How to fix P4002: The schema of the introspected database was inconsistent in Prisma

PrismaINTERMEDIATEMEDIUM

This error occurs during Prisma introspection when your database has cross-schema foreign key references or multiple schemas that aren't properly configured in your Prisma schema file.

What this error means

The P4002 error is thrown by Prisma's introspection engine when it detects inconsistencies in your database schema that it cannot automatically resolve. This most commonly happens when you have foreign key relationships that span across different database schemas (like PostgreSQL's `public` and `auth` schemas), or when tables reference schemas that aren't declared in your Prisma configuration. Prisma introspection scans your database to generate a schema file, but it requires explicit configuration when dealing with multi-schema databases. Without proper setup, it cannot determine how to handle cross-schema relationships and will fail with this error. This error is particularly common when using managed database services like Supabase, which creates multiple schemas by default (such as `auth` for authentication tables and `public` for user tables), and when these schemas have foreign key relationships between them.

How to fix "P4002: The schema of the introspected database was inconsistent"

1Enable multiSchema preview feature

If you're working with multiple database schemas, enable Prisma's multiSchema preview feature in your schema.prisma file:

prisma

generator client {
  provider        = "prisma-client-js"
  previewFeatures = ["multiSchema"]
}

This tells Prisma that your database uses multiple schemas and enables support for cross-schema relationships.

2Add all schemas to datasource configuration

Declare all schemas that contain tables or have foreign key relationships in your datasource block:

prisma

datasource db {
  provider = "postgresql"
  url      = env("DATABASE_URL")
  schemas  = ["public", "auth"]
}

Add every schema that's referenced by foreign keys. For Supabase databases, you typically need both public and auth. For custom setups, include all relevant schema names (e.g., ["public", "auth", "analytics"]).

3Remove conflicting models from schema.prisma

If the error mentions specific tables not being found, temporarily remove those model definitions from your schema.prisma file:

prisma

// Remove or comment out conflicting models
// model User {
//   id    String @id
//   email String
// }

This allows Prisma to regenerate them correctly during introspection without conflicts.

4Run introspection again

Execute the introspection command to regenerate your schema:

bash

npx prisma db pull

Prisma will now properly handle cross-schema relationships and generate models with correct @@schema() attributes:

prisma

model User {
  id       String @id
  authUser AuthUser @relation(...)

  @@schema("public")
}

model AuthUser {
  id    String @id
  users User[]

  @@schema("auth")
}

5Verify generated schema

Check that your schema.prisma now includes:

1. @@schema() attributes on models indicating their schema
2. Proper relations between cross-schema models
3. All tables from referenced schemas

If issues persist, verify database permissions:

sql

-- Check which schemas your database user can access
SELECT schema_name
FROM information_schema.schemata
WHERE schema_name NOT IN ('pg_catalog', 'information_schema');

How to fix P4002: The schema of the introspected database was inconsistent in Prisma

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How to fix "P4002: The schema of the introspected database was inconsistent"

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