CI/CD for a NestJS + Prisma + Postgres App with GitHub Actions

By Kaveh Alemi·Latchkey

Lint, migrate Prisma, run e2e tests on Postgres, build, and ship NestJS.

NestJS with Prisma and Postgres is a common Node backend stack. This recipe applies Prisma migrations to a Postgres service container, runs unit and e2e tests, then builds and containerizes the app.

What the pipeline does

install deps with npm ci
apply migrations with prisma migrate deploy
lint with eslint
run unit and e2e tests
build with nest build and containerize

The workflow

The Postgres service backs Prisma during migrations and e2e tests. DATABASE_URL points at the service; nest build emits dist for the container.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

name: CI
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  pull_request:
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      postgres:
        image: postgres:16
        env:
          POSTGRES_PASSWORD: postgres
          POSTGRES_DB: nest
        ports: ["5432:5432"]
        options: >-
          --health-cmd "pg_isready" --health-interval 10s
          --health-timeout 5s --health-retries 5
    env:
      DATABASE_URL: postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/nest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 20
          cache: npm
      - run: npm ci
      - run: npx prisma migrate deploy
      - run: npm run lint
      - run: npm test
      - run: npm run test:e2e
      - run: npm run build

Caching and speed

cache: npm restores installs and the Prisma engines cache. e2e suites that touch a real Postgres take time, so running on cheaper managed runners such as Latchkey $0.0025/min at 2 vCPU against $0.006 GitHub-hosted keeps PRs fast, and auto-retry covers a flaky database start or registry blip.

Deploying

Build a Docker image from dist and push it to your registry, then deploy to ECS, Kubernetes, or a Node host. Run prisma migrate deploy against production as a pre-release step before routing traffic.

Making this reliable in CI

Pin every tool version. An unpinned toolchain turns a runner image update into a build break on unchanged code.
Cache what is expensive to produce, and key the cache to the tool version so a restore across a version boundary cannot poison the build.
Assert on the produced artifact rather than on the command succeeding.
Set an explicit timeout so a hung step fails fast instead of consuming the whole job budget.

Key takeaways

Back Prisma with a Postgres service so migrations and e2e tests are real.
Run prisma migrate deploy before tests in CI and before traffic in prod.
nest build emits dist that you containerize for deploy.

Frequently asked questions

CI/CD for a NestJS + Prisma + Postgres App with GitHub Actions?

NestJS with Prisma and Postgres is a common Node backend stack. This recipe applies Prisma migrations to a Postgres service container, runs unit and e2e tests, then builds and containerizes the app.

The workflow?

The Postgres service backs Prisma during migrations and e2e tests. DATABASE_URL points at the service; nest build emits dist for the container.

Caching and speed?

Deploying?