TypeScript and types support

TypeScript
Learn By Example
Code Completion In Vanilla JavaScript
API Type System Documentation

TypeScript

The Fastify framework is written in vanilla JavaScript, and as such type definitions are not as easy to maintain; however, since version 2 and beyond, maintainers and contributors have put in a great effort to improve the types.

The type system was changed in Fastify version 3. The new type system introduces generic constraining and defaulting, plus a new way to define schema types such as a request body, querystring, and more! As the team works on improving framework and type definition synergy, sometimes parts of the API will not be typed or may be typed incorrectly. We encourage you to contribute to help us fill in the gaps. Just make sure to read our CONTRIBUTING.md file before getting started to make sure things go smoothly!

The documentation in this section covers Fastify version 3.x typings

Plugins may or may not include typings. See Plugins for more information. We encourage users to send pull requests to improve typings support.

🚨 Don’t forget to install @types/node

Learn By Example

The best way to learn the Fastify type system is by example! The following four examples should cover the most common Fastify development cases. After the examples there is further, more detailed documentation for the type system.

Getting Started

This example will get you up and running with Fastify and TypeScript. It results in a blank http Fastify server.

Create a new npm project, install Fastify, and install typescript & node.js types as peer dependencies:
```
npm init -y
npm i fastify
npm i -D typescript @types/node
```

Add the following lines to the "scripts" section of the package.json:

{
 "scripts": {
   "build": "tsc -p tsconfig.json",
   "start": "node index.js"
 }
}

Initialize a TypeScript configuration file:
```
npx tsc --init
```
or use one of the recommended ones.
Create an index.ts file - this will contain the server code

Add the following code block to your file:

import fastify from 'fastify'
const server = fastify()
server.get('/ping', async (request, reply) => {
  return 'pong\n'
})
server.listen(8080, (err, address) => {
  if (err) {
    console.error(err)
    process.exit(1)
  }
  console.log(`Server listening at ${address}`)
})

Run npm run build - this will compile index.ts into index.js which can be executed using Node.js. If you run into any errors please open an issue in fastify/help
Run npm run start to run the Fastify server
You should see Server listening at http://127.0.0.1:8080 in your console
Try out your server using curl localhost:8080/ping, it should return pong 🏓

🎉 You now have a working Typescript Fastify server! This example demonstrates the simplicity of the version 3.x type system. By default, the type system assumes you are using an http server. The later examples will demonstrate how to create more complex servers such as https and http2, how to specify route schemas, and more!

For more examples on initializing Fastify with TypeScript (such as enabling HTTP2) check out the detailed API section here

Using Generics

The type system heavily relies on generic properties to provide the most accurate development experience. While some may find the overhead a bit cumbersome, the tradeoff is worth it! This example will dive into implementing generic types for route schemas and the dynamic properties located on the route-level request object.

If you did not complete the previous example, follow steps 1-4 to get set up.

Inside index.ts, define two interfaces IQuerystring and IHeaders:

interface IQuerystring {
  username: string;
  password: string;
}
interface IHeaders {
  'h-Custom': string;
}

Using the two interfaces, define a new API route and pass them as generics. The shorthand route methods (i.e. .get) accept a generic object RequestGenericInterface containing four named properties: Body, Querystring, Params, and Headers. The interfaces will be passed down through the route method into the route method handler request instance.
```
server.get<{
  Querystring: IQuerystring,
  Headers: IHeaders
}>('/auth', async (request, reply) => {
  const { username, password } = request.query
  const customerHeader = request.headers['h-Custom']
  // do something with request data
  return `logged in!`
})
```
Build and run the server code with npm run build and npm run start

Query the api

curl localhost:8080/auth?username=admin&password=Password123!

And it should return back logged in!

But wait theres more! The generic interfaces are also available inside route level hook methods. Modify the previous route by adding a preValidation hook:

server.get<{
  Querystring: IQuerystring,
  Headers: IHeaders
}>('/auth', {
  preValidation: (request, reply, done) => {
    const { username, password } = request.query
    done(username !== 'admin' ? new Error('Must be admin') : undefined) // only validate `admin` account
  }
}, async (request, reply) => {
  const customerHeader = request.headers['h-Custom']
  // do something with request data
  return `logged in!`
})

Build and run and query with the username query string option set to anything other than admin. The API should now return a HTTP 500 error {"statusCode":500,"error":"Internal Server Error","message":"Must be admin"}

🎉 Good work, now you can define interfaces for each route and have strictly typed request and reply instances. Other parts of the Fastify type system rely on generic properties. Make sure to reference the detailed type system documentation below to learn more about what is available.

JSON Schema

To validate your requests and responses you can use JSON Schema files. If you didn’t know already, defining schemas for your Fastify routes can increase their throughput! Check out the Validation and Serialization documentation for more info.

Also it has the advantage to use the defined type within your handlers (including pre-validation, etc.).

Here are some options how to achieve this.

typebox

A useful library for building types and a schema at once is typebox. With typebox you define your schema within your code and use them directly as types or schemas as you need them.

When you want to use it for validation of some payload in a fastify route you can do it as follows:

Install typebox in your project.
```
 npm i @sinclair/typebox
```

Define the schema you need with Type and create the respective type with Static.

 import { Static, Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'
 const User = Type.Object({
   name: Type.String(),
   mail: Type.Optional(Type.String({ format: "email" })),
 });
 type UserType = Static<typeof User>;

Use the defined type and schema during the definition of your route

 const app = fastify();
 app.post<{ Body: UserType; Response: UserType }>(
   "/",
   {
     schema: {
       body: User,
       response: {
         200: User,
       },
     },
   },
   (req, rep) => {
     const { body: user } = req;
     /* user has type
     * const user: StaticProperties<{
     *  name: TString;
     *  mail: TOptional<TString>;
     * }>
     */
     //...
     rep.status(200).send(user);
   }
 );

Schemas in JSON Files

In the last example we used interfaces to define the types for the request querystring and headers. Many users will already be using JSON Schemas to define these properties, and luckily there is a way to transform existing JSON Schemas into TypeScript interfaces!

If you did not complete the ‘Getting Started’ example, go back and follow steps 1-4 first.
Install the json-schema-to-typescript module:
```
npm i -D json-schema-to-typescript
```

Create a new folder called schemas and add two files headers.json and querystring.json. Copy and paste the following schema definitions into the respective files:

{
  "title": "Headers Schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "h-Custom": { "type": "string" }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "required": ["h-Custom"]
}

{
  "title": "Querystring Schema",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "username": { "type": "string" },
    "password": { "type": "string" }
  },
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "required": ["username", "password"]
}

Add a compile-schemas script to the package.json:

   {
     "scripts": {
       "compile-schemas": "json2ts -i schemas -o types"
     }
   }

json2ts is a CLI utility included in json-schema-to-typescript. schemas is the input path, and types is the output path. 5. Run npm run compile-schemas. Two new files should have been created in the types directory. 6. Update index.ts to have the following code:

   import fastify from 'fastify'
   // import json schemas as normal
   import QuerystringSchema from './schemas/querystring.json'
   import HeadersSchema from './schemas/headers.json'
   // import the generated interfaces
   import { QuerystringSchema as QuerystringSchemaInterface } from './types/querystring'
   import { HeadersSchema as HeadersSchemaInterface } from './types/headers'
   const server = fastify()
   server.get<{
     Querystring: QuerystringSchemaInterface,
     Headers: HeadersSchemaInterface
   }>('/auth', {
     schema: {
       querystring: QuerystringSchema,
       headers: HeadersSchema
     },
     preValidation: (request, reply, done) => {
       const { username, password } = request.query
       done(username !== 'admin' ? new Error('Must be admin') : undefined)
     }
   }, async (request, reply) => {
     const customerHeader = request.headers['h-Custom']
     // do something with request data
     return `logged in!`
   })
   server.route<{
     Querystring: QuerystringSchemaInterface,
     Headers: HeadersSchemaInterface
   }>({
     method: 'GET',
     url: '/auth2',
     schema: {
       querystring: QuerystringSchema,
       headers: HeadersSchema
     },
     preHandler: (request, reply) => {
       const { username, password } = request.query
       const customerHeader = request.headers['h-Custom']
     },
     handler: (request, reply) => {
       const { username, password } = request.query
       const customerHeader = request.headers['h-Custom']
     }
   })
   server.listen(8080, (err, address) => {
     if (err) {
       console.error(err)
       process.exit(0)
     }
     console.log(`Server listening at ${address}`)
   })

Pay special attention to the imports at the top of this file. It might seem redundant, but you need to import both the schema files and the generated interfaces.

Great work! Now you can make use of both JSON Schemas and TypeScript definitions.

json-schema-to-ts

If you do not want to generate types from your schemas, but want to use them diretly from your code, you can use the package json-schema-to-ts.

You can install it as dev-dependency.

npm install -D json-schema-to-ts

In your code you can define your schema like a normal object. But be aware of making it const like explained in the docs of the module.

const todo = {
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    name: { type: 'string' },
    description: { type: 'string' },
    done: { type: 'boolean' },
  },
  required: ['name'],
} as const;

With the provided type FromSchema you can build a type from your schema and use it in your handler.

fastify.post<{ Body: FromSchema<typeof todo> }>(
  '/todo',
  {
    schema: {
      body: todo,
      response: {
        201: {
          type: 'string',
        },
      },
    }
  },
  async (request, reply): Promise<void> => {
    /*
    request.body has type 
    {
      [x: string]: unknown;
      description?: string;
      done?: boolean;
      name: string;
    }
    */
    request.body.name // will not throw type error
    request.body.notthere // will throw type error
    reply.status(201).send();
  },
);

Plugins

One of Fastify’s most distinguishable features is its extensive plugin ecosystem. Plugin types are fully supported, and take advantage of the declaration merging pattern. This example is broken up into three parts: Creating a TypeScript Fastify Plugin, Creating Type Definitions for a Fastify Plugin, and Using a Fastify Plugin in a TypeScript Project.

Creating a TypeScript Fastify Plugin

Initialize a new npm project and install required dependencies

npm init -y
npm i fastify fastify-plugin
npm i -D typescript @types/node

Add a build script to the "scripts" section and 'index.d.ts' to the "types" section of the package.json file:
```
{
  "types": "index.d.ts",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsc -p tsconfig.json"
  }
}
```
Initialize a TypeScript configuration file:
```
npx typescript --init
```
Once the file is generated, enable the "declaration" option in the "compilerOptions" object.
```
{
  "compileOptions": {
    "declaration": true
  }
}
```
Create an index.ts file - this will contain the plugin code

Add the following code to index.ts

import { FastifyPluginCallback, FastifyPluginAsync } from 'fastify'
import fp from 'fastify-plugin'
// using declaration merging, add your plugin props to the appropriate fastify interfaces
declare module 'fastify' {
  interface FastifyRequest {
    myPluginProp: string
  }
  interface FastifyReply {
    myPluginProp: number
  }
}
// define options
export interface MyPluginOptions {
  myPluginOption: string
}
// define plugin using callbacks
const myPluginCallback: FastifyPluginCallback<MyPluginOptions> = (fastify, options, done) => {
  fastify.decorateRequest('myPluginProp', 'super_secret_value')
  fastify.decorateReply('myPluginProp', options.myPluginOption)
  done()
}
// define plugin using promises
const myPluginAsync: FastifyPluginAsync<MyPluginOptions> = async (fastify, options) => {
  fastify.decorateRequest('myPluginProp', 'super_secret_value')
  fastify.decorateReply('myPluginProp', options.myPluginOption)
}
// export plugin using fastify-plugin
export default fp(myPluginCallback, '3.x')
// or
// export default fp(myPluginAsync, '3.x')

Run npm run build to compile the plugin code and produce both a JavaScript source file and a type definition file.
With the plugin now complete you can [publish to npm] or use it locally.

You do not need to publish your plugin to npm to use it. You can include it in a Fastify project and reference it as you would any piece of code! As a TypeScript user, make sure the declaration override exists somewhere that will be included in your project compilation so the TypeScript interpreter can process it.

Creating Type Definitions for a Fastify Plugin

This plugin guide is for Fastify plugins written in JavaScript. The steps outlined in this example are for adding TypeScript support for users consuming your plugin.

Initialize a new npm project and install required dependencies
```
npm init -y
npm i fastify-plugin
```
Create two files index.js and index.d.ts
Modify the package json to include these files under the main and types properties (the name does not have to be index explicitly, but it is recommended the files have the same name):
```
{
  "main": "index.js",
  "types": "index.d.ts"
}
```

Open index.js and add the following code:

// fastify-plugin is highly recommended for any plugin you write
const fp = require('fastify-plugin')
function myPlugin (instance, options, done) {
  // decorate the fastify instance with a custom function called myPluginFunc
  instance.decorate('myPluginFunc', (input) => {
    return input.toUpperCase()
  })
  done()
}
module.exports = fp(myPlugin, {
  fastify: '3.x',
  name: 'my-plugin' // this is used by fastify-plugin to derive the property name
})

Open index.d.ts and add the following code:

import { FastifyPlugin } from 'fastify'
interface PluginOptions {
  //...
}
// Optionally, you can add any additional exports.
// Here we are exporting the decorator we added.
export interface myPluginFunc {
  (input: string): string
}
// Most importantly, use declaration merging to add the custom property to the Fastify type system
declare module 'fastify' {
  interface FastifyInstance {
    myPluginFunc: myPluginFunc
  }
}
// fastify-plugin automatically adds named export, so be sure to add also this type
// the variable name is derived from `options.name` property if `module.exports.myPlugin` is missing
export const myPlugin: FastifyPlugin<PluginOptions>
// fastify-plugin automatically adds `.default` property to the exported plugin. See the note below
export default myPlugin

Note: fastify-plugin v2.3.0 and newer, automatically adds .default property and a named export to the exported plugin. Be sure to export default and export const myPlugin in your typings to provide the best developer experience. For a complete example you can check out fastify-swagger.

With those files completed, the plugin is now ready to be consumed by any TypeScript project!

The Fastify plugin system enables developers to decorate the Fastify instance, and the request/reply instances. For more information check out this blog post on Declaration Merging and Generic Inheritance.

Using a Plugin

Using a Fastify plugin in TypeScript is just as easy as using one in JavaScript. Import the plugin with import/from and you’re all set — except there is one exception users should be aware of.

Fastify plugins use declaration merging to modify existing Fastify type interfaces (check out the previous two examples for more details). Declaration merging is not very smart, meaning if the plugin type definition for a plugin is within the scope of the TypeScript interpreter, then the plugin types will be included regardless of if the plugin is being used or not. This is an unfortunate limitation of using TypeScript and is unavoidable as of right now.

However, there are a couple of suggestions to help improve this experience:

Make sure the no-unused-vars rule is enabled in ESLint and any imported plugin are actually being loaded.
Use a module such as depcheck or npm-check to verify plugin dependencies are being used somewhere in your project.

Code Completion In Vanilla JavaScript

Vanilla JavaScript can use the published types to provide code completion (e.g. Intellisense) by following the TypeScript JSDoc Reference.

For example:

/**  @type {import('fastify').FastifyPluginAsync<{ optionA: boolean, optionB: string }>} */
module.exports = async function (fastify, { optionA, optionB }) {
  fastify.get('/look', () => 'at me');
}

API Type System Documentation

This section is a detailed account of all the types available to you in Fastify version 3.x

All http, https, and http2 types are inferred from @types/node

Generics are documented by their default value as well as their constraint value(s). Read these articles for more information on TypeScript generics.

How to import

The Fastify API is powered by the fastify() method. In JavaScript you would import it using const fastify = require('fastify'). In TypeScript it is recommended to use the import/from syntax instead so types can be resolved. There are a couple supported import methods with the Fastify type system.

import fastify from 'fastify'

Types are resolved but not accessible using dot notation

Example:

import fastify from 'fastify'
const f = fastify()
f.listen(8080, () => { console.log('running') })

Gain access to types with destructuring:

import fastify, { FastifyInstance } from 'fastify'
const f: FastifyInstance = fastify()
f.listen(8080, () => { console.log('running') })

Destructuring also works for the main API method:

import { fastify, FastifyInstance } from 'fastify'
const f: FastifyInstance = fastify()
f.listen(8080, () => { console.log('running') })

import * as Fastify from 'fastify'
- Types are resolved and accessible using dot notation
- Calling the main Fastify API method requires a slightly different syntax (see example)
- Example:
```
import * as Fastify from 'fastify'
const f: Fastify.FastifyInstance = Fastify.fastify()
f.listen(8080, () => { console.log('running') })
```

const fastify = require('fastify')

This syntax is valid and will import fastify as expected; however, types will not be resolved

Example:

const fastify = require('fastify')
const f = fastify()
f.listen(8080, () => { console.log('running') })

Destructuring is still supported, but will also not resolve types

const { fastify } = require('fastify')
const f = fastify()
f.listen(8080, () => { console.log('running') })

Generics

Many type definitions share the same generic parameters; they are all documented, in detail, within this section.

Most definitions depend on @node/types modules http, https, and http2

RawServer

Underlying Node.js server type

Default: http.Server

Constraints: http.Server, https.Server, http2.Http2Server, http2.Http2SecureServer

Enforces generic parameters: RawRequest, RawReply

RawRequest

Underlying Node.js request type

Default: RawRequestDefaultExpression

Constraints: http.IncomingMessage, http2.Http2ServerRequest

Enforced by: RawServer

RawReply

Underlying Node.js response type

Default: RawReplyDefaultExpression

Constraints: http.ServerResponse, http2.Http2ServerResponse

Enforced by: RawServer

Logger

Fastify logging utility

Default: FastifyLoggerOptions

Enforced by: RawServer

RawBody

A generic parameter for the content-type-parser methods.

Constraints: string | Buffer

TypeScript

Learn By Example

Getting Started

Using Generics

JSON Schema

typebox

Schemas in JSON Files

json-schema-to-ts

Plugins

Creating a TypeScript Fastify Plugin

Creating Type Definitions for a Fastify Plugin

Using a Plugin

Code Completion In Vanilla JavaScript

API Type System Documentation

How to import

Generics

RawServer

RawRequest

RawReply

Logger

RawBody

Fastify

fastify<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, Logger>(opts?: FastifyServerOptions): FastifyInstance

Example 1: Standard HTTP server

Example 2: HTTPS sever

Example 3: HTTP2 server

Example 4: Extended HTTP server

Example 5: Specifying logger types

fastify.HTTPMethods

fastify.RawServerBase

fastify.RawServerDefault

fastify.FastifyServerOptions<RawServer, Logger>

fastify.FastifyInstance<RawServer, RawRequest, RequestGeneric, Logger>

Request

fastify.FastifyRequest<RequestGeneric, RawServer, RawRequest>

Example

fastify.RequestGenericInterface

fastify.RawRequestDefaultExpression<RawServer>

Reply

fastify.FastifyReply<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>

Example

fastify.RawReplyDefaultExpression<RawServer>

Plugin

fastify.FastifyPluginCallback<Options>

fastify.FastifyPluginAsync<Options>

fastify.FastifyPlugin<Options>

fastify.FastifyPluginOptions

Register

fastify.FastifyRegister(plugin: FastifyPluginCallback, opts: FastifyRegisterOptions)

fastify.FastifyRegister(plugin: FastifyPluginAsync, opts: FastifyRegisterOptions)

fastify.FastifyRegister(plugin: FastifyPlugin, opts: FastifyRegisterOptions)

fastify.FastifyRegisterOptions

Logger

fastify.FastifyLoggerOptions<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply>

fastify.FastifyLogFn

fastify.LogLevel

Context

fastify.FastifyContext

Routing

fastify.RouteHandlerMethod<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>

fastify.RouteOptions<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>

fastify.RouteShorthandMethod<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply>

fastify.RouteShorthandOptions<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>

fastify.RouteShorthandOptionsWithHandler<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>

Parsers

RawBody

fastify.FastifyBodyParser<RawBody, RawServer, RawRequest>

fastify.FastifyContentTypeParser<RawServer, RawRequest>

fastify.AddContentTypeParser<RawServer, RawRequest>

fastify.hasContentTypeParser

Errors

fastify.FastifyError

fastify.ValidationResult

Hooks

fastify.onRequestHookHandler<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>(request: FastifyRequest, reply: FastifyReply, done: (err?: FastifyError) => void): Promise<unknown> | void

fastify.preParsingHookHandler<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>(request: FastifyRequest, reply: FastifyReply, done: (err?: FastifyError) => void): Promise<unknown> | void

fastify.preValidationHookHandler<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>(request: FastifyRequest, reply: FastifyReply, done: (err?: FastifyError) => void): Promise<unknown> | void

fastify.preHandlerHookHandler<RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>(request: FastifyRequest, reply: FastifyReply, done: (err?: FastifyError) => void): Promise<unknown> | void

fastify.preSerializationHookHandler<PreSerializationPayload, RawServer, RawRequest, RawReply, RequestGeneric, ContextConfig>(request: FastifyRequest, reply: FastifyReply, payload: PreSerializationPayload, done: (err: FastifyError | null, res?: unknown) => void): Promise<unknown> | void