Getting Started

Get up and running in seconds, with no global installs required.

Prereqs

Node.js ≥ 22
A Drizzle schema (TypeScript)

Install the CLI

Add DRZL CLI to your project (no globals needed):

pnpmnpmyarnbun

bash

pnpm add -D @drzl/cli

bash

npm i -D @drzl/cli

bash

yarn add -D @drzl/cli

bash

bun add -d @drzl/cli

One complete example (oRPC + Zod + Service)

Add a single config to generate Zod validators and oRPC routers that reuse them, plus typed services:

// drzl.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from '@drzl/cli/config';

export default defineConfig({
  schema: 'src/db/schemas/index.ts',
  outDir: 'src/api',
  generators: [
    // 1) Zod validators
    { kind: 'zod', path: 'src/validators/zod', schemaSuffix: 'Schema' },

    // 2) Routers (oRPC adapter), reusing Zod schemas
    {
      kind: 'orpc',
      template: '@drzl/template-orpc-service',
      includeRelations: true,
      outputHeader: { enabled: true },
      validation: {
        useShared: true,
        library: 'zod',
        importPath: 'src/validators/zod',
        schemaSuffix: 'Schema',
      },
    },
    // 3) Typed services (Drizzle-aware or stub)
    {
      kind: 'service',
      path: 'src/services',
      dataAccess: 'drizzle', // or 'stub'
      dbImportPath: 'src/db/connection',
      schemaImportPath: 'src/db/schemas',
    },
  ],
});

Install Templates

The CLI comes with all the generators you need. You only need to install any templates you want to use. For this example, we'll install the oRPC service template:

pnpmnpmyarnbun

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pnpm add -D @drzl/template-orpc-service

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npm i -D @drzl/template-orpc-service

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yarn add -D @drzl/template-orpc-service

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bun add -d @drzl/template-orpc-service

Generate:

pnpmnpmyarnbun

bash

pnpm dlx @drzl/cli generate -c drzl.config.ts

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npx @drzl/cli generate -c drzl.config.ts

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yarn dlx @drzl/cli generate -c drzl.config.ts

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bunx @drzl/cli generate -c drzl.config.ts

This writes validators to src/validators/zod, routers to src/api, and services to src/services.

Notes

Eighteen generators emit routers or an API surface, and each is its own generator rather than a template: oRPC, tRPC, Hono, Express, Fastify, NestJS, GraphQL, Pothos, MCP, Next.js, the AI SDK, TanStack Start, h3, Effect HttpApi, ts-rest, openapi-fetch, forms and Elysia. Only oRPC takes templates, which is why the step above installs one. See Adapters for which to reach for.
You do not install generators. All twenty-seven are dependencies of @drzl/cli, so the install in step 1 already brought every one of them. What you may need is the validation library itself, in your own app: zod, valibot, arktype, @sinclair/typebox or effect, since the generated files import from it. effect is an optional peer and is never installed for you; see Effect for why.
Config file formats supported: drzl.config.ts, .mjs, .js, .json.

Next steps

CLI commands → /cli
Config reference → /guide/configuration
Recipes → /examples/recipes
Something failed → /guide/troubleshooting
Adapters → /adapters/overview
Hosting on Supabase/Neon, PlanetScale or Cloudflare D1? → provider quickstarts for Postgres, MySQL and SQLite

Getting Started ​

Getting Started