generate silently emits empty client (zero models) — 5.x/6.x, macOS/Linux/Docker
Author: ambral-appCreated Sep 12, 2026Updated Sep 12, 2026
Bug: prisma generate silently emits empty client (zero models)
npx prisma generate reports success but produces a client with no models —
node_modules/@prisma/client/index.d.ts is a 1-line stub. No error, exit 0.
Minimal repro (fails everywhere tested)
// schema.prisma
generator client { provider = "prisma-client-js" }
datasource db { provider = "sqlite" url = "file:./dev.db" }
model Widget { id Int @id @default(autoincrement()) name String }
npx prisma generate
grep -c widget node_modules/@prisma/client/index.d.ts # → 0 (expect >0)
Also fails identically on a full 17-model MySQL schema. prisma validate
passes; prisma db push works (schema-engine healthy; only codegen output
is empty).
Matrix (all produce empty output)
macOS darwin-arm64 Node 23 + 6.19.3/6.4.1; Linux debian-openssl-3.0.x Node 20 + 6.19.3; Docker node:20 (+slim) + 6.4.1/5.22.0. Clean installs, cleared caches, no shadow schema files.
Expected
Generated client contains model delegates, or a loud error — never silent empty output with exit 0.
Source: prisma/prisma