How to fix P3014: Prisma Migrate could not create the shadow database. Please make sure the database user has permission to create databases. in Prisma

PrismaINTERMEDIATEMEDIUM

This error occurs when Prisma Migrate cannot automatically create a temporary shadow database during development migrations. The shadow database is used to detect schema drift and validate migrations before applying them.

What this error means

The P3014 error indicates that Prisma Migrate attempted to create a shadow database but failed due to insufficient permissions or database constraints. The shadow database is a temporary, secondary database that Prisma creates automatically during the `prisma migrate dev` command. It's used to validate migrations, detect schema drift, and ensure that migrations can be applied cleanly before touching your actual database. This error typically occurs in cloud-hosted database environments (like Heroku, Railway, PlanetScale, or managed AWS RDS) where database users are restricted from creating new databases. It can also happen in local development if your database user lacks the necessary `CREATE DATABASE` privilege. Understanding the shadow database's role is key: it's a safety mechanism that prevents potentially destructive migrations from being applied to your development database without validation.

How to fix "P3014: Prisma Migrate could not create the shadow database. Please make sure the database user has permission to create databases."

1Verify your database user permissions

First, check if your database user has permission to create databases. Connect to your database and run:

For PostgreSQL:

sql

SELECT rolname, rolcreatedb FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname = 'your_username';

For MySQL:

sql

SHOW GRANTS FOR 'your_username'@'%';

If rolcreatedb is false (PostgreSQL) or you don't see CREATE privileges (MySQL), that's the root cause.

2Create a manual shadow database

The recommended solution for cloud-hosted databases is to manually create a dedicated shadow database. Create a new database in your provider's dashboard or via SQL:

For PostgreSQL:

sql

CREATE DATABASE myapp_shadow;

For MySQL:

sql

CREATE DATABASE myapp_shadow;
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON myapp_shadow.* TO 'your_username'@'%';

Make sure the shadow database uses the same structure/encoding as your main database.

3Configure the shadow database URL

Add the shadow database connection string to your environment variables. In your .env file, add:

env

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/myapp"
SHADOW_DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:pass@host:5432/myapp_shadow"

For Prisma 6 and below, update your schema.prisma:

prisma

datasource db {
  provider          = "postgresql"
  url               = env("DATABASE_URL")
  shadowDatabaseUrl = env("SHADOW_DATABASE_URL")
}

For Prisma 7+, the SHADOW_DATABASE_URL environment variable is automatically recognized without schema changes.

4Run migrations again

Now retry your migration command:

bash

npx prisma migrate dev --name your_migration_name

Prisma will now use your manually created shadow database instead of trying to create one automatically. The migration should proceed without the P3014 error.

5Alternative: Grant CREATE DATABASE permission (local only)

If you're working locally and have control over database permissions, you can grant the necessary privilege:

For PostgreSQL:

sql

ALTER USER your_username CREATEDB;

For MySQL (requires root/admin):

sql

GRANT CREATE ON *.* TO 'your_username'@'%';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Warning: This is typically not an option on cloud-hosted databases due to security restrictions. Use the manual shadow database approach instead.

How to fix P3014: Prisma Migrate could not create the shadow database. Please make sure the database user has permission to create databases. in Prisma

What this error means

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How to fix "P3014: Prisma Migrate could not create the shadow database. Please make sure the database user has permission to create databases."

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