How to fix P1013: The provided database string is invalid in Prisma

Ensure your connection string follows the correct format for your database provider:

PostgreSQL/CockroachDB:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydatabase?schema=public"
# or
DATABASE_URL="postgres://user:password@localhost:5432/mydatabase?schema=public"

MySQL:

DATABASE_URL="mysql://user:password@localhost:3306/mydatabase"

MongoDB (requires database name):

DATABASE_URL="mongodb+srv://user:[email protected]/mydatabase?retryWrites=true&w=majority"

SQLite:

DATABASE_URL="file:./dev.db"

SQL Server:

DATABASE_URL="sqlserver://localhost:1433;database=mydatabase;user=sa;password=Password123;encrypt=true"

Check the [Prisma connection URL reference](https://www.prisma.io/docs/orm/reference/connection-urls) for your specific database.

If your password or username contains special characters, they must be percent-encoded:

Common characters to encode:
- @ → %40
- : → %3A
- / → %2F
- ? → %3F
- # → %23
- ! → %21
- $ → %24
- & → %26

Example:

# Original password: p@ssw0rd!
# Encoded: p%40ssw0rd%21

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:p%40ssw0rd%21@localhost:5432/mydb"

You can use online URL encoders or encode manually. Ensure the encoded string is placed directly in your connection URL without additional quotes or escaping.

Ensure your .env file has no quotes around the connection string:

INCORRECT (will fail):

DATABASE_URL='postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db'
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db"
DATABASE_URL=`postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db`

CORRECT:

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db

Prisma loads environment variables and parses them without quotes. Adding quotes causes them to be included in the parsed value, breaking URL validation.

Check that the host and port are properly formatted:

Valid host formats:
- localhost (local development)
- 127.0.0.1 (local IP)
- mydb.example.com (domain name)
- db.c.mongodb.net (MongoDB Atlas)
- postgres.railway.app (Railway)

Valid port formats:
- PostgreSQL: 5432 (default)
- MySQL: 3306 (default)
- SQL Server: 1433 (default)
- MongoDB: Included in hostname for Atlas

Example of correct format:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:[email protected]:5432/mydb"

If your port contains non-numeric characters, the URL parser will reject it.

Different databases have different requirements:

MongoDB requires database name:

# INCORRECT (no database)
DATABASE_URL="mongodb+srv://user:[email protected]"

# CORRECT (includes /dbname)
DATABASE_URL="mongodb+srv://user:[email protected]/mydatabase"

PostgreSQL should include schema parameter:

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db?schema=public"

Parameter values must be correct type:

# INCORRECT (pool_timeout as string)
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db?pool_timeout=30s"

# CORRECT (pool_timeout as integer)
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db?pool_timeout=30"

Ensure your DATABASE_URL has no extra whitespace:

INCORRECT (has newline):

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db
  ?sslmode=require

CORRECT (single line):

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/db?sslmode=require

If you copy connection strings from multiple lines, ensure you remove all line breaks and extra spaces before using them in your .env file.

Prisma looks for .env files in specific locations:

1. Same directory as package.json
2. The prisma/ directory (if schema.prisma is there)
3. Parent directories (Prisma traverses up the tree)

For development:

# Restart your dev server to reload .env
npm run dev

For Prisma CLI commands:

# Explicitly reload environment
npx prisma generate
npx prisma db push

If you're using Next.js, make sure your variables are in .env.local (not just .env), as Prisma reads from .env by default.