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Type tagging and branding for TypeScript.
yarn
npm
yarn add @corets/tag
npm install --save @corets/tag
Type tagging, also known as branding, is a common practice in advanced TypeScript setups. The main purpose of this approach is to make certain primitive types more predictable. Using branded types leads to a better traceability of data in the project and encourages developers to be more aware when working with critical, primitive data.
Let's have a look at this example below:
type UUID = string
type User = { id: UUID }
We have created a type alias
UUID that is used on the type User. Right now, any string value is a valid UUID:const user: User = { id: "some-uuid" }
This is very implicit, not traceable, and is not very safe since you pay less attention to what is passed around, since everything is just a
string.What if we could make this more explicit?
import { Tag } from "@corets/tag"
type UUID = Tag<string, "uuid">
type User = {
id: UUID
}
// this will not work since string is not assignable to UUID
const user1: User = { id: "some-uuid" }
// exlicitly cast it to UUID
const user2: User = { id: "some-uuid" as UUID }
Now we are using a branded
string instead of plain string. You can not assign a plain string to a UUID anymore, if you do so, you have to cast it explicitly. Now you also have full traceability on where UUIDs are used in the project.Creates a branded type for any primitive value:
import { Tag } from "@corets/tag"
const Email = Tag<string, "email">
// this will work
const email2: Email = "[email protected]" as Email
// this will not work
const email1: Email = "[email protected]"
You get full traceability of where branded types are used in your project, since you always have to cast a primitive value to that specific type.
Last modified 2yr ago