Does NestJS Work With PlanetScale?
NestJS and PlanetScale work seamlessly together via TypeORM or Prisma, providing a modern, serverless-ready stack for building scalable Node.js applications.
Quick Facts
How NestJS Works With PlanetScale
NestJS integrates with PlanetScale through standard MySQL ORMs, most commonly TypeORM or Prisma. Since PlanetScale is MySQL-compatible, you connect using the same protocols as traditional MySQL databases, just pointing your connection string to PlanetScale's endpoints. The developer experience is excellent—PlanetScale's branching feature pairs naturally with NestJS's dependency injection for managing different database contexts across development, staging, and production environments. The main architectural consideration is that PlanetScale uses HTTP connections under the hood for some operations, so connection pooling becomes important; many developers use PlanetScale's connection pooler or Prisma's built-in pooling to avoid hitting connection limits. NestJS's TypeORM module or Prisma integration handles this transparently, making the setup nearly identical to working with a traditional MySQL server.
Best Use Cases
Quick Setup with Prisma
npm install @nestjs/common @nestjs/core @prisma/client && npm install -D prisma// prisma.service.ts
import { Injectable, OnModuleInit } from '@nestjs/common';
import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
@Injectable()
export class PrismaService extends PrismaClient implements OnModuleInit {
async onModuleInit() {
await this.$connect();
}
async onModuleDestroy() {
await this.$disconnect();
}
}
// .env
DATABASE_URL="mysql://user:password@ps-xxxxx.us-east-2.psdb.cloud/dbname?sslaccept=strict"
// app.module.ts
import { Module } from '@nestjs/common';
import { PrismaService } from './prisma.service';
@Module({
providers: [PrismaService],
exports: [PrismaService],
})
export class PrismaModule {}Known Issues & Gotchas
Connection limits hit quickly without proper pooling configuration
Fix: Use PlanetScale's connection pooler or configure Prisma with connection pooling. Set appropriate pool size based on your concurrent request load.
Foreign key constraints disabled by default in PlanetScale
Fix: Enable foreign key checks explicitly if needed: SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=1. Be aware that some migrations may behave differently.
Large transactions may timeout on serverless connections
Fix: Break large operations into smaller transactions or use PlanetScale's backup shards for batch operations.
Vitess (PlanetScale's underlying tech) doesn't support all MySQL features like certain JOIN patterns
Fix: Test complex queries; most common patterns work fine. Check PlanetScale's known limitations documentation for edge cases.
Alternatives
- •NestJS + Firebase Realtime Database (fully managed, real-time syncing but not SQL)
- •NestJS + Supabase (PostgreSQL-based, similar serverless DX but uses Postgres instead of MySQL)
- •NestJS + AWS RDS Aurora Serverless (managed MySQL but less development-focused than PlanetScale)
Resources
Related Compatibility Guides
Explore more compatibility guides