Modeling the schema of data structures as first-class values
Introduction
Welcome to the documentation for @effect/schema
, a library for defining and using schemas to validate and transform data in TypeScript.
@effect/schema
allows you to define a Schema
that describes the structure and data types of a piece of data, and then use that Schema
to perform various operations such as decoding from unknown
, encoding to unknown
, verifying that a value conforms to a given Schema
.
@effect/schema
also provides a number of other features, including the ability to derive various artifacts such as Arbitrary
s, JSONSchema
s, and Pretty
s from a Schema
, as well as the ability to customize the library through the use of custom artifact compilers and custom Schema
combinators.
If you're eager to learn how to define your first schema, jump straight to the Basic usage section!
Credits
This library was inspired by the following projects:
Requirements
- TypeScript 4.7 or newer
- The
strict
flag enabled in your tsconfig.json
file - The
exactOptionalPropertyTypes
flag enabled in your tsconfig.json
file
{
// ...
"compilerOptions": {
// ...
"strict": true,
"exactOptionalPropertyTypes": true
}
}
Getting started
To install the alpha version:
npm install @effect/schema
Warning. This package is primarily published to receive early feedback and for contributors, during this development phase we cannot guarantee the stability of the APIs, consider each release to contain breaking changes.
Once you have installed the library, you can import the necessary types and functions from the @effect/schema
module.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
Defining a schema
To define a Schema
, you can use the provided struct
function to define a new Schema
that describes an object with a fixed set of properties. Each property of the object is described by a Schema
, which specifies the data type and validation rules for that property.
For example, consider the following Schema
that describes a person object with a name
property of type string
and an age
property of type number
:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
You can also use the union
function to define a Schema
that describes a value that can be one of a fixed set of types. For example, the following Schema
describes a value that can be either a string
or a number
:
const StringOrNumber = S.union(S.string, S.number);
In addition to the provided struct
and union
functions, @effect/schema
also provides a number of other functions for defining Schema
s, including functions for defining arrays, tuples, and records.
Once you have defined a Schema
, you can use the Infer
type to extract the inferred type of the data described by the Schema
.
For example, given the Person
Schema
defined above, you can extract the inferred type of a Person
object as follows:
interface Person extends S.Infer<typeof Person> {}
Decoding
To use the Schema
defined above to decode a value from unknown
, you can use the decode
function from the @effect/schema/Parser
module:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const decodePerson = S.decode(Person);
const result1 = decodePerson({ name: "Alice", age: 30 });
if (S.isSuccess(result1)) {
console.log(result1.right);
}
const result2 = decodePerson(null);
if (S.isFailure(result2)) {
console.log(result2.left);
}
The decodePerson
function returns a value of type ParseResult<A>
, which is a type alias for Either<NonEmptyReadonlyArray<ParseError>, A>
, where NonEmptyReadonlyArray<ParseError>
represents a list of errors that occurred during the decoding process and A
is the inferred type of the data described by the Schema
. A successful decode will result in a Right
, containing the decoded data. A Right
value indicates that the decode was successful and no errors occurred. In the case of a failed decode, the result will be a Left
value containing a list of ParseError
s.
The decodeOrThrow
function is used to decode a value and throw an error if the decoding fails.
It is useful when you want to ensure that the value being decoded is in the correct format, and want to throw an error if it is not.
try {
const person = P.decodeOrThrow(Person)({});
console.log(person);
} catch (e) {
console.error("Decoding failed:");
console.error(e);
}
Excess properties
When using a Schema
to decode a value, any properties that are not specified in the Schema
will result in a decoding error. This is because the Schema
is expecting a specific shape for the decoded value, and any excess properties do not conform to that shape.
However, you can use the isUnexpectedAllowed
option to allow excess properties while decoding. This can be useful in cases where you want to be permissive in the shape of the decoded value, but still want to catch any potential errors or unexpected values.
Here's an example of how you might use isUnexpectedAllowed
:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
console.log(
"%o",
S.decode(Person)(
{
name: "Bob",
age: 40,
email: "bob@example.com",
},
{ isUnexpectedAllowed: true }
)
);
All errors
The allErrors
option is a feature that allows you to receive all decoding errors when attempting to decode a value using a schema. By default only the first error is returned, but by setting the allErrors
option to true
, you can receive all errors that occurred during the decoding process. This can be useful for debugging or for providing more comprehensive error messages to the user.
Here's an example of how you might use allErrors
:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
console.log(
"%o",
S.decode(Person)(
{
name: "Bob",
age: "abc",
email: "bob@example.com",
},
{ allErrors: true }
)
);
Encoding
To use the Schema
defined above to encode a value to unknown
, you can use the encode
function:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
import { parseNumber } from "@effect/schema/data/String";
const Age = pipe(S.string, parseNumber);
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: Age,
});
const encoded = S.encode(Person)({ name: "Alice", age: 30 });
if (S.isSuccess(encoded)) {
console.log(encoded.right);
}
Note that during encoding, the number value 30
was converted to a string "30"
.
Formatting errors
To format errors when a decode
or an encode
function fails, you can use the formatErrors
function from the @effect/schema/formatter/Tree
module.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { formatErrors } from "@effect/schema/formatter/Tree";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const result = S.decode(Person)({});
if (S.isFailure(result)) {
console.error("Decoding failed:");
console.error(formatErrors(result.left));
}
Assertions
The is
function provided by the @effect/schema/Parser
module represents a way of verifying that a value conforms to a given Schema
. is
is a refinement that takes a value of type unknown
as an argument and returns a boolean
indicating whether or not the value conforms to the Schema
.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const isPerson = S.is(Person);
console.log(isPerson({ name: "Alice", age: 30 }));
console.log(isPerson(null));
console.log(isPerson({}));
The asserts
function takes a Schema
and returns a function that takes an input value and checks if it matches the schema. If it does not match the schema, it throws an error with a comprehensive error message.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const assertsPerson: S.InferAsserts<typeof Person> = P.asserts(Person);
try {
assertsPerson({ name: "Alice", age: "30" });
} catch (e) {
console.error("The input does not match the schema:");
console.error(e);
}
assertsPerson({ name: "Alice", age: 30 });
The arbitrary
function provided by the @effect/schema/Arbitrary
module represents a way of generating random values that conform to a given Schema
. This can be useful for testing purposes, as it allows you to generate random test data that is guaranteed to be valid according to the Schema
.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as A from "@effect/schema/Arbitrary";
import * as fc from "fast-check";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const PersonArbitrary = A.arbitrary(Person)(fc);
console.log(fc.sample(PersonArbitrary, 2));
Pretty print
The pretty
function provided by the @effect/schema/Pretty
module represents a way of pretty-printing values that conform to a given Schema
.
You can use the pretty
function to create a human-readable string representation of a value that conforms to a Schema
. This can be useful for debugging or logging purposes, as it allows you to easily inspect the structure and data types of the value.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as P from "@effect/schema/Pretty";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const PersonPretty = P.pretty(Person);
console.log(PersonPretty({ name: "Alice", age: 30 }));
Basic usage
Primitives
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
S.string;
S.number;
S.bigint;
S.boolean;
S.symbol;
S.object;
S.date;
S.undefined;
S.void;
S.any;
S.unknown;
S.never;
Literals
S.null;
S.literal("a");
S.literal("a", "b", "c");
S.literal(1);
S.literal(2n);
S.literal(true);
Template literals
The templateLiteral
combinator allows you to create a schema for a TypeScript template literal type.
S.templateLiteral(S.literal("a"), S.string);
const EmailLocaleIDs = S.literal("welcome_email", "email_heading");
const FooterLocaleIDs = S.literal("footer_title", "footer_sendoff");
S.templateLiteral(S.union(EmailLocaleIDs, FooterLocaleIDs), S.literal("_id"));
Filters
Note. Please note that the use of filters do not alter the type of the Schema
. They only serve to add additional constraints to the decoding process.
String filters
pipe(S.string, S.maxLength(5));
pipe(S.string, S.minLength(5));
pipe(S.string, nonEmpty());
pipe(S.string, S.length(5));
pipe(S.string, S.pattern(regex));
pipe(S.string, S.startsWith(string));
pipe(S.string, S.endsWith(string));
pipe(S.string, S.includes(searchString));
pipe(S.string, S.trimmed());
Note: The trimmed
combinator does not make any transformations, it only validates. If what you were looking for was a combinator to trim strings, then check out the trim
combinator.
Number filters
pipe(S.number, S.greaterThan(5));
pipe(S.number, S.greaterThanOrEqualTo(5));
pipe(S.number, S.lessThan(5));
pipe(S.number, S.lessThanOrEqualTo(5));
pipe(S.number, S.between(-2, 2));
pipe(S.number, S.int());
pipe(S.number, S.nonNaN());
pipe(S.number, S.finite());
pipe(S.number, S.positive());
pipe(S.number, S.nonNegative());
pipe(S.number, S.negative());
pipe(S.number, S.nonPositive());
Bigint filters
import * as B from "@effect/schema/data/Bigint";
pipe(S.bigint, B.greaterThan(5n));
pipe(S.bigint, B.greaterThanOrEqualTo(5n));
pipe(S.bigint, B.lessThan(5n));
pipe(S.bigint, B.lessThanOrEqualTo(5n));
pipe(S.bigint, B.between(-2n, 2n));
pipe(S.bigint, B.positive());
pipe(S.bigint, B.nonNegative());
pipe(S.bigint, B.negative());
pipe(S.bigint, B.nonPositive());
Array filters
pipe(S.array(S.number), A.maxItems(2));
pipe(S.array(S.number), A.minItems(2));
pipe(S.array(S.number), A.itemsCount(2));
Branded types
TypeScript's type system is structural, which means that any two types that are structurally equivalent are considered the same. This can cause issues when types that are semantically different are treated as if they were the same.
type UserId = string
type Username = string
const getUser = (id: UserId) => { ... }
const myUsername: Username = "gcanti"
getUser(myUsername)
In the above example, UserId
and Username
are both aliases for the same type, string
. This means that the getUser
function can mistakenly accept a Username
as a valid UserId
, causing bugs and errors.
To avoid these kinds of issues, the @effect
ecosystem provides a way to create custom types with a unique identifier attached to them. These are known as "branded types".
import type * as B from "@effect/data/Brand"
type UserId = string & B.Brand<"UserId">
type Username = string
const getUser = (id: UserId) => { ... }
const myUsername: Username = "gcanti"
getUser(myUsername)
By defining UserId
as a branded type, the getUser
function can accept only values of type UserId
, and not plain strings or other types that are compatible with strings. This helps to prevent bugs caused by accidentally passing the wrong type of value to the function.
There are two ways to define a schema for a branded type, depending on whether you:
- want to define the schema from scratch
- have already defined a branded type via
@effect/data/Brand
and want to reuse it to define a schema
Defining a schema from scratch
To define a schema for a branded type from scratch, you can use the brand
combinator exported by the @effect/schema
module. Here's an example:
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const UserIdSchema = pipe(S.string, S.brand("UserId"));
type UserId = S.Infer<typeof UserIdSchema>;
In the above example, UserIdSchema
is a schema for the UserId
branded type. The brand
combinator takes a string argument that specifies the name of the brand to attach to the type.
Reusing an existing branded type
If you have already defined a branded type using the @effect/data/Brand
module, you can reuse it to define a schema using the brand
combinator exported by the @effect/schema/data/Brand
module. Here's an example:
import * as B from "@effect/data/Brand";
type UserId = string & B.Brand<"UserId">;
const UserId = B.nominal<UserId>();
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { brand } from "@effect/schema/data/Brand";
const UserIdSchema = pipe(S.string, brand(UserId));
Native enums
enum Fruits {
Apple,
Banana,
}
S.enums(Fruits);
Nullables
S.nullable(S.string);
Unions
@effect/schema
includes a built-in union
combinator for composing "OR" types.
S.union(S.string, S.number);
Discriminated unions
TypeScript reference: https://www.typescriptlang.org/docs/handbook/2/narrowing.html#discriminated-unions
Discriminated unions in TypeScript are a way of modeling complex data structures that may take on different forms based on a specific set of conditions or properties. They allow you to define a type that represents multiple related shapes, where each shape is uniquely identified by a shared discriminant property.
In a discriminated union, each variant of the union has a common property, called the discriminant. The discriminant is a literal type, which means it can only have a finite set of possible values. Based on the value of the discriminant property, TypeScript can infer which variant of the union is currently in use.
Here is an example of a discriminated union in TypeScript:
type Circle = {
readonly kind: "circle";
readonly radius: number;
};
type Square = {
readonly kind: "square";
readonly sideLength: number;
};
type Shape = Circle | Square;
This code defines a discriminated union using the @effect/schema
library:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Circle = S.struct({
kind: S.literal("circle"),
radius: S.number,
});
const Square = S.struct({
kind: S.literal("square"),
sideLength: S.number,
});
const Shape = S.union(Circle, Square);
The literal
combinator is used to define the discriminant property with a specific string literal value.
Two structs are defined for Circle
and Square
, each with their own properties. These structs represent the variants of the union.
Finally, the union
combinator is used to create a schema for the discriminated union Shape
, which is a union of Circle
and Square
.
How to transform a simple union into a discriminated union
If you're working on a TypeScript project and you've defined a simple union to represent a particular input, you may find yourself in a situation where you're not entirely happy with how it's set up. For example, let's say you've defined a Shape
union as a combination of Circle
and Square
without any special property:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Circle = S.struct({
radius: S.number,
});
const Square = S.struct({
sideLength: S.number,
});
const Shape = S.union(Circle, Square);
To make your code more manageable, you may want to transform the simple union into a discriminated union. This way, TypeScript will be able to automatically determine which member of the union you're working with based on the value of a specific property.
To achieve this, you can add a special property to each member of the union, which will allow TypeScript to know which type it's dealing with at runtime. Here's how you can transform the Shape
schema into another schema that represents a discriminated union:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
const Circle = S.struct({
radius: S.number,
});
const Square = S.struct({
sideLength: S.number,
});
const DiscriminatedShape = S.union(
pipe(
Circle,
S.transform(
pipe(Circle, S.extend(S.struct({ kind: S.literal("circle") }))),
(circle) => ({ ...circle, kind: "circle" as const }),
({ kind: _kind, ...rest }) => rest
)
),
pipe(
Square,
S.transform(
pipe(Square, S.extend(S.struct({ kind: S.literal("square") }))),
(square) => ({ ...square, kind: "square" as const }),
({ kind: _kind, ...rest }) => rest
)
)
);
expect(S.decodeOrThrow(DiscriminatedShape)({ radius: 10 })).toEqual({
kind: "circle",
radius: 10,
});
expect(S.decodeOrThrow(DiscriminatedShape)({ sideLength: 10 })).toEqual({
kind: "square",
sideLength: 10,
});
In this example, we use the extend
function to add a "kind" property with a literal value to each member of the union. Then we use transform
to add the discriminant property and remove it afterwards. Finally, we use union
to combine the transformed schemas into a discriminated union.
However, when we use the schema to encode a value, we want the output to match the original input shape. Therefore, we must remove the discriminant property we added earlier from the encoded value to match the original shape of the input.
The previous solution works perfectly and shows how we can add and remove properties to our schema at will, making it easier to consume the result within our domain model. However, it requires a lot of boilerplate. Fortunately, there is an API called attachPropertySignature
designed specifically for this use case, which allows us to achieve the same result with much less effort:
const Circle = S.struct({ radius: S.number });
const Square = S.struct({ sideLength: S.number });
const DiscriminatedShape = S.union(
pipe(Circle, S.attachPropertySignature("kind", "circle")),
pipe(Square, S.attachPropertySignature("kind", "square"))
);
expect(S.decodeOrThrow(DiscriminatedShape)({ radius: 10 })).toEqual({
kind: "circle",
radius: 10,
});
expect(
S.encodeOrThrow(DiscriminatedShape)({
kind: "circle",
radius: 10,
})
).toEqual({ radius: 10 });
Tuples
S.tuple(S.string, S.number);
Append a required element
pipe(S.tuple(S.string, S.number), S.element(S.boolean));
Append an optional element
pipe(S.tuple(S.string, S.number), S.optionalElement(S.boolean));
Append a rest element
pipe(S.tuple(S.string, S.number), S.rest(S.boolean));
Arrays
S.array(S.number);
Non empty arrays
S.nonEmptyArray(S.number);
Structs
S.struct({ a: S.string, b: S.number });
Optional fields
S.struct({ a: S.string, b: S.number, c: S.optional(S.boolean) });
Note. The optional
constructor only exists to be used in combination with the struct
API to signal an optional field and does not have a broader meaning. This means that it is only allowed to use it as an outer wrapper of a Schema
and it cannot be followed by other combinators, for example this type of operation is prohibited:
S.struct({
c: pipe(S.boolean, S.optional, S.nullable),
});
and it must be rewritten like this:
S.struct({
c: pipe(S.boolean, S.nullable, S.optional),
});
Access the schema for a particular key
The getPropertySignatures
function takes a Schema<A>
and returns a new object of type { [K in keyof A]: Schema<A[K]> }
. The new object has properties that are the same keys as those in the original object, and each of these properties is a schema for the corresponding property in the original object.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Person = S.struct({
name: S.string,
age: S.number,
});
const shape = S.getPropertySignatures(Person);
shape.name;
shape.age;
Pick
pipe(S.struct({ a: S.string, b: S.number }), S.pick("a"));
Omit
pipe(S.struct({ a: S.string, b: S.number }), S.omit("a"));
Partial
S.partial(S.struct({ a: S.string, b: S.number }));
Records
String keys
S.record(S.string, S.string);
S.record(S.union(S.literal("a"), S.literal("b")), S.string);
Keys refinements
S.record(pipe(S.string, S.minLength(2)), S.string);
Symbol keys
S.record(S.symbol, S.string);
Template literal keys
S.record(S.templateLiteral(S.literal("a"), S.string), S.string);
Extend
The extend
combinator allows you to add additional fields or index signatures to an existing Schema
.
pipe(
S.struct({ a: S.string, b: S.string }),
S.extend(S.struct({ c: S.string })),
S.extend(S.record(S.string, S.string))
);
InstanceOf
In the following section, we demonstrate how to use the instanceOf
combinator to create a Schema
for a class instance.
class Test {
constructor(readonly name: string) {}
}
S.instanceOf(Test);
Recursive types
The lazy
combinator is useful when you need to define a Schema
that depends on itself, like in the case of recursive data structures. In this example, the Category
schema depends on itself because it has a field subcategories
that is an array of Category
objects.
interface Category {
readonly name: string;
readonly subcategories: ReadonlyArray<Category>;
}
const Category: S.Schema<Category> = S.lazy(() =>
S.struct({
name: S.string,
subcategories: S.array(Category),
})
);
Here's an example of two mutually recursive schemas, Expression
and Operation
, that represent a simple arithmetic expression tree.
interface Expression {
readonly type: "expression";
readonly value: number | Operation;
}
interface Operation {
readonly type: "operation";
readonly operator: "+" | "-";
readonly left: Expression;
readonly right: Expression;
}
const Expression: S.Schema<Expression> = S.lazy(() =>
S.struct({
type: S.literal("expression"),
value: S.union(S.number, Operation),
})
);
const Operation: S.Schema<Operation> = S.lazy(() =>
S.struct({
type: S.literal("operation"),
operator: S.union(S.literal("+"), S.literal("-")),
left: Expression,
right: Expression,
})
);
Transformations
In some cases, we may need to transform the output of a schema to a different type. For instance, we may want to parse a string into a number, or we may want to transform a date string into a Date
object.
To perform these kinds of transformations, the @effect/schema
library provides the transform
and transformOrFail
combinators.
The transform
combinator takes a target schema, a transformation function from the source type to the target type, and a reverse transformation function from the target type back to the source type. It returns a new schema that applies the transformation function to the output of the original schema before returning it. If the original schema fails to decode a value, the transformed schema will also fail.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const stringSchema: S.Schema<string> = S.string;
const tupleSchema: S.Schema<[string]> = S.tuple(S.string);
const decode = (s: string): [string] => [s];
const encode = ([s]: [string]): string => s;
const transformedSchema: S.Schema<[string]> = pipe(
stringSchema,
S.transform(tupleSchema, decode, encode)
);
In the example above, we defined a schema for the string
type and a schema for the tuple type [string]
. We also defined the functions decode
and encode
that convert a string
into a tuple and a tuple into a string
, respectively. Then, we used the transform
combinator to convert the string schema into a schema for the tuple type [string]
. The resulting schema can be used to decode values of type string
into values of type [string]
.
The transformOrFail
combinator works in a similar way, but allows the transformation function to return a ParseResult
object, which can either be a success or a failure.
Here's an example of the transformOrFail
combinator which converts a string
into a boolean
:
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
import * as PR from "@effect/schema/ParseResult";
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as AST from "@effect/schema/AST";
const stringSchema: S.Schema<string> = S.string;
const booleanSchema: S.Schema<boolean> = S.boolean;
const decode = (s: string): PR.ParseResult<boolean> =>
s === "true"
? PR.success(true)
: s === "false"
? PR.success(false)
: PR.failure(
PR.type(
AST.createUnion([
AST.createLiteral("true"),
AST.createLiteral("false"),
]),
s
)
);
const encode = (b: boolean): ParseResult<string> => PR.success(String(b));
const transformedSchema: S.Schema<boolean> = pipe(
stringSchema,
S.transformOrFail(booleanSchema, decode, encode)
);
String transformations
trim
The trim
parser allows removing whitespaces from the beginning and end of a string.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const schema = S.trim(S.string);
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow("a");
decodeOrThrow(" a");
decodeOrThrow("a ");
decodeOrThrow(" a ");
Note. If you were looking for a combinator to check if a string is trimmed, check out the trimmed
combinator.
Number transformations
parseString
Transforms a string
into a number
by parsing the string using parseFloat
.
The following special string values are supported: "NaN", "Infinity", "-Infinity".
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { parseString } from "@effect/schema/data/Number";
const schema = parseString(S.string);
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow("1");
decodeOrThrow("-1");
decodeOrThrow("1.5");
decodeOrThrow("NaN");
decodeOrThrow("Infinity");
decodeOrThrow("-Infinity");
decodeOrThrow("a");
clamp
Clamps a number
between a minimum and a maximum value.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const schema = pipe(S.number, S.clamp(-1, 1));
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow(-3);
decodeOrThrow(0);
decodeOrThrow(3);
Bigint transformations
clamp
Clamps a bigint
between a minimum and a maximum value.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as B from "@effect/schema/data/Bigint";
const schema = pipe(S.bigint, B.clamp(-1n, 1n));
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow(-3n);
decodeOrThrow(0n);
decodeOrThrow(3n);
Date transformations
parseString
Transforms a string
into a Date
by parsing the string using Date.parse
.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { parseString } from "@effect/schema/data/Date";
const schema = parseString(S.string);
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow("1970-01-01T00:00:00.000Z");
decodeOrThrow("a");
Option
Decoding from nullable fields
The option
combinator in @effect/schema
allows you to specify that a field in a schema is of type Option<A>
and can be decoded from a required nullable field A | undefined | null
. This is particularly useful when working with JSON data that may contain null
values for optional fields.
When decoding a nullable field, the option
combinator follows these conversion rules:
undefined
and null
decode to None
A
decodes to Some<A>
Here's an example that demonstrates how to use the option
combinator:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as O from "@effect/data/Option";
const schema = S.struct({
a: S.string,
b: S.option(S.number),
});
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: undefined });
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: null });
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: 1 });
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello" });
const encodeOrThrow = S.encodeOrThrow(schema);
encodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: O.none() });
encodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: O.some(1) });
Decoding from optional fields
When working with optional fields that contain values of type A
, it is possible to decode them into an Option<A>
by using the parseOptionals
combinator.
When decoding a nullable field, the parseOptionals
combinator follows these conversion rules:
undefined
, null
and an absent value decode to None
A
decodes to Some<A>
Here's an example that demonstrates how to use the parseOptionals
combinator:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { parseOptionals } from "@effect/schema/data/Option";
const schema = pipe(S.struct({ a: S.string }), parseOptionals({ b: S.number }));
const decodeOrThrow = S.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello" });
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: undefined });
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: null });
decodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: 1 });
const encodeOrThrow = S.encodeOrThrow(schema);
encodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: O.none() });
encodeOrThrow({ a: "hello", b: O.some(1) });
In the above example, the parseOptionals
combinator is used to decode the optional field b
with values of type number
into an Option<number>
. When decoding, undefined
, null
and absent values will be decoded as none()
, and any other value will be decoded as some(value)
.
To use parseOptionals
, you should first define your base schema and then apply the parseOptionals
combinator to add the fields that you want to decode into an Option
.
ReadonlySet
In the following section, we demonstrate how to use the fromValues
combinator to decode a ReadonlySet
from an array of values.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { fromValues } from "@effect/schema/data/ReadonlySet";
const schema = fromValues(S.number);
const decodeOrThrow = P.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow([1, 2, 3]);
ReadonlyMap
In the following section, we demonstrate how to use the fromEntries
combinator to decode a ReadonlyMap
from an array of entries.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import { fromEntries } from "@effect/schema/data/ReadonlyMap";
const schema = fromEntries(S.number, S.string);
const decodeOrThrow = P.decodeOrThrow(schema);
decodeOrThrow([
[1, "a"],
[2, "b"],
[3, "c"],
]);
Adding new data types
The easiest way to define a new data type is through the filter
combinator.
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const LongString = pipe(
S.string,
S.filter((s) => s.length >= 10, {
message: () => "a string at least 10 characters long",
})
);
console.log(S.decodeOrThrow(LongString)("a"));
It is good practice to add as much metadata as possible so that it can be used later by introspecting the schema.
const LongString = pipe(
S.string,
S.filter((s) => s.length >= 10, {
message: () => "a string at least 10 characters long",
identifier: "LongString",
jsonSchema: { minLength: 10 },
description:
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua",
})
);
Technical overview
Understanding Schemas
A schema is a description of a data structure that can be used to generate various artifacts from a single declaration.
From a technical point of view a schema is just a typed wrapper of an AST
value:
interface Schema<in out A> {
readonly ast: AST;
}
The AST
type represents a tiny portion of the TypeScript AST, roughly speaking the part describing ADTs (algebraic data types),
i.e. products (like structs and tuples) and unions.
This means that you can define your own schema constructors / combinators as long as you are able to manipulate the AST
value accordingly, let's see an example.
Say we want to define a pair
schema constructor, which takes a Schema<A>
as input and returns a Schema<readonly [A, A]>
as output.
First of all we need to define the signature of pair
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
declare const pair: <A>(schema: S.Schema<A>) => S.Schema<readonly [A, A]>;
Then we can implement the body using the APIs exported by the @effect/schema/AST
module:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as AST from "@effect/schema/AST";
import * as O from "@effect/data/Option";
const pair = <A>(schema: S.Schema<A>): S.Schema<readonly [A, A]> => {
const element = AST.createElement(
schema.ast,
false
);
const tuple = AST.createTuple(
[element, element],
O.none,
true
);
return S.make(tuple);
};
This example demonstrates the use of the low-level APIs of the AST
module, however, the same result can be achieved more easily and conveniently by using the high-level APIs provided by the Schema
module.
const pair = <A>(schema: S.Schema<A>): S.Schema<readonly [A, A]> =>
S.tuple(schema, schema);
Please note that the S.tuple
API is a convenient utility provided by the library, but it can also be easily defined and implemented in userland.
export const tuple = <Elements extends ReadonlyArray<Schema<any>>>(
...elements: Elements
): Schema<{ readonly [K in keyof Elements]: Infer<Elements[K]> }> =>
makeSchema(
AST.createTuple(
elements.map((schema) => AST.createElement(schema.ast, false)),
O.none,
true
)
);
Annotations
One of the fundamental requirements in the design of @effect/schema
is that it is extensible and customizable. Customizations are achieved through "annotations". Each node contained in the AST of @effect/schema/AST
contains an annotations: Record<string | symbol, unknown>
field that can be used to attach additional information to the schema.
Let's see some examples:
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
const Password = pipe(
S.string,
S.message(() => "not a string"),
S.nonEmpty,
S.message(() => "required"),
S.maxLength(10),
S.message((s) => `${s} is too long`),
S.identifier("Password"),
S.title("password"),
S.description(
"A password is a string of characters used to verify the identity of a user during the authentication process"
),
S.examples(["1Ki77y", "jelly22fi$h"]),
S.documentation(`
jsDoc documentation...
`)
);
The example shows some built-in combinators to add meta information, but users can easily add their own meta information by defining a custom combinator.
Here's an example of how to add a deprecated
annotation:
import * as S from "@effect/schema";
import * as AST from "@effect/schema/AST";
import { pipe } from "@effect/data/Function";
const DeprecatedId = "some/unique/identifier/for/the/custom/annotation";
const deprecated = <A>(self: S.Schema<A>): S.Schema<A> =>
S.make(AST.annotation(self.ast, DeprecatedId, true));
const schema = pipe(S.string, deprecated);
console.log(schema);
Annotations can be read using the getAnnotation
helper, here's an example:
import * as O from "@effect/data/Option";
const isDeprecated = <A>(schema: S.Schema<A>): boolean =>
pipe(
AST.getAnnotation<boolean>(DeprecatedId)(schema.ast),
O.getOrElse(() => false)
);
console.log(isDeprecated(S.string));
console.log(isDeprecated(schema));
Documentation
License
The MIT License (MIT)