TypeBox

JSON Schema Type Builder with Static Type Resolution for TypeScript



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Install

Node

$ npm install @sinclair/typebox --save

Deno

import { Static, Type } from 'https://deno.land/x/typebox/src/typebox.ts'

Example

import { Static, Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'

const T = Type.String()     // const T = { type: 'string' }

type T = Static<typeof T>   // type T = string

Overview

TypeBox is a type builder library that creates in-memory JSON Schema objects that can be statically inferred as TypeScript types. The schemas produced by this library are designed to match the static type checking rules of the TypeScript compiler. TypeBox enables one to create unified types that can be statically checked by TypeScript 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 data received over the wire. It offers a type system aligned to the capabilities of TypeScript and can be used equally well in JavaScript environments.

License MIT

Contents

Usage

The following demonstrates TypeBox’s general usage.

import { Static, Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Let's say you have the following type ...
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

type T = {
  id: string,
  name: string,
  timestamp: number
}

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// ... you can express this type in the following way.
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

const T = Type.Object({                              // const T = {
  id: Type.String(),                                 //   type: 'object',
  name: Type.String(),                               //   properties: { 
  timestamp: Type.Integer()                          //     id: { 
})                                                   //       type: 'string' 
                                                     //     },
                                                     //     name: { 
                                                     //       type: 'string' 
                                                     //     },
                                                     //     timestamp: { 
                                                     //       type: 'integer' 
                                                     //     }
                                                     //   }, 
                                                     //   required: [
                                                     //     'id',
                                                     //     'name',
                                                     //     'timestamp'
                                                     //   ]
                                                     // } 

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// ... then infer back to the original static type this way.
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

type T = Static<typeof T>                            // type T = {
                                                     //   id: string,
                                                     //   name: string,
                                                     //   timestamp: number
                                                     // }

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// ... then use the type both as JSON schema and as a TypeScript type.
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function receive(value: T) {                         // ... as a Type

  if(JSON.validate(T, value)) {                      // ... as a Schema
  
    // ok...
  }
}

Types

The following table outlines the TypeBox mappings between TypeScript and JSON schema.

┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBoxTypeScriptJSON Schema                    │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Any()type T = anyconst T = { }                  │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Unknown()type T = unknownconst T = { }                  │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.String()type T = stringconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'string'               │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Number()type T = numberconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'number'               │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Integer()type T = numberconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'integer'              │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Boolean()type T = booleanconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'boolean'              │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Null()type T = nullconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │    type: 'null'                │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.RegEx(/foo/)type T = stringconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │    type: 'string',             │
│                                │                             │    pattern: 'foo'              │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Literal(42)type T = 42const T = {                    │
│                                │                             │    const: 42                   │
│                                │                             │    type: 'number'              │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Array(type T = number[]const T = {                    │
│   Type.Number()                │                             │   type: 'array',               │
│ )                              │                             │   items: {                     │
│                                │                             │     type: 'number'             │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Object({type T = {const T = {                    │
│   x: Type.Number(),            │   x: number,                │   type: 'object',              │
│   y: Type.Number()             │   y: number                 │   properties: {                │
│ })}                           │      x: {                      │
│                                │                             │        type: 'number'          │
│                                │                             │      },                        │
│                                │                             │      y: {                      │
│                                │                             │        type: 'number'          │
│                                │                             │      }                         │
│                                │                             │   },                           │
│                                │                             │   required: ['x', 'y']         │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Tuple([type T = [number, number]const T = {                    │
│   Type.Number(),               │                             │   type: 'array',               │
│   Type.Number()                │                             │   items: [{                    │
│ ])                             │                             │      type: 'number'            │
│                                │                             │    }, {                        │
│                                │                             │      type: 'number'            │
│                                │                             │    }],                         │
│                                │                             │    additionalItems: false,     │
│                                │                             │    minItems: 2,                │
│                                │                             │    maxItems: 2                 │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ enum Foo {enum Foo {const T = {                    │
│   A,A,                        │   anyOf: [{                    │
│   BB                         │     type: 'number',            │
│ }}const: 0                   │
│                                │                             │   }, {                         │
│ const T = Type.Enum(Foo)type T = Foo                │     type: 'number',            │
│                                │                             │     const: 1                   │
│                                │                             │   }]                           │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.KeyOf(type T = keyof {const T = {                    │
│   Type.Object({                │   x: number,                │   anyOf: [{                    │
│     x: Type.Number(),          │   y: number                 │     type: 'string',            │
│     y: Type.Number()}const: 'x'                 │
│   })                           │                             │   }, {                         │
│ )                              │                             │     type: 'string',            │
│                                │                             │     const: 'y'                 │
│                                │                             │   }]                           │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Union([type T = string | numberconst T = {                    │
│   Type.String(),               │                             │   anyOf: [{                    │
│   Type.Number()                │                             │      type: 'string'            │
│ ])                             │                             │   }, {                         │
│                                │                             │      type: 'number'            │
│                                │                             │   }]                           │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Intersect([type T = {const T = {                    │
│   Type.Object({                │   x: number                 │   type: 'object',              │
│     x: Type.Number()} & {                       │   properties: {                │
│   }),                          │   y: number                 │     x: {                       │
│   Type.Object({}                           │       type: 'number'           │
│     y: Type.Number()           │                             │     },                         │
│   })                           │                             │     y: {                       │
│ ])                             │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│                                │                             │     }                          │
│                                │                             │   },                           │
│                                │                             │   required: ['x', 'y']         │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Record(type T = Record<const T = {                    │
│   Type.String(),string,                   │   type: 'object',              │
│   Type.Number()number,                   │   patternProperties: {         │
│ )>'^.*$': {                  │
│                                │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│                                │                             │     }                          │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Partial(type T = Partial<{const T = {                    │
│   Type.Object({                │   x: number,                │   type: 'object',              │
│     x: Type.Number(),          │   y: number                 │   properties: {                │
│     y: Type.Number()           | }>                          │     x: {                       │
│   })                           │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│ )                              │                             │     },                         │
│                                │                             │     y: {                       │
│                                │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│                                │                             │     }                          │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Required(type T = Required<{const T = {                    │
│   Type.Object({                │   x?: number,               │   type: 'object',              │
│     x: Type.Optional(          │   y?: number                │   properties: {                │
│       Type.Number()            | }>                          │     x: {                       │
│     ),                         │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│     y: Type.Optional(          │                             │     },                         │
│       Type.Number()            │                             │     y: {                       │
│     )                          │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│   })                           │                             │     }                          │
│ )                              │                             │   },                           │
│                                │                             │   required: ['x', 'y']         │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Pick(type T = Pick<{const T = {                    │
│   Type.Object({                │   x: number,                │   type: 'object',              │
│     x: Type.Number(),          │   y: number                 │   properties: {                │
│     y: Type.Number()           | }, 'x'>                     │     x: {                       │
│   }), ['x']                    │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│ )                              │                             │     }                          │
│                                │                             │   },                           │
│                                │                             │   required: ['x']              │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Omit(type T = Omit<{const T = {                    │
│   Type.Object({                │   x: number,                │   type: 'object',              │
│     x: Type.Number(),          │   y: number                 │   properties: {                │
│     y: Type.Number()           | }, 'x'>                     │     y: {                       │
│   }), ['x']                    │                             │       type: 'number'           │
│ )                              │                             │     }                          │
│                                │                             │   },                           │
│                                │                             │   required: ['y']              │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘

Modifiers

TypeBox provides modifiers that can be applied to an objects properties. This allows for optional and readonly to be applied to that property. The following table illustates how they map between TypeScript and JSON Schema.

┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBoxTypeScriptJSON Schema                    │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Object({type T = {const T = {                    │
│   name: Type.Optional(         │   name?: string             │   type: 'object',              │
│     Type.String()}                           │   properties: {                │
│   )                            │                             │      name: {                   │
│ })  	                         │                             │        type: 'string'          │
│                                │                             │      }                         │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ 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'           │
│                                │                             │     }                          │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘

Options

You can pass additional JSON schema options on the last argument of any given type. The following are some examples.

// string must be an email
const T = Type.String({ format: 'email' })

// number must be a multiple of 2
const T = Type.Number({ multipleOf: 2 })

// array must have at least 5 integer values
const T = Type.Array(Type.Integer(), { minItems: 5 })

Extended Types

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.

┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBoxTypeScriptExtended Schema                │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Constructor([type T = new (const T = {                    │
│   Type.String(),               │  arg0: string,              │   type: 'constructor'          │
│   Type.Number()                │  arg1: number               │   parameters: [{               │
│ ], Type.Boolean())) => boolean                │     type: 'string'             │
│                                │                             │   }, {                         │
│                                │                             │     type: 'number'             │
│                                │                             │   }],                          │
│                                │                             │   return: {                    │
│                                │                             │     type: 'boolean'            │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Function([type T = (const T = {|   Type.String(),               │  arg0: string,              │   type : 'function',           │
│   Type.Number()                │  arg1: number               │   parameters: [{               │
│ ], Type.Boolean())) => boolean                │     type: 'string'             │
│                                │                             │   }, {                         │
│                                │                             │     type: 'number'             │
│                                │                             │   }],                          │
│                                │                             │   return: {                    │
│                                │                             │     type: 'boolean'            │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Uint8Array()type T = Uint8Arrayconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'object',              │
│                                │                             │   specialized: 'Uint8Array'    │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Promise(type T = Promise<string>const T = {                    │
│   Type.String()                │                             │   type: 'promise',             │
│ )                              │                             │   item: {                      │
│                                │                             │     type: 'string'             │
│                                │                             │   }                            │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Undefined()type T = undefinedconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'object',              │
│                                │                             │   specialized: 'Undefined'     │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Type.Void()type T = voidconst T = {                    │
│                                │                             │   type: 'null'                 │
│                                │                             │ }                              │
│                                │                             │                                │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘

Reference Types

Use Type.Ref(...) to create referenced types. The target type must specify an $id.

const T = Type.String({ $id: 'T' })                  // const T = {
                                                     //    $id: 'T',
                                                     //    type: 'string'
                                                     // }
                                             
const R = Type.Ref(T)                                // const R = {
                                                     //    $ref: 'T'
                                                     // }

Recursive Types

Use Type.Recursive(...) to create recursive types.

const Node = Type.Recursive(Node => Type.Object({    // const Node = {
  id: Type.String(),                                 //   $id: 'Node',
  nodes: Type.Array(Node)                            //   type: 'object',
}), { $id: 'Node' })                                 //   properties: {
                                                     //     id: {
                                                     //       type: 'string'
                                                     //     },
                                                     //     nodes: {
                                                     //       type: 'array',
                                                     //       items: {
                                                     //         $ref: 'Node'
                                                     //       }
                                                     //     }
                                                     //   },
                                                     //   required: [
                                                     //     'id',
                                                     //     'nodes'
                                                     //   ]
                                                     // }

type Node = Static<typeof Node>                      // type Node = {
                                                     //   id: string
                                                     //   nodes: Node[]
                                                     // }

function test(node: Node) {
  const id = node.nodes[0].nodes[0].nodes[0]         // id is string
                 .nodes[0].nodes[0].nodes[0]
                 .nodes[0].nodes[0].nodes[0]
                 .id
}

Generic Types

Use functions to create generic types. The following creates a generic Nullable<T> type.

import { Type, Static, TSchema } from '@sinclair/typebox'

const Nullable = <T extends TSchema>(type: T) => Type.Union([type, Type.Null()])

const T = Nullable(Type.String())                    // const T = {
                                                     //   anyOf: [{
                                                     //     type: 'string'
                                                     //   }, {
                                                     //     type: 'null'
                                                     //   }]
                                                     // }

type T = Static<typeof T>                            // type T = string | null

const U = Nullable(Type.Number())                    // const U = {
                                                     //   anyOf: [{
                                                     //     type: 'number'
                                                     //   }, {
                                                     //     type: 'null'
                                                     //   }]
                                                     // }

type U = Static<typeof U>                            // type U = number | null

Unsafe Types

Use Type.Unsafe(...) to create custom schemas with user defined inference rules.

const T = Type.Unsafe<string>({ type: 'number' })    // const T = {
                                                     //   type: 'number'
                                                     // }

type T = Static<typeof T>                            // type T = string

The Type.Unsafe(...) function can be used to create schemas for validators that require specific schema representations. An example of this would be OpenAPI’s nullable and enum schemas which are not provided by TypeBox. The following demonstrates using Type.Unsafe(...) to create these types.

import { Type, Static, TSchema } from '@sinclair/typebox'

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Nullable<T>
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function Nullable<T extends TSchema>(schema: T) {
  return Type.Unsafe<Static<T> | null>({ ...schema, nullable: true })
}

const T = Nullable(Type.String())                    // const T = {
                                                     //   type: 'string',
                                                     //   nullable: true
                                                     // }

type T = Static<typeof T>                            // type T = string | null

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// StringEnum<string[]>
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function StringEnum<T extends string[]>(values: [...T]) {
  return Type.Unsafe<T[number]>({ type: 'string', enum: values })
}

const T = StringEnum(['A', 'B', 'C'])                // const T = {
                                                     //   enum: ['A', 'B', 'C']
                                                     // }

type T = Static<typeof T>                            // type T = 'A' | 'B' | 'C'

Conditional Types

Use Conditional.Extends(...) to create conditional mapped types.

import { Conditional } from '@sinclair/typebox/conditional'

The following table shows the TypeBox mappings between TypeScript and JSON schema.

┌────────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────────┐
│ TypeBoxTypeScriptJSON Schema                    │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Conditional.Extends(type T =const T = {                    │
│   Type.String(),string extends numberconst: false,                │
│   Type.Number(),true : false               │   type: 'boolean'              │
│   Type.Literal(true),          │                             │ }                              │
│   Type.Literal(false)          │                             │                                │
│ )                              │                             │                                │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Conditional.Extract(type T = Extract<const T = {                    │
│   Type.Union(['a' | 'b' | 'c',          │   anyOf: [{                    │
│     Type.Literal('a'),'a' | 'f'const: 'a'                 │
│     Type.Literal('b'),>                           │     type: 'string'             │
│     Type.Literal('c')          │                             │   }]                           │
│   ]),                          │                             │ }                              │
│   Type.Union([                 │                             │                                │
│     Type.Literal('a'),         │                             │                                │
│     Type.Literal('f')          │                             │                                │
│   ])                           │                             │                                │
│ )                              │                             │                                │
│                                │                             │                                │
├────────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┼────────────────────────────────┤
│ const T = Conditional.Exclude(type T = Exclude<const T = {                    │
│   Type.Union(['a' | 'b' | 'c',          │   anyOf: [{                    │
│     Type.Literal('a'),'a'const: 'b',                │
│     Type.Literal('b'),>                           │     type: 'string'             │
│     Type.Literal('c')          │                             │   }, {                         │
│   ]),                          │                             │     const: 'c',                │
│   Type.Union([                 │                             │     type: 'string'             │
│     Type.Literal('a')          │                             │   }]                           │
│   ])                           │                             │ }                              │
│ )                              │                             │                                │
│                                │                             │                                │
└────────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┴────────────────────────────────┘

Values

Use Value.Create(...) to generate values from types.

import { Value } from '@sinclair/typebox/value'
import { Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'

const T = Type.Object({
  x: Type.Number({ default: 1 }),
  y: Type.Number()
})

const V = Value.Create(T)                            // const V = {
                                                     //   x: 1,
                                                     //   y: 0
                                                     // }

Use Value.Cast(...) to cast a value into a given type.

import { Value } from '@sinclair/typebox/value'
import { Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'

const T = Type.Object({
  x: Type.Number(),
  y: Type.Number()
})

const A = Value.Cast(T, null)                          // const A = { x: 0, y: 0 }

const B = Value.Cast(T, { x: 1 })                      // const B = { x: 1, y: 0 }

const C = Value.Cast(T, { x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 })          // const C = { x: 1, y: 2 }

Guards

Use a TypeGuard to test if a value meets a TypeBox type specification. Guards can be helpful when reflecting types.

import { TypeGuard } from '@sinclair/typebox/guard'
import { Type }  from '@sinclair/typebox'

const T = Type.String()

if(TypeGuard.TString(T)) {
    
  // T is TString
}

Strict

TypeBox schemas contain the Kind and Modifier symbol properties. These properties are provided to enable runtime type reflection on schemas, as well as helping TypeBox internally compose types. These properties are not strictly valid JSON schema; so in some cases it may be desirable to omit them. TypeBox provides a Type.Strict() function that will omit these properties if necessary.

const T = Type.Object({                              // const T = {
  name: Type.Optional(Type.String())                 //   [Kind]: 'Object',
})                                                   //   type: 'object',
                                                     //   properties: {
                                                     //     name: {
                                                     //       [Kind]: 'String',
                                                     //       type: 'string',
                                                     //       [Modifier]: 'Optional'
                                                     //     }
                                                     //   }
                                                     // }

const U = Type.Strict(T)                             // const U = {
                                                     //   type: 'object', 
                                                     //   properties: { 
                                                     //     name: { 
                                                     //       type: 'string' 
                                                     //     } 
                                                     //   } 
                                                     // }

Validation

TypeBox schemas target JSON Schema draft 6 so any validator capable of draft 6 should be fine. A good library to use for validation in JavaScript environments is Ajv. The following example shows setting up Ajv to work with TypeBox.

$ npm install ajv ajv-formats --save
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Import TypeBox and Ajv
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

import { Type }   from '@sinclair/typebox'
import addFormats from 'ajv-formats'
import Ajv        from 'ajv'

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Setup Ajv validator with the following options and formats
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

const ajv = addFormats(new Ajv({}), [
  'date-time', 
  'time', 
  'date', 
  'email',  
  'hostname', 
  'ipv4', 
  'ipv6', 
  'uri', 
  'uri-reference', 
  'uuid',
  'uri-template', 
  'json-pointer', 
  'relative-json-pointer', 
  'regex'
])

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Create a TypeBox type
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

const T = Type.Object({
  x: Type.Number(),
  y: Type.Number(),
  z: Type.Number()
})

//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//
// Validate Data
//
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

const R = ajv.validate(T, { x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 })      // const R = true

Please refer to the official Ajv documentation for additional information on using Ajv.

Compiler

TypeBox provides an optional high performance runtime type checker that can be used in applications that require extremely fast validation. This type checker is optimized for TypeBox types only whose schematics are known in advance. If defining custom schemas with Type.Unsafe<T> please consider Ajv.

The following demonstrates its use.

import { TypeCompiler } from '@sinclair/typebox/compiler'
import { Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'

const C = TypeCompiler.Compile(Type.Object({         // const C: TypeCheck<TObject<{
  x: Type.Number(),                                  //     x: TNumber;
  y: Type.Number(),                                  //     y: TNumber;
  z: Type.Number()                                   //     z: TNumber;
}))                                                  // }>>

const R = C.Check({ x: 1, y: 2, z: 3 })              // const R = true 

Validation errors can be read with the Errors(...) function.

const C = TypeCompiler.Compile(Type.Object({         // const C: TypeCheck<TObject<{
  x: Type.Number(),                                  //     x: TNumber;
  y: Type.Number(),                                  //     y: TNumber;
  z: Type.Number()                                   //     z: TNumber;
}))                                                  // }>>

const value = { }

const errors = [...C.Errors(value)]                  // const errors = [{
                                                     //   schema: { type: 'number' },
                                                     //   path: '/x',
                                                     //   value: undefined,
                                                     //   message: 'Expected number'
                                                     // }, {
                                                     //   schema: { type: 'number' },
                                                     //   path: '/y',
                                                     //   value: undefined,
                                                     //   message: 'Expected number'
                                                     // }, {
                                                     //   schema: { type: 'number' },
                                                     //   path: '/z',
                                                     //   value: undefined,
                                                     //   message: 'Expected number'
                                                     // }]

Compiled routines can be inspected with the .Code() function.

const C = TypeCompiler.Compile(Type.String())        // const C: TypeCheck<TString>

console.log(C.Code())                                // return function check(value) {
                                                     //   return (
                                                     //     (typeof value === 'string')
                                                     //   )
                                                     // }

Benchmark

This project maintains benchmarks that measure Ajv and TypeCompiler validate and compile performance. These benchmarks can be run locally by cloning this repository and running npm run benchmark. Results show against Ajv version 8.11.0.

Validate

This benchmark measures validation performance for varying types. You can review this benchmark here.

┌──────────────────┬────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐
     (index)IterationsAjvTypeCompilerPerformance  │
├──────────────────┼────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│           Number4000000'     17 ms''     16 ms''    1.06 x' │
│           String4000000'     74 ms''     37 ms''    2.00 x' │
│          Boolean4000000'     68 ms''     36 ms''    1.89 x' │
│             Null4000000'     68 ms''     36 ms''    1.89 x' │
│            RegEx4000000'    170 ms''    143 ms''    1.19 x' │
│          ObjectA4000000'    122 ms''     84 ms''    1.45 x' │
│          ObjectB4000000'    182 ms''    137 ms''    1.33 x' │
│            Tuple4000000'     82 ms''     48 ms''    1.71 x' │
│            Union4000000'     84 ms''     52 ms''    1.62 x' │
│        Recursive4000000'   1526 ms''    631 ms''    2.42 x' │
│          Vector44000000'     80 ms''     42 ms''    1.90 x' │
│          Matrix44000000'    157 ms''    113 ms''    1.39 x' │
│   Literal_String4000000'     69 ms''     36 ms''    1.92 x' │
│   Literal_Number4000000'     69 ms''     35 ms''    1.97 x' │
│  Literal_Boolean4000000'     68 ms''     35 ms''    1.94 x' │
│     Array_Number4000000'    119 ms''     60 ms''    1.98 x' │
│     Array_String4000000'    119 ms''     76 ms''    1.57 x' │
│    Array_Boolean4000000'    131 ms''     88 ms''    1.49 x' │
│    Array_ObjectA4000000'  10615 ms''   7053 ms''    1.51 x' │
│    Array_ObjectB4000000'  11305 ms''   8128 ms''    1.39 x' │
│      Array_Tuple4000000'    355 ms''    271 ms''    1.31 x' │
│      Array_Union4000000'    910 ms''    340 ms''    2.68 x' │
│  Array_Recursive4000000'  29101 ms''  10837 ms''    2.69 x' │
│    Array_Vector44000000'    381 ms''    212 ms''    1.80 x' │
│    Array_Matrix44000000'   1534 ms''   1344 ms''    1.14 x' │
└──────────────────┴────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘

Compile

This benchmark measures compilation performance for varying types. You can review this benchmark here.

┌──────────────────┬────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┬──────────────┐
     (index)IterationsAjvTypeCompilerPerformance  │
├──────────────────┼────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┼──────────────┤
│           Number2000'    384 ms''      7 ms''   54.86 x' │
│           String2000'    311 ms''      6 ms''   51.83 x' │
│          Boolean2000'    304 ms''      5 ms''   60.80 x' │
│             Null2000'    252 ms''      5 ms''   50.40 x' │
│            RegEx2000'    480 ms''      7 ms''   68.57 x' │
│          ObjectA2000'   2786 ms''     27 ms''  103.19 x' │
│          ObjectB2000'   2946 ms''     22 ms''  133.91 x' │
│            Tuple2000'   1277 ms''     16 ms''   79.81 x' │
│            Union2000'   1288 ms''     16 ms''   80.50 x' │
│          Vector42000'   1628 ms''     12 ms''  135.67 x' │
│          Matrix42000'    912 ms''      7 ms''  130.29 x' │
│   Literal_String2000'    344 ms''      5 ms''   68.80 x' │
│   Literal_Number2000'    432 ms''      5 ms''   86.40 x' │
│  Literal_Boolean2000'    407 ms''      4 ms''  101.75 x' │
│     Array_Number2000'    788 ms''      9 ms''   87.56 x' │
│     Array_String2000'    823 ms''      7 ms''  117.57 x' │
│    Array_Boolean2000'    816 ms''      5 ms''  163.20 x' │
│    Array_ObjectA2000'   4270 ms''     24 ms''  177.92 x' │
│    Array_ObjectB2000'   4008 ms''     28 ms''  143.14 x' │
│      Array_Tuple2000'   2243 ms''     13 ms''  172.54 x' │
│      Array_Union2000'   1734 ms''     16 ms''  108.38 x' │
│    Array_Vector42000'   2348 ms''     14 ms''  167.71 x' │
│    Array_Matrix42000'   1608 ms''     11 ms''  146.18 x' │
└──────────────────┴────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┴──────────────┘

Contribute

TypeBox is open to community contribution. Please ensure you submit an open issue before submitting your pull request. The TypeBox project preferences open community discussion prior to accepting new features.