diff --git a/client/lib/config.ts b/client/lib/config.ts
index 92d2e4bd..c578a636 100644
--- a/client/lib/config.ts
+++ b/client/lib/config.ts
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ export const config = (env: Environment): Config => {
 
 	validNodeEnvs(env.NODE_ENV)
 
+	throwIfUndefined("DATABASE_URL");
+
 	const config: Config = {
 		is_production,
 		enable_admin: stringToBoolean(env.ENABLE_ADMIN),
diff --git a/client/lib/server/prisma.ts b/client/lib/server/prisma.ts
index a2282083..b8f598a5 100644
--- a/client/lib/server/prisma.ts
+++ b/client/lib/server/prisma.ts
@@ -6,35 +6,6 @@ import config from "@lib/config"
 import { Post, PrismaClient, File, User, Prisma } from "@prisma/client"
 export type { User, File, Post } from "@prisma/client"
 
-// we want to update iff they exist the createdAt/updated/expired/deleted items
-// the input could be an array, in which case we'd check each item in the array
-// if it's an object, we'd check that object
-// then we return the changed object or array
-
-const updateDateForItem = (item: any) => {
-	if (item.createdAt) {
-		item.createdAt = item.createdAt.toString()
-	}
-	if (item.updatedAt) {
-		item.updatedAt = item.updatedAt.toString()
-	}
-	if (item.expiresAt) {
-		item.expiresAt = item.expiresAt.toString()
-	}
-	if (item.deletedAt) {
-		item.deletedAt = item.deletedAt.toString()
-	}
-	return item
-}
-
-const updateDates = (input: any) => {
-	if (Array.isArray(input)) {
-		return input.map((item) => updateDateForItem(item))
-	} else {
-		return updateDateForItem(input)
-	}
-}
-
 export const prisma =
 	global.prisma ||
 	new PrismaClient({
diff --git a/client/package.json b/client/package.json
index 31589954..a9fbab7a 100644
--- a/client/package.json
+++ b/client/package.json
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@
 		"react-hot-toast": "^2.4.0",
 		"server-only": "^0.0.1",
 		"swr": "1.3.0",
+		"prisma": "^4.6.1",
 		"textarea-markdown-editor": "0.1.13",
 		"ts-jest": "^29.0.3"
 	},
@@ -54,7 +55,6 @@
 		"katex": "^0.16.3",
 		"next-unused": "0.0.6",
 		"prettier": "2.6.2",
-		"prisma": "^4.6.1",
 		"typescript": "4.6.4",
 		"typescript-plugin-css-modules": "3.4.0"
 	},