 Additional comments (2)

content/200-orm/100-prisma-schema/10-overview/04-location.mdx (2)

105-130: Well-structured clarifications on schema location requirements.

The new warning block (lines 105–109) clearly emphasizes that schema.prisma must be in the configured directory, and the info box (lines 126–130) helpfully notes that the CLI works without additional config when using the default ./prisma/schema.prisma location. These additions significantly improve clarity for users adopting multi-file schemas.

---

84-96: The prisma.config.ts example is correct and current for Prisma v7.

The imports (defineConfig, env from "prisma/config"), function signature, and configuration properties (schema, migrations, datasource) all match Prisma v7 documentation. The migrations.seed property is a valid Prisma v7 configuration option for defining the shell command to run after migrations. The optional engine property is correctly omitted here (it defaults to "classic"). String paths like "prisma/schema.prisma" are valid and work because Prisma resolves paths relative to the config file location.

No changes needed.