TypeBox
JSON Schema Type Builder with Static Type Resolution for TypeScript
Example
import { Static, Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'
const T = Type.String()
type T = Static<typeof T>
Install
$ npm install @sinclair/typebox --save
Overview
TypeBox is a type builder library that creates in-memory JSON Schema objects that can be statically resolved to TypeScript types. The schemas produced by this library are built to match the static type checking rules of the TypeScript compiler. This allows for a single unified type that can be both statically checked by the TypeScript compiler and runtime asserted using standard JSON schema validation.
TypeBox can be used as a simple tool to build up complex schemas or integrated into RPC or REST services to help validate JSON data received over the wire. TypeBox does not provide any JSON schema validation. Please use libraries such as AJV to validate schemas built with this library.
Requires TypeScript 4.0.3 and above.
License MIT
Contents
Example
The following demonstrates TypeBox's general usage.
import { Type, Static } from '@sinclair/typebox'
type Record = {
id: string,
name: string,
timestamp: number
}
const Record = Type.Object({
id: Type.String(),
name: Type.String(),
timestamp: Type.Integer()
})
type Record = Static<typeof Record>
function receive(record: Record) {
if(JSON.validate(Record, {
id: '42',
name: 'dave',
timestamp: Date.now()
})) {
}
}
Types
The following table outlines the TypeBox mappings between TypeScript and JSON schema.
┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBox │ TypeScript │ JSON Schema │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Any() │ type T = any │ const T = { } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Unknown() │ type T = unknown │ const T = { } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.String() │ type T = string │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Number() │ type T = number │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Integer() │ type T = number │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'integer' │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Boolean() │ type T = boolean │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'boolean' │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Null() │ type T = null │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'null' │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.RegEx(/foo/) │ type T = string │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'string', │
│ │ │ pattern: 'foo' │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Literal('foo') │ type T = 'foo' │ const T = { │
│ │ │ type: 'string', │
│ │ │ enum: ['foo'] │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Array( │ type T = number[] │ const T = { │
│ Type.Number() │ │ type: 'array', │
│ ) │ │ items: { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Dict( │ type T = { │ const T = { │
│ Type.Number() │ [key: string] │ type: 'object' │
│ ) │ } : number │ additionalProperties: { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Object({ │ type T = { │ const T = { │
│ name: Type.String(), │ name: string, │ type: 'object', │
│ email: Type.String(), │ email: string │ properties: { │
│ }) │ } │ name: { │
│ │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ }, │
│ │ │ email: { │
│ │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Tuple([ │ type T = [string, number] │ const T = { │
│ Type.String(), │ │ type: 'array', │
│ Type.Number() │ │ items: [ │
│ ]) │ │ { │
│ │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ }, { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ ], │
│ │ │ additionalItems: false, │
│ │ │ minItems: 2, │
│ │ │ maxItems: 2, │
│ │ │ } |
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ enum Foo { │ enum Foo { │ const T = { │
│ A, │ A, │ enum: [0, 1] │
│ B │ B │ } │
│ } │ } │ │
│ │ │ │
│ type T = Type.Enum(Foo) │ type T = Foo │ │
│ │ │ │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Union([ │ type T = string | number │ const T = { │
│ Type.String(), │ │ anyOf: [{ │
│ Type.Number() │ │ type: 'string' │
│ ]) │ │ }, { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ }] │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Intersect([ │ type T = { │ const T = { │
│ Type.Object({ │ a: string │ allOf: [{ │
│ a: Type.String() │ } & { │ type: 'object', │
│ }), │ b: number │ properties: { │
│ Type.Object({ │ } │ a: { │
│ b: Type.Number() │ │ type: 'string' │
│ }) │ │ } │
│ }) │ │ }, │
│ │ │ required: ['a'] │
│ │ │ }, { │
│ │ │ type: 'object', │
│ │ │ properties: { │
│ │ │ b: { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ }, │
│ │ │ required:['b'] │
│ │ │ }] │
│ │ │ } │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
Modifiers
TypeBox provides modifiers that can be applied to an objects properties. These allows for optional
and readonly
to be applied to that property. The following table illustates how they map between TypeScript and JSON Schema.
┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBox │ TypeScript │ JSON Schema │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Object({ │ type T = { │ const T = { │
│ name: Type.Optional( │ name?: string, │ type: 'object', │
│ Type.String(), │ } │ properties: { │
│ ) │ │ name: { │
│ }) │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ }, │
│ │ │ required: [] │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Object({ │ type T = { │ const T = { │
│ name: Type.Readonly( │ readonly name: string, │ type: 'object', │
│ Type.String(), │ } │ properties: { │
│ ) │ │ name: { │
│ }) │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ }, │
│ │ │ required: ['name'] │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Object({ │ type T = { │ const T = { │
│ name: Type.ReadonlyOptional( │ readonly name?: string, │ type: 'object', │
│ Type.String(), │ } │ properties: { │
│ ) │ │ name: { │
│ }) │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ }, │
│ │ │ required: [] │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
Functions
In addition to JSON schema types, TypeBox provides several extended types that allow for function
and constructor
types to be composed. These additional types are not valid JSON Schema and will not validate using typical JSON Schema validation. However, these types can be used to frame JSON schema and describe callable interfaces that may receive JSON validated data. These types are as follows.
┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBox │ TypeScript │ Extended Schema │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Constructor([ │ type T = new ( │ const T = { │
| Type.String(), │ arg0: string, │ type: 'constructor' │
│ Type.Number(), │ arg1: number │ arguments: [{ │
│ ], Type.Boolean()) │ ) => boolean │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ }, { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ }], │
│ │ │ returns: { │
│ │ │ type: 'boolean' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Function([ │ type T = ( │ const T = { │
| Type.String(), │ arg0: string, │ type : 'function', │
│ Type.Number(), │ arg1: number │ arguments: [{ │
│ ], Type.Boolean()) │ ) => boolean │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ }, { │
│ │ │ type: 'number' │
│ │ │ }], │
│ │ │ returns: { │
│ │ │ type: 'boolean' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Promise( │ type T = Promise<string> │ const T = { │
| Type.String() │ │ type: 'promise', │
| ) │ │ item: { │
│ │ │ type: 'string' │
│ │ │ } │
│ │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Undefined() │ type T = undefined │ const T = { │
| │ │ type: 'undefined' │
| │ │ } │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Void() │ type T = void │ const T = { │
| │ │ type: 'void' │
| │ │ } │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
Interfaces
It is possible to create interfaces from TypeBox types. Consider the following code that creates a ControllerInterface
type that has a single function createRecord(...)
. The following code is typical TypeScript that describes an interface.
interface CreateRecordRequest {
data: string
}
interface CreateRecordResponse {
id: string
}
interface ControllerInterface {
createRecord(record: CreateRecordRequest): Promise<CreateRecordResponse>
}
class Controller implements ControllerInterface {
async createRecord(record: CreateRecordRequest): Promise<CreateRecordResponse> {
return { id: '1' }
}
}
The following is the TypeBox equivalent.
import { Type, Static } from '@sinclair/typebox'
type CreateRecordRequest = Static<typeof CreateRecordRequest>
const CreateRecordRequest = Type.Object({
data: Type.String()
})
type CreateRecordResponse = Static<typeof CreateRecordResponse>
const CreateRecordResponse = Type.Object({
id: Type.String()
})
type ControllerInterface = Static<typeof ControllerInterface>
const IController = Type.Object({
createRecord: Type.Function([CreateRecordRequest], Type.Promise(CreateRecordResponse))
})
class Controller implements ControllerInterface {
async createRecord(record: CreateRecordRequest): Promise<CreateRecordResponse> {
return { id: '1' }
}
}
Because TypeBox encodes the type information as JSON schema, it now becomes possible to reflect on the JSON schema to produce sharable metadata that can be used as machine readable documentation.
console.log(JSON.stringify(ControllerInterface, null, 2))
Validation
TypeBox does not provide JSON schema validation out of the box and expects users to select an appropriate JSON schema validation library. TypeBox schemas should match JSON Schema draft 6. So any validation library capable of draft 6 should be fine.
A good validation library to use is AJV. The following demonstrates basic usage.
import { Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'
import * as Ajv from 'ajv'
const User = Type.Object({
name: Type.String(),
email: Type.String({ format: 'email' })
})
const ajv = new Ajv()
const user = { name: 'dave', email: 'dave@domain.com' }
const isValid = ajv.validate(User, user)