2026-05-08: Fix missing prisma generate in Tauri dev/build flow

Problem

Running npm run tauri:dev (or tauri:build) failed with 100 TypeScript compilation errors because Prisma-generated types were missing:

Module '"@prisma/client"' has no exported member 'PrismaClient'
Module '"@prisma/client"' has no exported member 'Prisma'
Module '"@prisma/client"' has no exported member 'AssetTypeGroup'
Property 'asset' does not exist on type 'PrismaService'
… (100 errors total)

Root cause: node_modules/.prisma/client/ (the generated Prisma client) was never created in the Tauri flow. Prisma 7 does not auto-generate the client on npm install — an explicit prisma generate call is required.

• Docker handles this correctly: the backend Dockerfile line 40 runs RUN npx prisma generate explicitly.
• backend/.env has DATABASE_URL set, so local prisma generate works.
• tauri-dev.sh / tauri-build.sh: ran npm install → npm run build, but skipped prisma generate.
• backend/package.json: no postinstall or prebuild step for prisma generate.

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Decision: where to add prisma generate

Three options were considered:

Option	Pros	Cons
postinstall in package.json	Automatic, universal	Docker sets DATABASE_URL after npm ci — postinstall would run before the env var is available and fail
Explicit step in shell scripts only	Simple, targeted	Doesn’t cover cd backend && npm run build direct usage
prebuild in package.json + shell scripts	Covers all paths	prebuild is skipped in Docker (Docker calls npx nest build directly, not npm run build) — safe

Chosen: option 3 (belt + suspenders) — add prisma generate to both the shell scripts and the prebuild npm script.

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Changes

scripts/tauri-dev.sh

Added an explicit npx prisma generate step after npm install and before npm run build for the backend:

echo "▸ Generating Prisma client …"
npx prisma generate

scripts/tauri-build.sh

Same addition after the --omit=dev install.

backend/package.json

Changed prebuild from:

"prebuild": "node ../scripts/gen-version.mjs backend"

To:

"prebuild": "prisma generate && node ../scripts/gen-version.mjs backend"

This ensures cd backend && npm run build (direct developer usage outside the Tauri scripts) also generates the Prisma client automatically.

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Why this doesn’t break Docker

The backend Dockerfile calls RUN npx nest build directly — it never calls npm run build. This means the prebuild npm lifecycle hook is not triggered in Docker. Docker continues to use its own explicit RUN npx prisma generate step (which runs after DATABASE_URL is set via ENV).

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Acceptance Criteria

1. npm run tauri:dev completes without TypeScript errors ✅
2. cd backend && npm run build succeeds from cold state ✅
3. Backend unit tests pass ✅
4. Backend e2e tests pass ✅
5. Docker build still works ✅

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Execution Summary

Commit: acf15f9

Actual changes

File	Change
scripts/tauri-dev.sh	Added echo "▸ Generating Prisma client …" + npx prisma generate after backend npm install
scripts/tauri-build.sh	Same addition after npm install --omit=dev
backend/package.json	Changed prebuild to "prisma generate && node ../scripts/gen-version.mjs backend"
docs/src/content/docs/plans/2026-05-08-fix-prisma-generate-tauri.md	This plan doc (new file)
docs/src/content/docs/dev-setup.md	Added note about automatic prisma generate in the backend Step 2 section

Deviations from plan

None. The plan was followed exactly.

Test results

Gate	Result
Backend unit	✅ 265 tests passed (28 suites)
Backend e2e	✅ 69 tests passed (8 suites)
Frontend unit	⏭ skipped (not affected)
Frontend e2e	⏭ skipped (not affected)

Key discoveries

• prisma generate in prebuild works for local dev because backend/.env supplies DATABASE_URL via import 'dotenv/config' in prisma.config.ts.
• Docker calls npx nest build directly — never npm run build — so prebuild is not triggered in Docker. No conflict.
• The tauri-dev.sh change calls npx prisma generate from the backend/ directory, which correctly picks up prisma.config.ts and backend/.env.