TypeScript ORM for Node.js based on Data Mapper, Unit of Work and Identity Map patterns. Supports MongoDB, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite (including libSQL), MSSQL and Oracle databases.
Heavily inspired by Doctrine and Hibernate.

Quick Start
Install a driver package for your database:
npm install @mikro-orm/postgresql
npm install @mikro-orm/mysql
npm install @mikro-orm/mariadb
npm install @mikro-orm/sqlite
npm install @mikro-orm/libsql
npm install @mikro-orm/mongodb
npm install @mikro-orm/mssql
npm install @mikro-orm/oracledb
If you use additional packages like @mikro-orm/cli, @mikro-orm/migrations, or @mikro-orm/entity-generator, install @mikro-orm/core explicitly as well. See the quick start guide for details.
Define Entities
The recommended way to define entities is using defineEntity with setClass:
import { defineEntity, p, MikroORM } from '@mikro-orm/postgresql';
const AuthorSchema = defineEntity({
name: 'Author',
properties: {
id: p.integer().primary(),
name: p.string(),
email: p.string(),
born: p.datetime().nullable(),
books: () => p.oneToMany(Book).mappedBy('author'),
},
});
export class Author extends AuthorSchema.class {}
AuthorSchema.setClass(Author);
const BookSchema = defineEntity({
name: 'Book',
properties: {
id: p.integer().primary(),
title: p.string(),
author: () => p.manyToOne(Author).inversedBy('books'),
},
});
export class Book extends BookSchema.class {}
BookSchema.setClass(Book);
You can also define entities using decorators or EntitySchema. See the defining entities guide for all options.
Initialize and Use
import { MikroORM, RequestContext } from '@mikro-orm/postgresql';
const orm = await MikroORM.init({
entities: [Author, Book],
dbName: 'my-db',
});
const author = orm.em.create(Author, {
name: 'Jon Snow',
email: 'snow@wall.st',
});
const book = orm.em.create(Book, {
title: 'My Life on The Wall',
author,
});
await orm.em.flush();
Querying
const authors = await orm.em.findAll(Author, {
populate: ['books'],
orderBy: { name: 'asc' },
});
const qb = orm.em.createQueryBuilder(Author);
const result = await qb
.select('*')
.where({ books: { title: { $like: '%Wall%' } } })
.getResult();
Request Context
In web applications, use RequestContext to isolate the identity map per request:
const app = express();
app.use((req, res, next) => {
RequestContext.create(orm.em, next);
});
More info about RequestContext is described here.
Unit of Work
Unit of Work maintains a list of objects (entities) affected by a business transaction
and coordinates the writing out of changes. (Martin Fowler)
When you call em.flush(), all computed changes are queried inside a database transaction. This means you can control transaction boundaries simply by making changes to your entities and calling flush() when ready.
const author = await em.findOneOrFail(Author, 1, {
populate: ['books'],
});
author.name = 'Jon Snow II';
author.books.getItems().forEach(book => book.title += ' (2nd ed.)');
author.books.add(orm.em.create(Book, { title: 'New Book', author }));
await em.flush();
The above flush will execute:
begin;
update "author" set "name" = 'Jon Snow II' where "id" = 1;
update "book"
set "title" = case
when ("id" = 1) then 'My Life on The Wall (2nd ed.)'
when ("id" = 2) then 'Another Book (2nd ed.)'
else "title" end
where "id" in (1, 2);
insert into "book" ("title", "author_id") values ('New Book', 1);
commit;
Core Features
Documentation
MikroORM documentation, included in this repo in the root directory, is built with Docusaurus and publicly hosted on GitHub Pages at https://mikro-orm.io.
There is also auto-generated CHANGELOG.md file based on commit messages (via semantic-release).
Example Integrations
You can find example integrations for some popular frameworks in the mikro-orm-examples repository:
TypeScript Examples
JavaScript Examples
Contributing
Contributions, issues and feature requests are welcome. Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on the process for submitting pull requests to us.
Authors
Martin Adámek
See also the list of contributors who participated in this project.
Show Your Support
Please star this repository if this project helped you!
If you'd like to support my open-source work, consider sponsoring me directly at github.com/sponsors/b4nan.
License
Copyright © 2018-present Martin Adámek.
This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.