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README.md

@objectstack/client

The official TypeScript client for ObjectStack.

Features

  • Auto-Discovery: Connects to your ObjectStack server and automatically configures API endpoints.
  • Typed Metadata: Retrieve Object and View definitions with full type support.
  • Metadata Caching: ETag-based conditional requests for efficient metadata caching.
  • Unified Data Access: Simple CRUD operations for any object in your schema.
  • Batch Operations: Efficient bulk create/update/delete with transaction support.
  • View Storage: Save, load, and share custom UI view configurations.
  • Standardized Errors: Machine-readable error codes with retry guidance.
  • Full Protocol Coverage: Implements all 13 API namespaces defined in @objectstack/spec
  • 95+ Methods: Complete implementation of discovery, metadata, data, auth, workflow, realtime, AI, and more.

🤖 AI Development Context

Role: Browser/Node Client SDK Usage:

  • Use this in Frontend Apps (React, etc.) or external Node scripts.
  • Interacts with packages/runtime over HTTP.

Key namespaces:

  • client.meta: Metadata operations.
  • client.data: Data operations.

Installation

pnpm add @objectstack/client

Usage

import { ObjectStackClient } from '@objectstack/client';

// 1. Initialize
const client = new ObjectStackClient({
  baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3004', // Your ObjectStack Server URL
  token: 'optional-auth-token'
});

async function main() {
  // 2. Connect (Fetches system capabilities)
  await client.connect();

  // 3. Metadata Access
  const todoSchema = await client.meta.getObject('todo_task');
  console.log('Fields:', todoSchema.fields);
  
  // Save Metadata (New Feature)
  await client.meta.saveItem('object', 'my_custom_object', {
    label: 'My Object',
    fields: { name: { type: 'text' } }
  });

  // 4. Advanced Query
  const tasks = await client.data.find<{ subject: string; priority: number }>('todo_task', {
    select: ['subject', 'priority'], // Field Selection
    filters: ['priority', '>=', 2],  // ObjectStack Filter AST
    sort: ['-priority'],             // Sorting
    top: 10
  });
  
  // 5. Create Data
  const newTask = await client.data.create('todo_task', {
    subject: 'New Task',
    priority: 1
  });

  // 6. Batch Operations (New!)
  const batchResult = await client.data.batch('todo_task', {
    operation: 'update',
    records: [
      { id: '1', data: { status: 'active' } },
      { id: '2', data: { status: 'active' } }
    ],
    options: {
      atomic: true,        // Rollback on any failure
      returnRecords: true  // Include full records in response
    }
  });
  console.log(`Updated ${batchResult.succeeded} records`);

  // 7. Metadata Caching (New!)
  const cachedObject = await client.meta.getCached('todo_task', {
    ifNoneMatch: '"686897696a7c876b7e"'  // ETag from previous request
  });
  if (cachedObject.notModified) {
    console.log('Using cached metadata');
  }

  // 8. View Storage (New!)
  const view = await client.views.create({
    name: 'active_tasks',
    label: 'Active Tasks',
    object: 'todo_task',
    type: 'list',
    visibility: 'public',
    query: {
      object: 'todo_task',
      where: { status: 'active' },
      orderBy: [{ field: 'priority', order: 'desc' }],
      limit: 50
    },
    layout: {
      columns: [
        { field: 'subject', label: 'Task', width: 200 },
        { field: 'priority', label: 'Priority', width: 100 }
      ]
    }
  });
}

API Reference

client.connect()

Initializes the client by fetching the system discovery manifest from /api/v1.

client.meta

  • getObject(name: string): Get object schema.
  • getCached(name: string, options?): Get object schema with ETag-based caching.
  • getView(name: string): Get view configuration.

client.data

  • find<T>(object, options): Advanced query with filtering, sorting, selection.
  • get<T>(object, id): Get single record by ID.
  • query<T>(object, ast): Execute complex query using full AST.
  • create<T>(object, data): Create record.
  • batch(object, request): Recommended - Execute batch operations (create/update/upsert/delete) with full control.
  • createMany<T>(object, data[]): Batch create records (convenience method).
  • update<T>(object, id, data): Update record.
  • updateMany<T>(object, records[], options?): Batch update records (convenience method).
  • delete(object, id): Delete record.
  • deleteMany(object, ids[], options?): Batch delete records (convenience method).

client.views (New!)

  • create(request): Create a new saved view.
  • get(id): Get a saved view by ID.
  • list(request?): List saved views with optional filters.
  • update(request): Update an existing view.
  • delete(id): Delete a saved view.
  • share(id, userIds[]): Share a view with users/teams.
  • setDefault(id, object): Set a view as default for an object.

Query Options

The find method accepts an options object with canonical field names:

  • where: Filter conditions (WHERE clause). Accepts object or FilterCondition AST.
  • fields: Array of field names to retrieve (SELECT clause).
  • orderBy: Sort definition — 'name', ['-created_at', 'name'], or SortNode[].
  • limit: Maximum number of records to return (LIMIT).
  • offset: Number of records to skip (OFFSET).
  • expand: Relations to expand (JOIN / eager-load).

Deprecated aliases (accepted for backward compatibility): select → fields, filter/filters → where, sort → orderBy, top → limit, skip → offset.

Batch Options

Batch operations support the following options:

  • atomic: If true, rollback entire batch on any failure (default: true).
  • returnRecords: If true, return full record data in response (default: false).
  • continueOnError: If true (and atomic=false), continue processing remaining records after errors.
  • validateOnly: If true, validate records without persisting changes (dry-run mode).

Error Handling

The client provides standardized error handling with machine-readable error codes:

try {
  await client.data.create('todo_task', { subject: '' });
} catch (error) {
  console.error('Error code:', error.code);        // e.g., 'validation_error'
  console.error('Category:', error.category);      // e.g., 'validation'
  console.error('HTTP status:', error.httpStatus); // e.g., 400
  console.error('Retryable:', error.retryable);    // e.g., false
  console.error('Details:', error.details);        // Additional error info
}

Error Code Reference

Client Errors (4xx)

Error Code HTTP Status Retryable Description
validation_error 400 No Input validation failed. Check error.details for field-specific errors
unauthenticated 401 No Authentication required. Provide valid token
permission_denied 403 No Insufficient permissions for this operation
resource_not_found 404 No Resource does not exist. Verify object name or record ID
conflict 409 No Resource conflict (e.g., duplicate unique field)
rate_limit_exceeded 429 Yes Too many requests. Wait before retrying

Server Errors (5xx)

Error Code HTTP Status Retryable Description
internal_error 500 Yes Server encountered an error. Retry with backoff
service_unavailable 503 Yes Service temporarily unavailable. Retry later
gateway_timeout 504 Yes Request timeout. Consider increasing timeout or retrying

Retry Strategy Example:

async function retryableRequest<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, maxRetries = 3): Promise<T> {
  for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
    try {
      return await fn();
    } catch (error: any) {
      if (!error.retryable || i === maxRetries - 1) {
        throw error;
      }
      // Exponential backoff
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, Math.pow(2, i) * 1000));
    }
  }
  throw new Error('Max retries exceeded');
}

// Usage
const data = await retryableRequest(() => 
  client.data.create('todo_task', { subject: 'Task' })
);

Protocol Compliance

The @objectstack/client SDK implements all 13 API namespaces defined in the @objectstack/spec protocol specification:

Namespace Purpose Status
discovery API version & capabilities detection ✅
meta Metadata operations (objects, plugins, etc.) ✅
data CRUD & query operations ✅
auth Authentication & user management ✅
packages Plugin/package lifecycle management ✅
views UI view definitions ✅
workflow Workflow state transitions ✅
analytics Analytics queries ✅
automation Automation triggers ✅
i18n Internationalization ✅
notifications Push notifications ✅
realtime WebSocket subscriptions ✅
ai AI services (NLQ, chat, insights) ✅

For detailed compliance verification, see CLIENT_SPEC_COMPLIANCE.md.

Available Namespaces

Complete API Coverage

const client = new ObjectStackClient({ baseUrl: 'http://localhost:3000' });
await client.connect();

// Discovery & Metadata
await client.meta.getTypes();                    // List metadata types
await client.meta.getItems('object');            // List all objects
await client.meta.getItem('object', 'contact');  // Get specific object

// Data Operations
await client.data.find('contact', { filters: { status: 'active' } });
await client.data.create('contact', { name: 'John' });
await client.data.update('contact', id, { status: 'inactive' });
await client.data.delete('contact', id);
await client.data.batch('contact', batchRequest);

// Authentication
await client.auth.login({ email: 'user@example.com', password: 'pass' });
await client.auth.register({ email: 'new@example.com', password: 'pass' });
await client.auth.me();
await client.auth.logout();
await client.auth.refreshToken('refresh-token-string');

// Package Management
await client.packages.list();
await client.packages.install({
  name: 'vendor_plugin',
  label: 'Vendor Plugin',
  version: '1.0.0',
});
await client.packages.enable('plugin-id');

// Permissions
await client.permissions.check({ object: 'contact', action: 'create' });
await client.permissions.getObjectPermissions('contact');
await client.permissions.getEffectivePermissions();

// Workflow
await client.workflow.getConfig('approval');
await client.workflow.getState('approval', recordId);
await client.workflow.transition({ object: 'approval', recordId, transition: 'submit' });
await client.workflow.approve({ object: 'approval', recordId });
await client.workflow.reject({ object: 'approval', recordId, reason: 'Incomplete' });

// Realtime
await client.realtime.connect({ protocol: 'websocket' });
await client.realtime.subscribe({ channel: 'contact', event: 'update' });
await client.realtime.setPresence({ status: 'online' });

// Notifications
await client.notifications.registerDevice({ token: 'device-token', platform: 'ios' });
await client.notifications.list({ unreadOnly: true });
await client.notifications.markRead(['notif-1', 'notif-2']);

// AI Services
await client.ai.nlq({ query: 'Show me all active contacts' });
await client.ai.chat({ message: 'Summarize this project', context: projectId });
await client.ai.suggest({ object: 'contact', field: 'industry' });
await client.ai.insights({ object: 'sales', recordId: dealId });

// Internationalization
await client.i18n.getLocales();
await client.i18n.getTranslations('zh-CN');
await client.i18n.getFieldLabels('contact', 'zh-CN');

// Analytics
await client.analytics.query({ object: 'sales', aggregations: ['sum:amount'] });
await client.analytics.meta('sales');

// Automation
await client.automation.trigger('send_welcome_email', { userId });

// File Storage
await client.storage.upload(fileData, 'user');
await client.storage.getDownloadUrl('file-123');

Testing

Unit Tests

pnpm test

Integration Tests

Note: Integration tests require a running ObjectStack server. The server is provided by a separate repository and must be set up independently.

# Start test server (in the ObjectStack server repository)
# Follow that project's documentation for test server setup
# Example: cd /path/to/objectstack-server && pnpm dev:test

# Run integration tests (in this repository)
cd packages/client
pnpm test:integration

See CLIENT_SERVER_INTEGRATION_TESTS.md for detailed test specifications.