NanoTypes

Minimal, runtime-safe type guards for modern JavaScript.

Tree-shakable ESM bundle, zero-config, developer-friendly guards for typeof, instanceof, and structural checks.

• Minified: ~3.14 KB
• Gzipped: ~1.48 KB

Features

• Runtime-safe typeof and instanceof matching
• Dynamic support for global constructors (Map, URL, etc.)
• Safe in Node, browsers, workers, and edge runtimes
• Non-throwing instanceof checks (runtime hardened)
• All guards return strict booleans (true | false)
• Production-hardened: exported APIs are frozen in production
• Shared DEV detection via globalThis.__DEV__ or NODE_ENV !== "production"
• Auto-generated assertType.* versions
• Primitive shorthands: is.str, is.num, is.bool, is.bigi, is.sym, is.undef
• Built-in TypeScript type predicates
• No dependencies

Why NanoTypes?

JavaScript type checks are deceptively inconsistent:

• typeof null === "object"
• Array.isArray(x) is required for arrays
• instanceof can throw in exotic or cross-realm scenarios
• Browser globals like HTMLElement don’t exist in Node
• Guards scattered across codebases lead to inconsistency

NanoTypes centralizes and hardens these checks into a small, predictable surface.

TypeScript vs Runtime Checks

TypeScript is compile-time. NanoTypes is runtime.

They solve different problems.

What TypeScript Does Well

• Prevents incorrect usage during development
• Provides IDE autocomplete and static analysis
• Catches type mismatches before build

What TypeScript Cannot Guarantee

At runtime, TypeScript types disappear. Values coming from:

• API responses
• JSON.parse
• User input
• localStorage
• Environment variables
• Third-party libraries

may not match their declared types.

NanoTypes validates those values at runtime.

They Work Together

NanoTypes guards are typed as proper type predicates:

if (is.string(x)) {
  // x is now narrowed to string
}

assertType.numberSafe(x);
// x is guaranteed to be a non-NaN number here

This means:

• IDEs narrow types correctly
• Fewer as casts
• Fewer @ts-ignore comments
• Safer boundary validation

TypeScript tells you what should be true. NanoTypes checks what is true.

Runtime Safety

NanoTypes is hardened for modern environments:

• Safe access of globalThis constructors
• No crashes from missing browser globals (e.g., HTMLElement in Node)
• Defensive instanceof handling
• Works consistently across Node, browsers, workers, and edge runtimes
• Guards never throw — they return false
• Assertions throw clean TypeError messages with readable descriptions

Design Principles

• Guards never throw
• Asserts throw intentionally (TypeError)
• No runtime assumptions
• Safe reflection on globalThis
• Runtime-adaptive constructor support
• Tree-shakable ESM surface
• Zero dependencies
• Immutable public API in production

Install

npm install nanotypes

Usage

import { is, assertType, describe } from 'nanotypes';

if (is.string("hello")) {
  console.log("It's a string!");
}

// Shorthand aliases
if (is.str("hello")) {
  console.log("Short and sweet.");
}

if (is(someValue, HTMLElement)) {
  someValue.focus();
}

assertType.promise(Promise.resolve()); // throws TypeError if invalid

console.log(describe.value(new Map())); // "Map"

API

Generic Matcher

is(value, Class)

• Uses instanceof internally
• Logs warnings in development (globalThis.__DEV__ = true or when process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production")
• Never throws — safely returns false on invalid constructor input

Type-Specific Guards

Guards are generated dynamically from available runtime constructors. Some guards may only exist when the constructor exists in that environment (e.g., DOM-related guards in browsers but not in Node).

| Guard | Description | | --------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | | is.string(x) / is.str(x) | typeof x === "string" | | is.number(x) / is.num(x) | typeof x === "number" (includes NaN) | | is.numberSafe(x) | Number and not NaN | | is.boolean(x) / is.bool(x) | Boolean primitive | | is.bigint(x) / is.bigi(x) | BigInt primitive | | is.symbol(x) / is.sym(x) | Symbol primitive | | is.undefined(x) / is.undef(x) | Strictly undefined | | is.defined(x) | Not null or undefined | | is.nullish(x) | null or undefined | | is.nil(x) | Strictly null | | is.array(x) | Array literal check | | is.object(x) | Non-null object, not array | | is.objectStrict(x) | Exactly a {} object | | is.plainObject(x) | Object with prototype Object or null | | is.func(x) | Function check | | is.map(x) | Instance of Map | | is.date(x) | Instance of Date | | is.error(x) | Instance of Error | | is.textNode(x) | DOM Text node (browser only) | | is.htmlElement(x) | HTMLElement node (browser only) | | is.contentEditable(x) | Editable DOM node | | is.positiveNumber(x) | Greater than 0 | | is.negativeNumber(x) | Less than 0 | | is.integer(x) | Whole number | | is.finite(x) | Not Infinity, not NaN | | is.truthy(x) | Narrowed to non-falsy value | | is.falsy(x) | Falsy value |

⚠️ Note is.number(x) follows standard JavaScript semantics and returns true for NaN. Use is.numberSafe(x) if you require a numeric value that is not NaN.

Assertive Guards

All is.* functions have an assertType.* equivalent:

assertType.url(x) // throws TypeError if not a URL

Use guards for conditional logic. Use asserts when invalid input should immediately fail.

Runtime-Adaptive Behavior

NanoTypes dynamically inspects globalThis to expose constructor-based guards.

This means:

• Browser-only constructors (like HTMLElement) will not exist in Node.
• New runtime constructors may automatically become available.

If writing universal libraries, you can safely check:

if (typeof is.htmlElement === 'function' && is.htmlElement(node)) {
  // browser-only logic
}

When NOT to Use NanoTypes

NanoTypes may not be necessary if:

• You use strict TypeScript and never validate unknown runtime input.
• You only need one or two inline type checks.
• You are already using a schema validation library (e.g., Zod, Valibot, Yup).

NanoTypes is designed as a lightweight guard layer — not a schema system.

Philosophy

Make JavaScript safer without making it heavier.

NanoTypes avoids boilerplate and unnecessary runtime bloat. Just clean, modern type guards ready for anything from browser UIs to CLI tools.

Latest Changes

• Centralized DEV detection via env.js
• Reused safe core for all generated instanceof guards
• Ensured all guards return strict booleans
• Production freezing of is, assertType, and describe
• Hardened Intl constructor detection
• Excluded BigInt constructor to prevent primitive naming confusion
• Added primitive shorthand guards (str, num, bool, bigi, sym, undef)
• Improved smoke testing with negative cases and CI-friendly exit codes

License

DR.WATT v3.0