Database Recipes

spoonfeed provides 10 database-related recipes covering relational ORMs, document databases, and data lifecycle patterns. Choose a primary ORM/ODM recipe for your project, then layer on optional recipes like soft-delete, audit-trail, or transactional-outbox to handle cross-cutting data concerns.

Mutual exclusivity

The primary ORM/ODM recipes (typeorm-postgres, typeorm-mysql, prisma, mongoose, drizzle-postgres, kysely, mikro-orm) conflict with each other. Select one per project.

Recommended combinations

• Full data lifecycle: typeorm-postgres + database-seeding + database-factories + soft-delete
• Event-driven systems: any ORM recipe + transactional-outbox + rabbitmq or bullmq
• Compliance-heavy apps: any ORM recipe + audit-trail + data-masking

---

TypeORM + PostgreSQL

TypeORM integration with the PostgreSQL driver. Uses the repository pattern with decorators.

ID	typeorm-postgres
Category	Database
Dependencies	@nestjs/typeorm typeorm pg
Conflicts	typeorm-mysql, prisma, mongoose, drizzle-postgres, kysely, mikro-orm
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DB_HOST	localhost	PostgreSQL host
DB_PORT	5432	PostgreSQL port
DB_USERNAME	postgres	PostgreSQL username
DB_PASSWORD	postgres	PostgreSQL password
DB_NAME	app	PostgreSQL database name

Usage: Entities live in src/<module>/entities/. Inject repositories with @InjectRepository(). Use migrations for schema changes — never synchronize: true in production.

// src/users/user.entity.ts
import { Entity, PrimaryGeneratedColumn, Column } from 'typeorm';

@Entity()
export class User {
  @PrimaryGeneratedColumn('uuid')
  id: string;

  @Column({ unique: true })
  email: string;

  @Column()
  name: string;
}

// src/users/user.service.ts
import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
import { InjectRepository } from '@nestjs/typeorm';
import { Repository } from 'typeorm';
import { User } from './user.entity';

@Injectable()
export class UserService {
  constructor(
    @InjectRepository(User)
    private readonly userRepository: Repository<User>,
  ) {}

  async findById(id: string): Promise<User | null> {
    return this.userRepository.findOneBy({ id });
  }
}

Requires a running PostgreSQL instance

Ensure PostgreSQL is running locally or via Docker before starting the app. The docker-compose-dev recipe provides a pre-configured setup.

Pairs well with: database-seeding, database-factories, soft-delete, audit-trail

---

TypeORM + MySQL

TypeORM integration with the MySQL driver.

ID	typeorm-mysql
Category	Database
Dependencies	@nestjs/typeorm typeorm mysql2
Conflicts	typeorm-postgres, prisma, mongoose, drizzle-postgres, kysely, mikro-orm
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DB_HOST	localhost	MySQL host
DB_PORT	3306	MySQL port
DB_USERNAME	root	MySQL username
DB_PASSWORD	root	MySQL password
DB_NAME	app	MySQL database name

Usage: Same repository pattern as TypeORM + PostgreSQL. Run migrations with pnpm typeorm migration:run.

Requires a running MySQL instance

Ensure MySQL is running locally or via Docker before starting the app.

---

Prisma

Schema-first ORM with a type-safe client generated from prisma/schema.prisma.

ID	prisma
Category	Database
Dependencies	@prisma/client
Dev dependencies	prisma
Conflicts	typeorm-postgres, typeorm-mysql, mongoose, drizzle-postgres, kysely, mikro-orm
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/app	Prisma database connection URL

Usage: Edit prisma/schema.prisma, then run pnpm prisma generate and pnpm prisma migrate dev. Inject PrismaService for database access.

import { Injectable } from '@nestjs/common';
import { PrismaService } from '@/infrastructure/database/prisma.service';

@Injectable()
export class UserService {
  constructor(private readonly prisma: PrismaService) {}

  async findById(id: string) {
    return this.prisma.user.findUnique({ where: { id } });
  }
}

Pairs well with: database-seeding, database-factories

---

Mongoose

MongoDB integration with the Mongoose ODM. Uses decorators for schema definitions.

ID	mongoose
Category	Database
Dependencies	@nestjs/mongoose mongoose
Conflicts	typeorm-postgres, typeorm-mysql, prisma, drizzle-postgres, kysely, mikro-orm
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
MONGO_URI	mongodb://localhost:27017/app	MongoDB connection URI

Usage: Define schemas with @Schema() and @Prop() decorators. Inject models with @InjectModel(). Use lean() for read-only queries.

Requires a running MongoDB instance

Ensure MongoDB is running locally or via Docker before starting the app.

Pairs well with: database-seeding, database-factories

---

Drizzle ORM + PostgreSQL

Lightweight type-safe ORM with best-in-class performance. SQL-first approach with TypeScript schema definitions.

ID	drizzle-postgres
Category	Database
Dependencies	drizzle-orm pg
Dev dependencies	drizzle-kit
Conflicts	typeorm-postgres, typeorm-mysql, prisma, mongoose, kysely, mikro-orm
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/app	PostgreSQL connection URL

Usage: Schema definitions live in src/infrastructure/database/schema/. Run pnpm drizzle:generate after changes, then pnpm drizzle:migrate.

---

Kysely

Type-safe SQL query builder with zero overhead. You write the SQL; Kysely provides type safety.

ID	kysely
Category	Database
Dependencies	kysely pg
Dev dependencies	kysely-ctl
Conflicts	typeorm-postgres, typeorm-mysql, prisma, mongoose, drizzle-postgres, mikro-orm
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_URL	postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/app	PostgreSQL connection URL

Usage: Define database types in src/infrastructure/database/types.ts. Use db.selectFrom(), db.insertInto(), etc. Migrations via kysely-ctl.

---

MikroORM + PostgreSQL

Data Mapper ORM with Unit of Work and Identity Map, well-suited for Domain-Driven Design.

ID	mikro-orm
Category	Database
Dependencies	@mikro-orm/core @mikro-orm/nestjs @mikro-orm/postgresql @mikro-orm/migrations
Dev dependencies	@mikro-orm/cli
Conflicts	typeorm-postgres, typeorm-mysql, prisma, mongoose, drizzle-postgres, kysely
Compatible with	All project types

Environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
DB_HOST	localhost	PostgreSQL host
DB_PORT	5432	PostgreSQL port
DB_NAME	app	PostgreSQL database name
DB_USERNAME	postgres	PostgreSQL username
DB_PASSWORD	postgres	PostgreSQL password

Usage: Entities in src/infrastructure/database/entities/. Changes persist on em.flush(). Migrations via pnpm mikro-orm migration:create.

---

Soft Delete

Mark records as deleted instead of removing them. Adds a deletedAt column to entities.

ID	soft-delete
Category	Database
Dependencies	@nestjs/typeorm typeorm
Compatible with	All project types

Usage: Extend SoftDeletableEntity for entities that should be soft-deleted. Use repository.softRemove() instead of remove(). Query soft-deleted records with @WithDeleted().

---

Audit Trail

Record entity changes with user, action, and diff. Captures who changed what and when.

ID	audit-trail
Category	Database
Compatible with	All project types

Usage: Apply AuditInterceptor globally or per-controller. Use @Auditable() decorator to mark handlers. Entries capture userId, action, entityName, entityId, changes, timestamp, and IP.

---

Transactional Outbox

Guarantee at-least-once event delivery alongside database writes using the outbox pattern.

ID	transactional-outbox
Category	Database
Dependencies	@nestjs/typeorm typeorm
Compatible with	HTTP API, Microservice, Scheduled Worker, Full-Stack, Monorepo

Usage: Call OutboxService.addMessage() within a transaction. Events are written to the outbox table atomically alongside business data, then published by a polling publisher.

Note

The outbox pattern guarantees at-least-once delivery. Consumers must be idempotent. Consider pairing with the idempotency recipe for downstream services.

Pairs well with: rabbitmq, bullmq, aws-sqs