Installation

This guide covers everything you need to know to install and create your first application.

Step 1: Create new project

Start by creating a new Next.js project using create-next-app.

npx create-next-app@latest my-app --typescript --eslint --tailwind --app --no-src-dir --no-import-alias --turbopack

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The --typescript, --app, --no-src-dir, and --no-import-alias are required for Drizzle Next to work properly. --tailwind is recommended, however it is optional if you prefer to start with no styling applied.

Step 2: Run the CLI

Run the drizzle-next init command to setup your project.

cd my-app
npx drizzle-next@latest init

Step 3: Configure project

You will be asked a few questions to configure the app:

? Which package manager would you like to use? npm
? Which database dialect would you like to use? sqlite
? Which primary key generation strategy would you like to use? cuid2
? Which css strategy would you like to use? tailwind
? Which color palette would you like to use? indigo
? Which authentication solution would you like to use? authjs
? Which auth providers would you like to use? credentials,github,google
? Do you want to add an admin dashboard with role-based authorization? yes

INFO

Alternatively, you can also run the command non-interactively:

npx drizzle-next@latest init --package-manager npm --db-dialect sqlite --pk-strategy cuid2 --css-strategy tailwind --color-palette indigo --auth-solution authjs --auth-providers credentials,github,google --admin

Step 4: Create user

Generate and run the drizzle migrations:

npx drizzle-kit generate
npx drizzle-kit migrate

Create a test user and grant admin role:

npx tsx scripts/create-user.ts user@example.com password123
npx tsx scripts/grant-admin.ts user@example.com

Start the dev server:

npm run dev

Go to http://localhost:3000.

Then click on "Admin Dashboard" and sign in.

There should be an empty dashboard. In the next step, we'll generate our first scaffold.

Step 5: Scaffold an app

In this example, we'll create a simple blog application.

First, open a new terminal.

For the following scaffolds, make sure to choose admin as the authorization level.

Create a categories schema:

npx drizzle-next@latest scaffold category -c name:text

Create a posts schema:

npx drizzle-next@latest scaffold post -c title:text category_id:references content:text is_draft:boolean published_at:timestamp

Run the drizzle migrations:

npx drizzle-kit generate
npx drizzle-kit migrate

The admin dashboard should now have a fully functional scaffold for a posts resource.