@api.global/typedrequest

A TypeScript library for making fully typed request/response cycles across any transport — HTTP, WebSockets, broadcast channels, or custom protocols. Define your API contract once as a TypeScript interface, then use it on both client and server with compile-time safety, automatic routing, middleware chains, virtual streams for real-time data, and built-in traffic monitoring hooks.

Issue Reporting and Security

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Install

pnpm install @api.global/typedrequest

You'll also want the interfaces package for defining stream types:

pnpm install @api.global/typedrequest-interfaces

Usage

All examples use ESM imports and TypeScript.

import {
  TypedRequest,
  TypedHandler,
  TypedRouter,
  TypedTarget,
  VirtualStream,
  TypedResponseError,
} from '@api.global/typedrequest';

🔑 Define Your API Contract

Every request/response pair is described by a simple interface extending ITypedRequest:

interface IGetUser {
  method: 'getUser';
  request: { userId: string };
  response: { username: string; email: string };
}

interface IAddNumbers {
  method: 'add';
  request: { a: number; b: number };
  response: { result: number };
}

The method field acts as a discriminator — it's what the router uses to match requests to handlers.

📡 Making Typed Requests (Client Side)

TypedRequest fires a typed request against an HTTP endpoint or a TypedTarget:

// Against an HTTP endpoint
const getUser = new TypedRequest<IGetUser>('https://api.example.com/rpc', 'getUser');
const user = await getUser.fire({ userId: 'user-123' });
console.log(user.username); // fully typed!

// With response caching
const cachedUser = await getUser.fire({ userId: 'user-123' }, true);

🛠️ Handling Requests (Server Side)

TypedHandler processes a specific method and returns a typed response:

const addHandler = new TypedHandler<IAddNumbers>('add', async (req) => {
  return { result: req.a + req.b };
});

The second argument to the handler function is an optional TypedTools instance that gives access to guard validation and transport-layer context:

const secureHandler = new TypedHandler<IGetUser>('getUser', async (req, tools) => {
  // Access transport-layer context (e.g., authenticated user info)
  const peer = tools.localData.peer;

  // Validate with guards
  await tools.passGuards([myAuthGuard], req);

  return { username: 'Alice', email: '[email protected]' };
});

🚦 Routing Requests

TypedRouter dispatches incoming requests to the correct handler based on the method field:

const router = new TypedRouter();
router.addTypedHandler(addHandler);
router.addTypedHandler(secureHandler);

// Route an incoming request object
const response = await router.routeAndAddResponse(incomingTypedRequest);

Routers are composable — you can nest them to build modular API architectures:

const coreRouter = new TypedRouter();
const authRouter = new TypedRouter();

// Each sub-router manages its own handlers
coreRouter.addTypedHandler(addHandler);
authRouter.addTypedHandler(secureHandler);

// Link them together — requests flow through the entire chain
const mainRouter = new TypedRouter();
mainRouter.addTypedRouter(coreRouter);
mainRouter.addTypedRouter(authRouter);

🛡️ Middleware

Add middleware functions to a TypedRouter that run before any handler on that router executes. Middleware is great for authentication, logging, rate limiting, or input validation:

const router = new TypedRouter();

// Add authentication middleware
router.addMiddleware(async (typedRequest) => {
  const token = typedRequest.localData?.authToken;
  if (!token || !isValidToken(token)) {
    throw new TypedResponseError('Unauthorized', { reason: 'invalid_token' });
  }
});

// Add logging middleware
router.addMiddleware(async (typedRequest) => {
  console.log(`Processing ${typedRequest.method}`);
});

// Handlers are only reached if all middleware passes
router.addTypedHandler(secureHandler);

Middleware functions receive the full ITypedRequest object and run in the order they were added. Throw a TypedResponseError from any middleware to reject the request before it reaches the handler.

🎯 Custom Targets with TypedTarget

For non-HTTP transports (WebSockets, broadcast channels, IPC), use TypedTarget with a custom post function:

// Synchronous target (post returns the response directly)
const target = new TypedTarget({
  postMethod: async (payload) => {
    // Send via your custom transport and return the response
    return await myWebSocket.sendAndWait(payload);
  },
});

const request = new TypedRequest<IGetUser>(target, 'getUser');
const user = await request.fire({ userId: 'user-123' });

For async targets where the response arrives separately (e.g., WebSocket push), pair a TypedTarget with a TypedRouter:

const router = new TypedRouter();

const asyncTarget = new TypedTarget({
  postMethodWithTypedRouter: async (payload) => {
    // Fire-and-forget — response will arrive via router
    mySocket.send(JSON.stringify(payload));
  },
  typedRouterRef: router,
});

// When the response arrives later, route it back:
mySocket.onMessage((data) => {
  router.routeAndAddResponse(JSON.parse(data));
});

🌊 Virtual Streams

VirtualStream enables bidirectional binary streaming over any transport that supports typed requests. Data is automatically chunked with backpressure control:

import type { IVirtualStream } from '@api.global/typedrequest-interfaces';

// Define a streaming endpoint
interface IFileUpload {
  method: 'uploadFile';
  request: { filename: string; dataStream: IVirtualStream };
  response: { bytesReceived: number };
}

// Client side: create and send a stream
const uploadStream = new VirtualStream<Uint8Array>();
const upload = new TypedRequest<IFileUpload>('https://api.example.com/rpc', 'uploadFile');

const responsePromise = upload.fire({
  filename: 'data.bin',
  dataStream: uploadStream,
});

// Send data through the stream
await uploadStream.sendData(new TextEncoder().encode('Hello, World!'));
await uploadStream.close();

const result = await responsePromise;
console.log(result.bytesReceived);

// Server side: receive and process the stream
const uploadHandler = new TypedHandler<IFileUpload>('uploadFile', async (req) => {
  let total = 0;
  // Read chunks from the stream
  const chunk = await req.dataStream.fetchData();
  total += chunk.byteLength;

  return { bytesReceived: total };
});

VirtualStreams also integrate with the Web Streams API:

// Pipe a ReadableStream into a VirtualStream
await virtualStream.readFromWebstream(readableStream);

// Pipe a VirtualStream into a WritableStream
await virtualStream.writeToWebstream(writableStream);

⚠️ Error Handling

Throw TypedResponseError inside handlers to send structured errors back to the caller:

const handler = new TypedHandler<IGetUser>('getUser', async (req) => {
  const user = await db.findUser(req.userId);
  if (!user) {
    throw new TypedResponseError('User not found', { userId: req.userId });
  }
  return { username: user.name, email: user.email };
});

On the client side, TypedResponseError is thrown when the server responds with an error:

try {
  await getUser.fire({ userId: 'nonexistent' });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof TypedResponseError) {
    console.error(err.errorText); // 'User not found'
    console.error(err.errorData); // { userId: 'nonexistent' }
  }
}

📊 Traffic Monitoring Hooks

Monitor all TypedRequest traffic with global or per-router hooks:

// Global hooks — apply to ALL routers and requests across bundles
TypedRouter.setGlobalHooks({
  onOutgoingRequest: (entry) => {
    console.log(`→ ${entry.method} [${entry.correlationId}]`);
  },
  onIncomingResponse: (entry) => {
    console.log(`← ${entry.method} took ${entry.durationMs}ms`);
  },
  onIncomingRequest: (entry) => {
    console.log(`⇒ handling ${entry.method}`);
  },
  onOutgoingResponse: (entry) => {
    if (entry.error) console.error(`⇐ ${entry.method} error: ${entry.error}`);
  },
});

// Per-router hooks
router.setHooks({
  onIncomingRequest: (entry) => metrics.trackRequest(entry),
});

// Skip hooks for internal requests (e.g., health checks)
const internalReq = new TypedRequest<IHealthCheck>(target, 'healthCheck');
internalReq.skipHooks = true;

Global hooks are shared across all bundles via globalThis, making them ideal for application-wide observability.

🏗️ Architecture Overview

┌─────────────┐       ┌──────────────┐       ┌──────────────┐
│ TypedRequest │──────▶│ HTTP / WS /  │──────▶│ TypedRouter  │
│  (client)    │       │ TypedTarget  │       │  (server)    │
└─────────────┘       └──────────────┘       └──────┬───────┘
                                                     │
                                              ┌──────▼───────┐
                                              │  Middleware   │
                                              └──────┬───────┘
                                                     │
                                              ┌──────▼───────┐
                                              │ TypedHandler  │
                                              │ (your logic)  │
                                              └──────────────┘

| Component | Role | |---|---| | TypedRequest | Fires typed requests against a URL or TypedTarget | | TypedTarget | Abstracts the transport layer (HTTP, WebSocket, custom) | | TypedRouter | Routes incoming requests to the correct handler; composable via addTypedRouter() | | TypedHandler | Processes a single method and returns a typed response | | Middleware | Pre-handler functions for auth, validation, logging — throw TypedResponseError to reject | | VirtualStream | Bidirectional binary streaming with backpressure over any supported transport | | TypedResponseError | Structured error propagation across the wire | | TypedTools | Guard validation and transport-layer context available inside handlers |

License and Legal Information

This repository contains open-source code licensed under the MIT License. A copy of the license can be found in the LICENSE file.

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Use of these trademarks must comply with Task Venture Capital GmbH's Trademark Guidelines or the guidelines of the respective third-party owners, and any usage must be approved in writing. Third-party trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners and used only in a descriptive manner, e.g. for an implementation of an API or similar.

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For any legal inquiries or further information, please contact us via email at [email protected].

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