Agent Guide for Prisma Language Tools

This document helps AI coding agents understand and work effectively in this repository.

Project Overview

This is the Prisma Language Tools monorepo—the official VS Code extension and Language Server for Prisma, the popular TypeScript ORM. The extension provides IDE features for .prisma schema files: syntax highlighting, completions, formatting, diagnostics, hover information, go-to-definition, and more.

Packages

Package	Path	Purpose
@prisma/language-server	packages/language-server	LSP implementation
prisma (VS Code ext)	packages/vscode	VS Code extension with plugins

Documentation

Document	Description
Architecture	System design and file organization
Development	Setup and debugging instructions
Build System	esbuild bundling and static assets
Plugin System	VS Code extension plugin architecture
Language Server	LSP implementation details
Local Prisma Postgres	Local dev server and worker process
Testing	Test patterns and helpers
Common Tasks	How to add features
CI/CD	GitHub Actions workflows
Gotchas	Important tips and warnings

Quick Start

# Install all dependencies (uses pnpm workspaces)
pnpm install

# Build TypeScript
pnpm build

# Watch mode for development
pnpm watch

Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the extension in debug mode.

Available Commands

Command	Description
pnpm build	Build all packages
pnpm watch	Watch mode
pnpm test	Run unit tests in all packages (via Turborepo)
pnpm test:e2e	Run VS Code E2E tests
pnpm lint	Lint all packages
pnpm typecheck	Type-check all packages with TypeScript
pnpm clean	Remove untracked files and directories (incl node_modules)

Commands are orchestrated by Turborepo. See turbo.json for task dependencies.

Key Points

• Plugin-based architecture — The VS Code extension uses a plugin system. See Plugin System for details.

• Multi-file schema support — Prisma schemas can span multiple files. Always use PrismaSchema.load() instead of assuming a single file.

• Language server may change — The LS implementation may be replaced with a new parser. Focus on VS Code extension features for now.

• Dependencies auto-update — Don't manually bump @prisma/* packages. CI handles this via cron jobs.

• Test cursor convention — Tests use | to mark cursor position for testing completions, hover, etc.

• Keep documentation up to date — When making changes to the codebase, update relevant documentation in the docs/ folder and any README files. If you add new features, modify architecture, or change workflows, ensure the corresponding docs reflect those changes.