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ORM, but better

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<br/>

<h3 align="center">Drizzle ORM, but better 🚀</h3>

Minimal, type-safe repository helpers for [Drizzle ORM](https://orm.drizzle.team).

[better-drizzle](https://npmjs.com/package/better-drizzle) wraps an existing Drizzle client and gives each table a small, consistent API for reads, writes, pagination, nested filters, relation loading, and optional hooks. The goal is simple: keep Drizzle's type-safety, remove repetitive query glue, and stay close enough to the metal that performance still matters.

Website: https://better-drizzle.com/

## Sponsors

<p align="center">
  <strong>Sponsored by <a href="https://neon.com">Neon</a></strong>
</p>

<p align="center">
  Neon is the serverless Postgres platform built for modern developer workflows.
</p>

## Sponsors

<p align="center">
  <strong>Sponsored by <a href="https://neon.com">Neon</a></strong>
</p>

<p align="center">
  Neon is the serverless Postgres platform built for modern developer workflows.
</p>

</div>

```bash
npm install better-drizzle drizzle-orm
```

## Why

Drizzle is excellent when you want explicit SQL-first control.

It gets repetitive when every service ends up re-writing the same patterns:

</div>

- point lookups
- nested relation reads and writes
- pagination payloads
- existence checks
- count helpers
- CRUD return shapes
- nested `where` filters

[better-drizzle](https://npmjs.com/package/better-drizzle) packages those patterns into a small repository-style API without trying to replace Drizzle itself.

## What it improves

</div>

- Less repeated query code for common CRUD flows
- Nested relation filters with Drizzle-backed typing
- Batched nested `include` and `select` with typed payload inference
- Atomic `connect`, `disconnect`, and `set` relation writes
- Direct and inferred many-to-many relations through simple junction tables
- Offset and cursor pagination helpers with typed metadata
- Thenable `.explain()` on read helpers for query-plan inspection
- Optional lifecycle hooks for cross-cutting behavior
- First-class plugins with setup, transforms, and client/model extensions
- Fast paths for simple reads and writes to reduce wrapper overhead
- Consistent table delegates: `findMany`, `findFirst`, `create`, `update`, `updateEach`, `delete`, `paginate`, `cursor`, `count`, `exists`, `upsert`, `upsertMany`

<h2 align="center">Querying your database with Better client</h2>

```ts
import { better } from 'better-drizzle';
import { drizzle } from 'drizzle-orm/better-sqlite3';

const db = drizzle(sqlite, { schema });

const client = better(db, { schema });

const user = await client.users.findFirst({
	where: { id: 1 },
});

const posts = await client.posts.findMany({
	where: {
		published: true,
		author: {
			is: {
				active: true,
			},
		},
	},
	include: {
		author: true,
	},
	orderBy: [{ id: 'desc' }],
	take: 20,
});

const users = await client.users.findMany({
	include: {
		_count: {
			select: {
				posts: { where: { published: true } },
			},
		},
		posts: {
			where: { published: true },
			orderBy: { score: 'desc' },
			take: 3,
		},
	},
});
```

`_count` uses correlated SQL subqueries, so relation counts do not add a query per row or a separate count round-trip.

**Check whether a user exists or not and count after it.**

</div>

```ts
const exists = await client.users.exists({
	where: { id: 123 },
});

const count = await client.users.count({
	where: {
		name: { contains: 'drizzle-orm' },
	},
});

const plan = await client.users
	.findMany({
		where: { active: true },
		orderBy: [{ id: 'asc' }],
	})
	.explain({
		analyze: true,
		comment: 'users.active.explain',
	});
```

`.explain()` is available on read helpers (`findMany`, `findFirst`, `findOne`, `findUnique`, `count`, `exists`, `paginate`, `cursor`). PostgreSQL returns the richest output, while MySQL and SQLite ignore unsupported explain options and return the plan shape their drivers support.

**Create and update the user.**

</div>

```ts
const someUser = await client.users.create({
	data: {
		id: 123,
		name: 'better',
	},
});

const user = await client.users.update({
	data: {
		name: 'better-drizzle',
		posts: {
			connect: { id: 456 },
			disconnect: { id: 789 },
		},
	},
	where: { id: someUser.id },
});

const maybeCreated = await client.users.create({
	data: {
		email: 'better@example.com',
		id: 124,
		name: 'better-again',
	},
	skipDuplicates: true,
});

if (!maybeCreated) {
	console.log('user already existed');
}

const batch = await client.users.upsertMany({
	data: [
		{ id: 123, name: 'better', email: 'better@example.com', active: true },
		{ id: 124, name: 'batch', email: 'batch@example.com', active: false },
	],
	target: 'email',
	update: ['name', 'active'],
	select: {
		id: true,
		name: true,
	},
});
```

**You can where queries like drizzle too**

</div>

```ts
const { count } = await client.users.delete({
	where: eq(users.id, 123),
});
```

**You can also resolve repositories dynamically.**

</div>

```ts
const users = client.repository('users');
```

The repository name can be the TypeScript schema key or the database table name.

## Transactions

Transactions live on the client, not on individual models. The callback receives a full Better Drizzle client bound to the underlying transaction, so model delegates, plugin args, transforms, hooks, and nested transactions all keep working.

</div>

```ts
const user = await client.transaction(async (tx) => {
	const created = await tx.users.create({
		data: {
			email: 'better@example.com',
			id: 123,
			name: 'better',
		},
	});

tx.afterCommit(async () => {
		await sendWelcomeEmail(created.email);
	});

return created;
});
```

On PostgreSQL and MySQL, read helpers also accept `lock` for row-level locking:

```ts
await client.transaction(async (tx) => {
	const jobs = await tx.posts.findMany({
		where: { id: { gt: 0 } },
		lock: {
			mode: 'update',
			skipLocked: true,
		},
	});

return jobs;
});
```

If you want to enforce that locked reads only happen inside transactions, enable it once on the client:

```ts
const client = better(db, {
	schema,
	locks: {
		transactionsOnly: true,
	},
});
```

## Plugins

Plugins let you package setup logic, query transforms, and reusable client/model extensions without wrapping `better(...)` yourself.

Plugins can also extend the built-in operation args in a fully typed way through `operationArgs`, so custom fields like `deleted` or `mode` flow from the delegate call into plugin transforms and hooks.

</div>

```ts
import { better } from 'better-drizzle';
import { recommended, rules } from '@better-drizzle/rules';
import { softDelete } from '@better-drizzle/soft-delete';
import { timestamps } from '@better-drizzle/timestamps';
import { zod } from '@better-drizzle/zod';

const client = better(drizzle, {
	schema,
	plugins: [
		rules(
			recommended({
				noRawUnsafe: true,
			}),
		),
		timestamps({
			createdAt: 'created_at',
			updatedAt: 'updated_at',
		}),
		zod({
			validate: {
				create: true,
				result: true,
				update: true,
				upsert: true,
			},
		}),
		softDelete({
			column: 'deletedAt',
			deletedByColumn: 'deletedById',
			defaults: {
				mode: 'soft',
				visibility: 'without',
			},
		}),
	],
});

await client.users.delete({
	where: { id: 1 },
});

await client.users.findMany({
	deleted: 'only',
});

await client.users.restore({
	where: { id: 1 },
});
```

Now you can enforce repository guardrails, soft delete rows, auto-generate Zod schemas, and also have timestamps fields injected automatically.

For editor and CI feedback before runtime, pair the runtime guardrails with `@better-drizzle/eslint` and its flat-config presets. The ESLint package mirrors the statically-checkable subset of `@better-drizzle/rules` for direct Better Drizzle callsites.

## Hooks

The client accepts optional hooks through `better(db, options)`. This is useful for auditing, tracing, metrics, authorization, and other cross-cutting concerns that you do not want duplicated in every repository call.

The hook layer is optional. If you do not need it, do not pass it.

**Always assign a random UUID in the user before creating it.**

</div>

```ts
const client = better(drizzle, {
	schema,
	hooks: {
		beforeCreate({ data: user }) {
			user.organizationId = randomUUID();
		},
	},
});
```

`meta` can still be passed per call, but you can now scope default metadata once on the client with `$withContext(...)`. Scoped values are merged into repository calls, raw SQL hooks, and transaction hooks, and per-call `meta` overrides matching keys.

```ts
type RequestMeta = {
	organizationId?: string;
	requestId?: string;
	userId?: string;
};

const client = better<typeof schema, RequestMeta>(drizzle, { schema });

const scoped = client.$withContext({
	organizationId: 'org_123',
	requestId: 'req_123',
});

await scoped.users.create({
	data: { name: 'Alice' },
	meta: { requestId: 'req_456', userId: 'user_7' },
});
```

## Performance

See the full benchmark suite and results in [`benchmark/README.md`](/benchmark). The suite covers reads, writes, and transactions (including nested savepoints) with fair API-parity comparisons against raw Drizzle.

## Contributors

</div>

## AI Skills

better-drizzle now ships a first-party agent skill pack under [`skills/better-drizzle`](/skills/better-drizzle) for AI coding agents that need accurate repository context, API guidance, and review guardrails.

</div>

- Canonical skill format: `SKILL.md` plus task-specific files in `references/`
- Multi-agent support: `AGENTS.md` for repo context, `CLAUDE.md` and `GEMINI.md` as thin adapters, and the skill pack as the canonical workflow layer
- Scope: querying, writes, transactions, plugins, performance-sensitive changes, and review-time checks for API correctness
- Security posture: zero scripts, zero network, no secret-reading instructions, and explicit prompt-injection resistance guidance

See the website AI page for installation notes, supported agent surfaces, and the security model: https://better-drizzle.com/docs/ai

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