plist-next

Apple's property list parser/builder for Node.js — TypeScript with strict types and runtime validation.

Features

• TypeScript first — Full type safety with strict mode
• Runtime validation — Zod schemas at boundaries
• Comprehensive tests — 45 tests covering all edge cases
• ESM & CJS — Both module formats with TypeScript declarations
• Zero CLI dependencies — Lightweight library

XML String (plist format)
         ↓
      parse()
         ↓
   JavaScript Object

Installation

npm install plist-next

Usage

Parse

import { parse } from 'plist-next';

const xml = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>name</key>
    <string>John</string>
    <key>age</key>
    <integer>30</integer>
  </dict>
</plist>`;

const data = parse(xml);
console.log(data); // { name: 'John', age: 30 }

Build

import { build } from 'plist-next';

const data = {
  name: 'John',
  age: 30,
  active: true,
};

const xml = build(data);
console.log(xml);

JavaScript Object
         ↓
      build()
         ↓
   XML String (plist format)

API

parse(xml: string): PlistValue

Parses a plist XML string and returns the decoded value.

Throws if the XML is invalid or malformed.

build(obj: PlistValue, opts?: BuildOptions): string

Generates a plist XML string from a JavaScript value.

Options:

• pretty?: boolean — Pretty-print the output (default: true)

Types

export type PlistValue =
  | string
  | number
  | boolean
  | null
  | Buffer
  | Date
  | readonly PlistValue[]
  | PlistDict;

export interface PlistDict {
  readonly [key: string]: PlistValue;
}

export interface BuildOptions {
  readonly pretty?: boolean;
}

License

Apache-2.0 by Ahmad Awais built with Command Code. Inspired by the plist.js, albeit completely rewritten with TypeScript, Zod validation, and comprehensive tests.