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Entype

Entype is a CLI tool and library which ingests serialized data formats (currently only JSON) and outputs type definitions for different languages (currently Rust and TypeScript).

Installation

Deno

Entype can be installed using the Deno CLI:

deno install --allow-read --allow-net https://deno.land/x/entype/main.ts

And can then be run using the entype command:

entype --lang rust fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

Alternatively, it can be run using the Deno CLI without the need to install the command globally:

deno run --allow-read https://deno.land/x/entype/main.ts --lang rust fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

NPM

Entype can be installed using NPM:

npm i -g typegen-json

And can then be run using the typegen-json command:

typegen-json --lang rust fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

Alternatively, it can be run using NPX without the need to install the command globally:

npx typegen-json --lang rust fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

Usage

Entype accepts files to generate type definitions for and emits type definitions to stdout.

entype --lang typescript fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

The above example will output the following TypeScript type definitions:

export type ArrayElement5 = {
  model: string;
  uvlock: boolean | null | undefined;
  weight: number | null | undefined;
  x: number | null | undefined;
  y: number | null | undefined;
};

export type Struct15 = {
  model: string;
  uvlock: boolean | null | undefined;
  x: number | null | undefined;
  y: number | null | undefined;
};

export type Apply3 =
  | Array<ArrayElement5>
  | Struct15;

export type TElement29 = {
  facing: string | null | undefined;
  slot_0_occupied: string | null | undefined;
  slot_1_occupied: string | null | undefined;
  slot_2_occupied: string | null | undefined;
  slot_3_occupied: string | null | undefined;
  slot_4_occupied: string | null | undefined;
  slot_5_occupied: string | null | undefined;
};

export type TElement66 = {
  east: string | null | undefined;
  north: string | null | undefined;
  south: string | null | undefined;
  up: string | null | undefined;
  west: string | null | undefined;
};

export type T24 = {
  age: string | null | undefined;
  AND: Array<TElement29> | null | undefined;
  down: string | null | undefined;
  east: string | null | undefined;
  facing: string | null | undefined;
  flower_amount: string | null | undefined;
  has_bottle_0: string | null | undefined;
  has_bottle_1: string | null | undefined;
  has_bottle_2: string | null | undefined;
  leaves: string | null | undefined;
  level: string | null | undefined;
  north: string | null | undefined;
  OR: Array<TElement66> | null | undefined;
  south: string | null | undefined;
  up: string | null | undefined;
  west: string | null | undefined;
};

export type TElement2 = {
  apply: Apply3;
  when: T24 | null | undefined;
};

export type ArrayElement87 = {
  model: string;
  x: number | null | undefined;
  y: number | null | undefined;
};

export type Struct93 = {
  model: string;
  uvlock: boolean | null | undefined;
  x: number | null | undefined;
  y: number | null | undefined;
};

export type TEntry85 =
  | Array<ArrayElement87>
  | Struct93;

export type Root = {
  multipart: Array<TElement2> | null | undefined;
  variants: Record<string, TEntry85> | null | undefined;
};

Alternatively, Rust types can be generated as follows:

entype --lang rust fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

pub struct ArrayElement5 {
  model: String,
  uvlock: Option<bool>,
  weight: Option<f64>,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

pub struct Struct15 {
  model: String,
  uvlock: Option<bool>,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

pub enum Apply3 {
  Array(Vec<ArrayElement5>),
  Struct(Struct15),
}

pub struct TElement29 {
  facing: Option<String>,
  slot_0_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_1_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_2_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_3_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_4_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_5_occupied: Option<String>,
}

pub struct TElement66 {
  east: Option<String>,
  north: Option<String>,
  south: Option<String>,
  up: Option<String>,
  west: Option<String>,
}

pub struct T24 {
  age: Option<String>,
  AND: Option<Vec<TElement29>>,
  down: Option<String>,
  east: Option<String>,
  facing: Option<String>,
  flower_amount: Option<String>,
  has_bottle_0: Option<String>,
  has_bottle_1: Option<String>,
  has_bottle_2: Option<String>,
  leaves: Option<String>,
  level: Option<String>,
  north: Option<String>,
  OR: Option<Vec<TElement66>>,
  south: Option<String>,
  up: Option<String>,
  west: Option<String>,
}

pub struct TElement2 {
  apply: Apply3,
  when: Option<T24>,
}

pub struct ArrayElement87 {
  model: String,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

pub struct Struct93 {
  model: String,
  uvlock: Option<bool>,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

pub enum TEntry85 {
  Array(Vec<ArrayElement87>),
  Struct(Struct93),
}

pub struct Root {
  multipart: Option<Vec<TElement2>>,
  variants: Option<std::collections::HashMap<String, TEntry85>>,
}

Plugins (experimental)

Plugins are an experimental feature which allow the behaviour of the type emitter to be customised or enhanced. Plugins can be used as follows:

entype --allow-unstable --lang rust --plugin serde-derive fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

Note that the --allow-unstable flag is required to use plugins, as their behaviour may change in future.

The above command will emit the following code:

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct ArrayElement5 {
  model: String,
  uvlock: Option<bool>,
  weight: Option<f64>,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct Struct15 {
  model: String,
  uvlock: Option<bool>,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
#[serde(untagged)]
pub enum Apply3 {
  Array(Vec<ArrayElement5>),
  Struct(Struct15),
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct TElement29 {
  facing: Option<String>,
  slot_0_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_1_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_2_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_3_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_4_occupied: Option<String>,
  slot_5_occupied: Option<String>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct TElement66 {
  east: Option<String>,
  north: Option<String>,
  south: Option<String>,
  up: Option<String>,
  west: Option<String>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct T24 {
  age: Option<String>,
  AND: Option<Vec<TElement29>>,
  down: Option<String>,
  east: Option<String>,
  facing: Option<String>,
  flower_amount: Option<String>,
  has_bottle_0: Option<String>,
  has_bottle_1: Option<String>,
  has_bottle_2: Option<String>,
  leaves: Option<String>,
  level: Option<String>,
  north: Option<String>,
  OR: Option<Vec<TElement66>>,
  south: Option<String>,
  up: Option<String>,
  west: Option<String>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct TElement2 {
  apply: Apply3,
  when: Option<T24>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct ArrayElement87 {
  model: String,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct Struct93 {
  model: String,
  uvlock: Option<bool>,
  x: Option<f64>,
  y: Option<f64>,
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
#[serde(untagged)]
pub enum TEntry85 {
  Array(Vec<ArrayElement87>),
  Struct(Struct93),
}

#[derive(serde::Serialize, serde::Deserialize)]
pub struct Root {
  multipart: Option<Vec<TElement2>>,
  variants: Option<std::collections::HashMap<String, TEntry85>>,
}

This code is identical to that emitted without the serde-derive plugin, except that all types have been decorated with the appropriate Serde derive macros.

There are currently two inbuilt plugins:

It is possible to implement third party plugins. If you wish to do so, you can use one of the inbuilt plugins as a reference.

Third party plugins can be specified by URL:

entype \
  --allow-unstable \
  --lang rust \
  --plugin "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bcheidemann/entype/main/lib/plugins/serde-derive.ts" \
  fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

Alternatively, the github: qualifier can be used:

entype \
  --allow-unstable \
  --lang rust \
  --plugin "github:bcheidemann/entype/lib/plugins/derive-debug.ts" \
  fixtures/datapack/blockstates/*.json

The format is github:<branch>@<owner>/<repo>/<path>, where branch defaults to main and path defaults to mod.ts. The plugin speicifier github:bcheidemann/entype-plugin-example would be resolved to https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bcheidemann/entype-plugin-example/main/mod.ts.

Node.js

For Node.js versions of entype (i.e. the one installed from NPM) plugins cannot be imported by URL. Instead, third party plugins must be published to NPM and can then be imported by their package name.

How it works

Entype tries to generate the simplest possible type that accurately describes the input data. For instance, given the following two input files:

// 200.json
{
  "statusCode": 200,
  "data": {
    "message": "Hello World!"
  }
}

// 500.json
{
  "statusCode": 500,
  "error": {
    "message": "An internal server error occurred"
  }
}

Entype will first generate an intermediate representation for the first file (200.json). If emitted to TypeScript, it would look something like this:

export type Data0 = {
  message: string;
};

export type Root = {
  data: Data0;
  statusCode: number;
};

It then generates an intermediate representation for the second file (500.json), which looks something like this:

export type Error0 = {
  message: string;
};

export type Root = {
  error: Error0;
  statusCode: number;
};

Next it compares each field in the generated types recursively, producing the simplest type for each field which accurately describes both input files. This produces a final intermediate type representation, which can then be emitted to the following TypeScript type definition:

export type T1 = {
  message: string;
};

export type T4 = {
  message: string;
};

export type Root = {
  data: T1 | null | undefined;
  error: T4 | null | undefined;
  statusCode: number;
};

This process can be repeated for an arbitrary number of input files.

Motivation

This tool was constructed to help produce Rust type definitions for the Minecraft datapack format. However, it is useful for a wide variety of applications. The following are some potential use case:

  1. Generating types for production no SQL databases, where the schema has varied over time
  2. Generating complex API response types where the underlying type is unknown but a large amount of sample responses can be obtained

Design decisions

Avoiding unions

Envault prefers to avoid unions where they are not necessary. For example, given these input files:

// 200.json
{
  "statusCode": 200,
  "data": {
    "message": "Hello World!"
  }
}

// 500.json
{
  "statusCode": 500,
  "error": {
    "message": "An internal server error occurred"
  }
}

It is possible to generate two distinct types which accurately describe the provided data:

// With union
export type T1 = {
  message: string;
};

export type T4 = {
  message: string;
};

export type Root =
  | {
    data: T1;
    statusCode: number;
  }
  | {
    error: T4;
    statusCode: number;
  };

// Without union
export type T1 = {
  message: string;
};

export type T4 = {
  message: string;
};

export type Root = {
  data: T1 | null | undefined;
  error: T4 | null | undefined;
  statusCode: number;
};

In this case, entype will generate the type without a union. This is for two reasons:

  1. The type is more robust (a new input with both data and error would not contradict the generated type)
  2. A preference for unions would potentially generate many variants where there are lots of optional fields (like in the Minecraft datapack format)

It is possible to make this configurable, and I would consider implementing such functionality in future (or accepting a PR) if there is demand and a suitable proposal for the API design.

Supported formats and languages

Entype currently sypports JSON as an input format and Rust/Typescript as output formats. Other output formats are trivial to implement and PRs are welcome. Some minor refactoring and API changes are needed to support other input formats, but PRs are also welcome to add support for these.

Limitations

Naming

Since entype has limited context, it will not generate descriptive type names. It is generally recommended (though not required) to manually rename types after generation.

Performance

Entype is written in TypeScript and is not optimised for performance. This is a deliberate decision, which was made for the following reasons:

  1. It is already fast (see the benchmarks)
  2. It is intended for one-off use

If you measure your input data in GigaBytes rather than MegaBytes, no guarantees are made as to the performance.

Benchmarks

The following are the results of running deno bench --allow-read:

benchmark                           time (avg)             (min … max)       p75       p99      p995
---------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------
datapack/blockstates - no disk       9.94 ms/iter     (9.56 ms … 10.7 ms)  10.07 ms   10.7 ms   10.7 ms
datapack/models - no disk           32.55 ms/iter    (30.94 ms … 37.5 ms)  32.69 ms   37.5 ms   37.5 ms
datapack/blockstates                31.06 ms/iter   (28.16 ms … 44.51 ms)  30.82 ms  44.51 ms  44.51 ms
datapack/models                    110.64 ms/iter (102.68 ms … 129.42 ms) 114.19 ms 129.42 ms 129.42 ms

On the following system:

Processor    AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor × 6
Memory       16 GiB

The datapack/blockstates directory contains approximately 800.2 kB of JSON files, while the datapack/models folder contains around 1.1 MB.