How to fix P5007: Unauthorized, check your connection string (Accelerate) in Prisma

First, ensure your connection string uses the correct Prisma Accelerate format. The correct format should be:

prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY

Or if you need to specify the database protocol explicitly:

prisma+postgres://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY
prisma+mysql://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY
prisma+mongodb://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY

Check your .env.local or environment variables:

# View the connection string (be careful not to share it publicly)
echo $DATABASE_URL

Common mistakes to avoid:
1. Missing the api_key= parameter entirely
2. Using postgresql:// or mysql:// instead of prisma://
3. Including extra whitespace before or after the API key
4. Missing the closing `` character if the string is in quotes

Your connection string should have:
- Protocol: prisma:// or prisma+postgres://, etc.
- Host: accelerate.prisma-data.net
- Parameter: api_key= followed by your key
- No user/password credentials (Accelerate doesn't use them)

If your API key is missing or invalid, generate a new one from the Prisma Console:

1. Go to https://console.prisma.io/
2. Select your project
3. Navigate to the "Accelerate" tab
4. Click "Create new project" if you don't have one, or select an existing project
5. Copy the API key that appears in the connection string

The connection string will look like:

prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9...

If you've lost your API key:
1. Return to the Accelerate project in the Prisma Console
2. Look for a "Regenerate API key" option
3. Generate a new key
4. Copy the entire connection string
5. Update your .env.local file with the new connection string

IMPORTANT: Never commit API keys to version control. Keep them in:
- .env.local (development)
- Environment variables (production/deployment platforms)
- Secrets management services (AWS Secrets Manager, GitHub Secrets, etc.)

Update your environment file with the correct connection string:

1. Open your .env.local file (or .env for testing):

# .env.local
DATABASE_URL="prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

2. If using Prisma Migrate or Introspection, add the direct database URL:

# .env.local
DATABASE_URL="prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"
DIRECT_DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/mydb"

3. For deployment platforms, set the DATABASE_URL environment variable:

Vercel:

vercel env add DATABASE_URL
# Paste: prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY

Railway:

railway variables set DATABASE_URL="prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

Heroku:

heroku config:set DATABASE_URL="prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY"

GitHub Actions:

- name: Deploy
  env:
    DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }}
  run: npm run deploy

4. Restart your application after updating the environment variable

Ensure your Accelerate project is not disabled:

1. Visit https://console.prisma.io/
2. Go to your project
3. Click on the "Accelerate" tab
4. Check if there's a toggle or status indicator showing the project is "Enabled"
5. If disabled, click to enable it

The Accelerate project might be disabled if:
- You manually disabled it from the console
- Your account has exceeded usage limits (free tier)
- There's a billing issue on your account
- The Accelerate service is temporarily down (rare)

If your account is at usage limits:
- Upgrade to a paid plan (Pro or Enterprise)
- Or wait for your free tier limits to reset

Check the Prisma Status page for any service incidents:
https://status.prisma.io/

If the issue persists, check the troubleshooting documentation:
https://www.prisma.io/docs/accelerate/troubleshoot

Verify your connection is working using Prisma Studio:

1. Open Prisma Studio:

npx prisma studio

2. If your Accelerate connection is working, Prisma Studio should load and display your database
3. If you see the P5007 error in the browser, the authentication is still failing

If it fails:
- Copy the error message completely
- Go back to the Prisma Console and verify your API key is correct
- Check if there are any special characters that need escaping

To test with code:

import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';
import { withAccelerate } from '@prisma/extension-accelerate';

const prisma = new PrismaClient()
  .$extends(withAccelerate());

async function testConnection() {
  try {
    // Perform a simple query to test the connection
    const count = await prisma.user.count();
    console.log('Connection successful! User count:', count);
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Connection failed:', error);
    process.exit(1);
  } finally {
    await prisma.$disconnect();
  }
}

testConnection();

Run it:

npx tsx test-connection.ts

If the test passes, your Accelerate connection is configured correctly.

If your API key contains special characters, you may need to URL-encode them in the connection string:

Common special characters that need encoding:
- @ becomes %40
- # becomes %23
- ? becomes %3F
- & becomes %26
- % becomes %25
- Space becomes %20

However, Prisma API keys should already be URL-safe and rarely contain special characters. If you're experiencing issues:

1. Regenerate your API key from the Prisma Console
2. Copy it exactly as shown (don't modify or edit it)
3. Paste it directly into your connection string

If you must include special characters:

# Python example to URL-encode
python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('YOUR_API_KEY'))"

# Node.js example
node -e "console.log(encodeURIComponent('YOUR_API_KEY'))"

Then use the encoded version:

DATABASE_URL="prisma://accelerate.prisma-data.net/?api_key=ENCODED_API_KEY"