v7: Allow traversing relations when using `relationMode = "prisma"`

[michaelhays]

We use PlanetScale for our database provider, and thus do not use foreign keys, but instead use relationMode = "prisma". In Prisma Studio v7, columns that reference another table are just shown as varchar, without any ability to click on the item to open that related record in its own table.

I tested this with proper foreign keys, and it is possible to traverse the relations, so it appears that this just doesn't work with relationMode = "prisma".

[igalklebanov]

Hey 👋

Thank you! 🙏

This is not doable right now.

We don't have the extra details of PSL metadata, by design - maybe in the future, as enrichment. We don't have these virtual foreign keys that only exist in client-side.

[sorenbs]

Now that Planetscale supports foreign keys, is this still relevant for you?

We would rather not make Prisma Studio depend on information in the schema if we can avoid it.

[michaelhays]

Hey @sorenbs, yeah we're still on relationMode = "prisma" for now (we actually migrated off of PlanetScale and onto Postgres, but still don't want to add foreign key constraints just yet)

FWIW, this lack of relation traversing (for either forward or reverse relations) has been a little annoying, but I've more-or-less gotten used to just opening a new table and copying the relation ID. So if this is a major overhaul, or a different direction than you want to go architecturally, then I get why it might not be worth implementing for now.

[sorenbs]

Hi @michaelhays — thanks for the clear analysis, and you're right about the cause: Studio v7 discovers relations by introspecting foreign keys, and with relationMode = "prisma" there are none to find. Fixing this properly means feeding Prisma-schema-level relation metadata into Studio alongside the database introspection — a design change we want to make deliberately rather than bolt on, since Studio no longer reads your schema at all today. Keeping this open; PlanetScale-style setups are common enough that it's firmly on our radar.