Adding `specta` library as a dependency

Run this command in a terminal, in your project's directory:

cargo add specta

To add it manually, edit your project's Cargo.toml file and add to the [dependencies] section:

specta = "2.0.0-rc.22"

The specta library will be automatically available globally. Read the specta library documentation.

Back to the crate overview.

Readme

Specta

Easily export your Rust types to other languages

Features

Export structs and enums to multiple languages
Get function types to use in libraries like tauri-specta
Supports wide range of common crates in Rust ecosystem
Supports type inference - can determine type of fn demo() -> impl Type

Language Support

Language	Status	Exporter	Features
TypeScript	✅ Stable	`specta-typescript`	Full type support, generics, unions
Swift	✅ Stable	`specta-swift`	Idiomatic Swift, custom Codable, Duration support
Rust	🚧 Partial	`specta-rust`	Basic types work, structs/enums in progress
OpenAPI	🚧 Partial	`specta-openapi`	Primitives work, complex types in progress
Go	🚧 Planned	`specta-go`	Go structs and interfaces
Kotlin	🚧 Planned	`specta-kotlin`	Kotlin data classes and sealed classes
JSON Schema	🚧 Planned	`specta-jsonschema`	JSON Schema generation
Zod	🚧 Planned	`specta-zod`	Zod schema validation
Python	🚧 Planned	`specta-python`	Python dataclasses and type hints
C#	🚧 Planned	`specta-csharp`	C# classes and enums
Java	🚧 Planned	`specta-java`	Java POJOs and enums

Legend

✅ Stable: Production-ready with comprehensive test coverage
🚧 Partial: Basic functionality implemented, complex types in progress
🚧 Planned: In development or planned for future release

Implementation Status

The Specta ecosystem is actively developed with varying levels of completeness:

Production Ready (2): TypeScript and Swift exporters are fully functional with comprehensive test coverage
Partially Implemented (2): Rust and OpenAPI exporters have basic functionality working, with complex types in progress
Planned (7): Go, Kotlin, JSON Schema, Zod, Python, C#, and Java exporters are in development

For the most up-to-date status of each exporter, check the individual crate documentation and issue trackers.

Ecosystem

Specta can be used in your application either directly or through a library which simplifies the process of using it.

rspc - Easily building end-to-end typesafe APIs
tauri-specta - Typesafe Tauri commands and events
TauRPC - Tauri extension to give you a fully-typed IPC layer.

Usage

Add the specta crate along with any Specta language exporter crate:

# Core Specta library
cargo add specta

# Language exporters (choose one or more)
cargo add specta_typescript  # TypeScript (stable)
cargo add specta_swift       # Swift (stable)
cargo add specta_rust        # Rust (partial - basic types)
cargo add specta_openapi     # OpenAPI/Swagger (partial - primitives)
# cargo add specta_go          # Go (planned)
# cargo add specta_kotlin      # Kotlin (planned)
# cargo add specta_jsonschema  # JSON Schema (planned)
# cargo add specta_zod         # Zod schemas (planned)

Then you can use Specta like following:

TypeScript Example

use specta::{Type, TypeCollection};
use specta_typescript::Typescript;

#[derive(Type)]
pub struct TypeOne {
    pub a: String,
    pub b: GenericType<i32>,
    #[serde(rename = "cccccc")]
    pub c: MyEnum,
}

#[derive(Type)]
pub struct GenericType<A> {
    pub my_field: String,
    pub generic: A,
}

#[derive(Type)]
pub enum MyEnum {
    A,
    B,
    C,
}

fn main() {
    let types = TypeCollection::default()
        // You don't need to specify `GenericType` or `MyEnum` because they are referenced by `TypeOne`
        .register::<TypeOne>();

    Typescript::default()
        .export_to("./bindings.ts", &types)
        .unwrap();

    // if you need more control over file saving
    assert_eq!(
        Typescript::default().export(&types).unwrap(),
        r#"// This file has been generated by Specta. DO NOT EDIT.

export type GenericType<A> = { my_field: string; generic: A };

export type MyEnum = "A" | "B" | "C";

export type TypeOne = { a: string; b: GenericType<number>; cccccc: MyEnum };

"#
    );
}

Multi-Language Export Example

You can export the same types to multiple languages:

use specta::{Type, TypeCollection};
use specta_typescript::Typescript;
use specta_swift::Swift;

#[derive(Type)]
pub struct User {
    pub id: u32,
    pub name: String,
    pub email: Option<String>,
}

fn main() {
    let types = TypeCollection::default()
        .register::<User>();

    // Export to TypeScript (stable)
    Typescript::default()
        .export_to("./types.ts", &types)
        .unwrap();

    // Export to Swift (stable)
    Swift::default()
        .export_to("./Types.swift", &types)
        .unwrap();

    // Note: Other exporters are in development
}

A common use case is to export all types for which specta::Type is derived into a single file:

//! NOTE: This example requires the `export` feature on the `specta` crate
use specta::Type;
use specta_typescript::Typescript;

#[derive(Type)]
pub enum MyEither<L, R> {
    Left(L),
    Right(R),
}

#[derive(Type)]
pub struct GenericType<A> {
    pub my_field: String,
    pub generic: A,
}

#[derive(Type)]
pub enum MyEnum {
    A,
    B,
    C,
}

#[derive(Type)]
#[specta(collect = false)]
pub struct DontExportMe {
    field: String,
}

fn main() {
    Typescript::default()
        .export_to("./bindings.ts", &specta::export())
        .unwrap();
}

Check out the docs for more information.

Motivation

This library was originally created to power the type exporting functionality of rspc, but after building it we realized that it could be useful for other projects as well so we decided to move it into a dedicated library.

A huge thanks to Brendonovich for doing a heap of early development on this library.

Adding specta library as a dependency

Adding `specta` library as a dependency