Serverless PrismaClient Configuration

Configure PrismaClient for serverless platforms to prevent connection pool exhaustion using connection limits and global singleton patterns.

Activation Triggers

Deploy to Next.js (App/Pages Router), AWS Lambda, Vercel, or similar serverless platforms; encountering P1017 errors; files in app/, pages/api/, lambda/ directories.

Problem & Solution

Problem: Each Lambda instance creates its own connection pool. Default unlimited pool × instances exhausts database (e.g., 10 instances × 10 connections = 100 connections).

Solution: Set connection_limit=1 in DATABASE_URL; use global singleton to reuse client across invocations; consider PgBouncer for high concurrency.

Configuration Workflow

Phase 1—Environment: Add connection_limit=1 and pool_timeout=20 to DATABASE_URL in .env; configure in Vercel dashboard if applicable.

Phase 2—Client Singleton: Create single global PrismaClient in lib/prisma.ts; use globalThis pattern (Next.js 13+ App Router), global.prisma pattern (Pages Router/Lambda), or initialize outside handler (Lambda standalone).