alt-asset-spec

An open-source, industrial-strength TypeScript data specification and runtime validation engine for alternative assets graded by third-party services.

The Philosophy

This specification grew from ongoing work with third party graded comic books and represents a desire to move from ad hoc data structures to something more structured and flexible.

Traditional tracking schemas for alternative assets fail at the high end because they conflate the ephemeral container (the third-party encapsulation shell/serial number) with the immutable underlying physical asset. This schema enforces a strict separation: a physical asset stays uniform via a persistent internal URN, while tracking dynamic real-world events like intra-company regrades, corporate crossovers, reholders, private trades, and asset-for-asset swaps.

Features

• Strict Type Definitions: Complete TypeScript interfaces modeling asset primitives, currency matrices, and third-party grading certifications (CGC, PSA, WATA, PCGS, etc.).
• Decoupled Architecture: Core primitives scale across multiple domains (comic, trading_card, video_game, coin) without duplicating schema foundations.
• Runtime Validation: Native type guards to ensure messy, incoming web-scraped auction data or JSON streams comply with the specification boundaries before hitting your database.
• Provenance Ledger Engine: Built natively to handle complex asset lifecycles, tracking changes in serialization (previousCertNumber ➔ newCertNumber) alongside financial velocity indices.

Architecture Blueprint

       [ Core AltAssetBase Wrapper ]
                     │
     ┌───────────────┴───────────────┐
     ▼                               ▼
[ currentAuthentication ]    [ historicalAuthentication[] ]
  (Active Cert/Holder)         (Retired Holders/Slabs Ledger)
     │                               │
     └───────────────┬───────────────┘
                     ▼
          [ provenanceLedger[] ]
  (Sales, Asset Swaps, Regrades, Reholders)

Installation

npm install alt-asset-spec

Quick Start

1. Enforcing Type Safety (Compile-Time)

import { AltAssetComic } from 'alt-asset-spec';

const churchSuperman: AltAssetComic = {
  urn: 'urn:altasset:comic:dc:superman:1:edgar-church-copy',
  schemaVersion: '1.0.0',
  assetClass: 'comic',
  currentAuthentication: {
    grader: 'CGC',
    numericGrade: 8.5,
    rawGradeString: '8.5 Very Fine',
    isActive: true
  },
  provenanceLedger: [
    {
      eventId: 'evt_sale_2026',
      eventType: 'private_sale',
      date: '2026-02-05',
      platform: 'Heritage Auctions',
      financials: { amount: 7000000, currency: 'USD' }
    }
  ],
  customMetadata: {
    publisher: 'DC',
    title: 'Superman',
    issueNumber: '1',
    publicationDate: '1939-06'
  }
};

2. Runtime Ingestion Guarding

Validate untrusted JSON data payloads (e.g., streaming from web scrapers or external APIs) before mutating data:

import { isAltAsset, validateProvenanceLedger } from 'alt-asset-spec';

const incomingData = await fetchExternalAuctionPayload();

if (isAltAsset(incomingData)) {
  const ledgerStatus = validateProvenanceLedger(incomingData.provenanceLedger);
  if (!ledgerStatus.isValid) {
    console.error('Ledger errors detected:', ledgerStatus.errors);
  }
}

Development & Contribution

Repository Scripts

• npm run build - Compiles the source TypeScript, generating ESM distributions and .d.ts declarations to /dist.
• npm run test - Executes the unit testing suite via Vitest against historical asset benchmarks (including the Church Superman #1).
• npm run typecheck - Compiles the codebase without emitting artifacts to run strict type checks.
• npm run release:check - Runs type checks, tests, and build in release order.

Publishing

This repository publishes to npm via GitHub Actions when a GitHub Release is published.

1. Add an npm automation token as the repository secret NPM_TOKEN.
2. Create and publish a GitHub Release (for example, from a vX.Y.Z tag).
3. The Publish to npm workflow installs dependencies, runs npm run release:check, and publishes with npm publish --provenance.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.