JS/TS Patterns

Tooling opinions, type-level decisions, and non-obvious patterns. Opus knows the basics -- this covers what to choose and when.

Style Guide

Source: Google JS + TS Style Guides. Only rules linters/formatters cannot enforce.

Naming

• •Treat abbreviations as whole words: loadHttpUrl not loadHTTPURL
• •Single-letter names only within ≤10-line scope
• •Never abbreviate by deleting letters: customerId not cstmrId
• •Descriptive over terse: errorCount not errCnt
• •Boolean names: isVisible, hasPermission, canEdit
• •Event handlers: onEventName pattern (onClick, onSubmit)
• •Test methods: testX_whenY_doesZ for structured names
• •CONSTANT_CASE only for deeply immutable module-level values, not local const

Practices

• •Named exports only — no default exports
• •Prefer interface over type for object shapes
• •Avoid type assertions (as); use runtime checks
• •Catch errors as unknown, assert Error type
• •== null is the one acceptable == (catches null + undefined)
• •Function declarations at module level, arrow functions for callbacks
• •No getters/setters unless framework-required
• •Modules for namespacing, not static-only container classes

Tooling Defaults

Project Types

TypeScript Config Opinions

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2022",
    "module": "ESNext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "strict": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true,
    "paths": { "@/*": ["./src/*"] }
  }
}

• •Always strict: true -- no exceptions
• •moduleResolution: "bundler" for apps (Vite/Next), "node16" for libraries
• •skipLibCheck: true -- speeds up compilation, rarely hides real bugs
• •"type": "module" in package.json for all new projects

Advanced Type Patterns

When to Reach for Advanced Types

Discriminated Unions (most underused pattern)

type Result<T> =
  | { status: 'success'; data: T }
  | { status: 'error'; error: string }
  | { status: 'loading' };

// Compiler enforces all cases
function handle<T>(r: Result<T>) {
  switch (r.status) {
    case 'success': return r.data;
    case 'error': throw new Error(r.error);
    case 'loading': return null;
  }
}

Key Remapping

type Getters<T> = {
  [K in keyof T as `get${Capitalize<string & K>}`]: () => T[K]
};

type PickByType<T, U> = {
  [K in keyof T as T[K] extends U ? K : never]: T[K]
};

infer Patterns

type ElementOf<T> = T extends (infer U)[] ? U : never;
type Awaited<T> = T extends Promise<infer U> ? Awaited<U> : T;
type ReturnOf<T> = T extends (...args: any[]) => infer R ? R : never;

Branded Types (nominal typing)

type UserId = string & { __brand: 'UserId' };
type OrderId = string & { __brand: 'OrderId' };

function getUser(id: UserId) { /* ... */ }
// getUser("abc")          -- compile error
// getUser("abc" as UserId) -- ok

Type Testing

type AssertEqual<T, U> = [T] extends [U] ? [U] extends [T] ? true : false : false;
type _test1 = AssertEqual<string, string>;  // true
type _test2 = AssertEqual<string, number>;  // false

Runtime Patterns

Library package.json

{
  "type": "module",
  "main": "./dist/index.js",
  "types": "./dist/index.d.ts",
  "exports": {
    ".": { "import": "./dist/index.js", "types": "./dist/index.d.ts" }
  },
  "files": ["dist"],
  "scripts": {
    "build": "tsup src/index.ts --format esm --dts",
    "prepublishOnly": "pnpm build"
  }
}

Type Guards (prefer over assertions)

function isString(v: unknown): v is string { return typeof v === 'string'; }

// Assertion function (narrows in-place)
function assertDefined<T>(v: T | undefined): asserts v is T {
  if (v === undefined) throw new Error('undefined');
}

Framework Decisions

Express vs Fastify

Zod vs Joi vs class-validator

type vs interface

Rule: start with interface, switch to type when you need union/conditional.

Gotchas

• •any defeats the type system -- use unknown and narrow
• •Avoid enum -- use as const objects or union types (better tree-shaking)
• •satisfies preserves literal types while checking: const x = { a: 1 } satisfies Record<string, number>
• •interface extends > type & -- intersections can produce never silently
• •Deeply nested conditional types slow tsc -- flatten when possible
• •Circular type references crash tsc -- break cycles with intermediate types
• •as const to preserve literal types in arrays/objects