Julien Gautier
79eee77594
Set up the foundation for the adastra-portal project: - CLAUDE.md captures durable project rules (quality bar, security/perf/a11y as first-class, language, commit conventions, ADR proactivity). - docs/ and decisions/ scaffolding with maintained indexes (docs/README.md and decisions/README.md), MADR 4.0.0 template, and tag vocabulary. - Phase-1 ADRs (0001-0006) lock structural choices: ADR usage, Nx monorepo with the apps preset, naming convention (adastra-portal / portal-shell / portal-bff), Angular CSR/zoneless/Signals/Vitest, NestJS over Express, PostgreSQL with Prisma. - docs/setup/ guides translated to English. - .gitignore covers Node/Nx artifacts and the personal notes/ scratchpad. The Nx workspace itself is not yet bootstrapped; that step is gated on a revised setup guide aligned with the ADRs.
120 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
120 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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status: accepted
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date: 2026-04-29
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decision-makers: R&D Lead
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tags: [data, backend]
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---
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# Persistence — PostgreSQL with Prisma
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## Context and Problem Statement
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The BFF owns two persistent concerns: session state (covered by Redis in the future ADR-0009) and **business data** owned directly by the portal — the portal is not a pure proxy. Business data is relational, multi-audience (workforce vs. external customers), audit-sensitive, and must run on-prem.
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Which database engine and which data-access layer do we adopt?
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## Decision Drivers
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* On-prem deployment (no managed-service shortcut).
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* Multi-audience data with strict isolation between workforce and customer scopes (Row-Level Security desirable).
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* ACID transactions and a well-understood operational story (HA, backup, point-in-time recovery).
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* TypeScript-first developer experience for the BFF.
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* Long-term licensing safety — open source, no recent license-change risk (e.g. SSPL).
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## Considered Options
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### Database engine
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* **PostgreSQL** (latest stable major). (Chosen.)
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* MariaDB / MySQL.
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* SQL Server (would imply Microsoft licensing terms).
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* MongoDB / DocumentDB (rejected — not a fit for relational, audit-heavy business data; SSPL concerns).
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### Data-access layer
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* **Prisma** (latest stable major). (Chosen.)
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* Drizzle.
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* Kysely.
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* TypeORM.
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* Plain `pg` driver + hand-written SQL.
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## Decision Outcome
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Chosen options: **PostgreSQL** as the engine, **Prisma** as the data-access layer.
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The engine is pinned to the latest stable major at workspace bootstrap, and tracks the upstream support window thereafter.
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Prisma is wired into NestJS via the `nestjs-prisma` integration, with a dedicated `PrismaService` extending `PrismaClient` and exposed through DI. Migrations are managed by `prisma migrate`, committed to the repository, validated in CI, and applied through a controlled deployment step (covered by a future infrastructure ADR).
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### Consequences
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* Good, because PostgreSQL is the de facto enterprise open-source RDBMS — mature HA, replication, RLS, JSONB, full-text search.
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* Good, because RLS gives a strong substrate for the workforce/customer isolation called for by ADR-0007 (identity model, future).
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* Good, because Prisma's schema-first model is a single source of truth, with type generation and a readable migration log.
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* Good, because Prisma's NestJS integration is well-trodden territory.
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* Bad, because Prisma adds a generated client and a query engine binary — operational surface to ship and version.
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* Bad, because Prisma's escape hatch for advanced PostgreSQL features (advanced CTEs, window functions, RLS policies) is `$queryRaw` — usable, but a reminder that not everything goes through the ORM. We will not fight Prisma when raw SQL is the right tool.
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* Neutral, because Drizzle is a credible "à la pointe" alternative; we accept the more conservative choice for now and re-evaluate at the next major architectural review.
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### Confirmation
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* `apps/portal-bff` depends on `prisma` and `@prisma/client`.
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* A single `schema.prisma` lives at `apps/portal-bff/prisma/schema.prisma`.
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* `nestjs-prisma`'s `PrismaModule` is imported globally in the BFF.
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* CI runs `prisma validate` and `prisma migrate diff` against the staging schema.
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* Database engine version is pinned in deployment manifests.
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## Pros and Cons of the Options
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### PostgreSQL (chosen)
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* Good, because mature, open source under the PostgreSQL License (permissive), broad on-prem operational tooling.
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* Good, because RLS is first-class — directly serves multi-audience isolation.
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* Good, because JSONB + relational hybrid suits BFF data shapes.
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* Bad, because operational complexity (HA, backups, tuning) must be owned — true of any on-prem RDBMS.
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### MariaDB / MySQL
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* Good, because operationally well-known.
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* Bad, because feature gap vs. PostgreSQL (RLS, JSON ergonomics, CTE maturity, generated columns).
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### MongoDB
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* Good, because the document model fits some BFF caches.
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* Bad, because business data here is relational; forcing a document store would push joins into the application — bricolage.
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* Bad, because the SSPL license raises enterprise legal complications.
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### Prisma (chosen)
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* Good, because schema-first declarative, strong DX, type generation, mainstream in 2026.
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* Good, because a mature NestJS integration exists.
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* Bad, because the query engine binary adds a deployment artifact.
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* Bad, because some PostgreSQL features require `$queryRaw`.
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### Drizzle
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* Good, because lighter, closer to SQL, faster, type-safe.
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* Bad, because younger (2022) — smaller enterprise track record than Prisma. Kept on the watch list for re-evaluation.
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### Kysely
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* Good, because elegant query-builder, no ORM magic, fully type-safe.
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* Bad, because no schema/migrations of its own — must be paired with another tool, increasing surface area.
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### TypeORM
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* Good, because long-standing default in NestJS history.
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* Bad, because design issues (decorator hell, runtime metadata fragility, migration story) and slowing maintenance — community momentum has shifted to Prisma and Drizzle.
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### Plain `pg` driver + hand-written SQL
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* Good, because zero abstraction; full control.
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* Bad, because every cross-cutting concern (transactions, connection pooling, type mapping, migrations) is hand-built — the very bricolage we are forbidden.
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## More Information
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* PostgreSQL: https://www.postgresql.org/
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* Prisma: https://www.prisma.io/
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* `nestjs-prisma`: https://nestjs-prisma.dev/
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* Related ADRs: [ADR-0005](0005-backend-stack-nestjs.md), ADR-0007 (identity model + RLS use, future), ADR-0009 (sessions in Redis, future), future infrastructure ADRs (Postgres HA, backup).
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