node-dextrin

A Node.js port of dextrin, an Elixir implementation of DXN (Data eXchange Notation): a human-writable text format (.dxn), a compact binary format (.dxnb) built on CBOR, and a schema format (.dxns) — all three sharing one in-memory value representation and one extension mechanism. A sibling of php-dextrin, the PHP port of the same library.

Status: feature-complete port, published to npm. The value model, the .dxn text codec, the .dxnb binary codec, the .dxns schema system, the dextrin CLI, and the guides are all implemented. See CHANGELOG.md for exactly what's landed.

Why a port, and why this value model

DXN's premise (see the Elixir project's own README for the full case) is that a .dxn text document and a .dxnb binary document are the same value space — scalar, collection, temporal, and extended types precise enough for money, exact ratios, and arbitrary-precision integers, with a schema-describable extension story. DXN.md (ported here once the text/binary codecs land) is the implementation-independent, normative spec; this library only needs to satisfy it.

Where this library differs from the Elixir original, it's by design, documented at the point of difference:

• Every DXN type decodes to a native JS value where one exists losslessly (null, boolean, string, number for float, a native Map/Set/Array, ...) and to a small DXN* wrapper class only where nothing native fits without losing information — mirroring the same design principle dextrin's own Dextrin.Value follows, not necessarily the same type-by-type choice (see src/values/ for each class's own rationale).
• integer is always BigInt, never number — JS number can't hold arbitrary precision the way Elixir's native integer does, so this is the one place fidelity requires a deviation from "closest native type."
• float needs no wrapper at all, unlike Elixir (which resorts to atoms for NaN/Infinity/-Infinity because the BEAM can't construct a non-finite float term) — JS number natively holds all of IEEE-754, so this is a case where the native JS type is a better fit than Elixir's own.
• Any wrapper class with a close-but-imperfect native JS counterpart ships two-way conversion helpers (toX() / DXN*.fromX()) rather than forcing you through the wrapper alone — e.g. DXNRational. fromNumber() (exact — every finite JS number is a binary fraction), DXNOrderedMap.toMap()/.fromMap(), DXNRegex.toRegExp() (guarded — only when no DXN-only flag is set).

Value model

Every DXN type maps to either a native JS value or a small DXN* wrapper class under src/values/. Full mapping table, including the rationale for each wrapper-vs-native choice, lives in this project's development plan for now and will move here as the port progresses.

const { DXNRational, DXNUUID } = require('dextrin');

const r = new DXNRational(22n, 7n);
r.toNumber(); // => 3.142857142857143

DXNRational.fromNumber(0.5); // => DXNRational { numerator: 1n, denominator: 2n }

const id = DXNUUID.fromString('550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000');
id.toString(); // => '550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000'
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.dxn text

const { decode, encode } = require('dextrin');

const value = decode('%{x: 1, y: 2}');
// => Map(2) { Symbol(x) => 1n, Symbol(y) => 2n }

encode(value);
// => '%{x:1,y:2}'

encode(value, { pretty: true });
// => '%{\n  x: 1\n  y: 2\n}'
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keyword (:name) decodes as a real, global Symbol.for(name) by default (trusted: true) — the closest native analog to a BEAM atom. Pass trusted: false for any source you don't fully control; it then decodes as DXNKeyword instead, the same way Dextrin.Keyword exists on the Elixir side. decode/encode throw DXNError on failure — see src/error.cjs for why that's a deliberate divergence from Dextrin's own {:ok, _} | {:error, _} tuples (an API-shape choice, not a value-representation one).

With no registry: option, every struct decodes as an opaque DXNStruct, and every tag name other than the built-ins (@uuid, @duration, @ordered, ...) decodes as DXNCustomTag — see .dxns schemas below for schema-backed decoding.

.dxnb binary

const { decode, decodeBinary, encodeBinary } = require('dextrin');

const value = decode('%{x: 1, y: 2}');
const bin = encodeBinary(value); // => Buffer, "DX" + version + CBOR
decodeBinary(bin); // => the same value back
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Hand-rolled CBOR over Buffer (not built on a generic CBOR library — bignum precision, timestamp integer-only encoding, and the private tag block aren't things a generic library gets right by default; see src/binary/encoder.cjs's own doc). decodeBinary accepts documents using the spec's value-sharing extensions (DXN.md §2.4/§2.5) even though encodeBinary doesn't produce them yet — accepting is spec-mandatory, producing is optional, and that asymmetry is deliberate for now.

.dxns schemas

const { decode, encode, Schema, Registry } = require('dextrin');

const schemaDoc = decode(`
  %{
    Point: %schema{
      fields: @ordered %{ x: :float, y: :float }
    }
  }
`);
const registry = Schema.compile(schemaDoc, new Registry());

decode('%Point{x: 1.0, y: 2.0}', { registry });
// => { x: 1, y: 2 } -- schema-validated, decode-time enforcement

encode({ x: 1.0, y: 2.0 }, { registry, schema: 'Point' });
// => '%Point{x:1.0,y:2.0}'
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A struct/tag with no matching registry entry still falls back to an opaque DXNStruct/DXNCustomTag — a registry only ever adds capability, never turns an otherwise-valid document into an error.

encode/encodeBinary automatically validate every registered struct anywhere in a value by default (validate: false to skip), and a schema: option additionally validates — and, for a nameless plain value, names — the top-level value itself against one named schema.

Schema-driven coercion on encode (coerce:, default true, no Elixir dextrin equivalent) lets a field whose value doesn't already match its declared type be coerced toward it first, reusing the same DXN*.fromX() conversion helpers documented above — a plain number becomes a DXNRational for a :rational field, a native Date becomes a DXNDate for a :date field, and so on, recursively through list-of/set-of/tuple-of/nilable/one-of too. Pass coerce: false for strict validation with no silent conversion (see src/schema/coercion.cjs).

encode({ x: 1, y: 2 }, { registry, schema: 'Point' });
// x/y are plain numbers already matching :float -- no coercion needed here,
// but a :rational/:decimal/:uuid/:date/... field would accept the
// closest native JS shape the same way.
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Also included, each mirroring its Dextrin.Schema.* counterpart: Schema.registerProvider (let a class's own library ship its schema without depending on dextrin, see src/schema/provider.cjs), Std.registry()'s standard library of common named types (PositiveInteger, NonEmptyString, ...), and FileResolver.forPaths([...])'s Namespace/Name → .dxns-file resolver for Registry#putResolver:

const { decode, Schema, Registry, Std, FileResolver } = require('dextrin');

const withStd = Std.registry(); // PositiveInteger, NonEmptyString, ...
const registry = Schema.compile(decode('%{ Age: PositiveInteger }'), withStd);

const fileBackedRegistry = new Registry().putResolver(FileResolver.forPaths(['./schemas']));
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CLI

npx dextrin decode data.dxnb                                       # -> pretty-printed .dxn text
npx dextrin encode data.dxn --out data.dxnb                         # -> .dxnb binary
npx dextrin format data.dxn --mode pretty|condense [--in-place]
npx dextrin validate data.dxn [--schema schema.dxns --as Name]
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Guides

• Tutorial — a walkthrough of the JS API, every snippet verified to actually run.
• Examples — worked scenarios (config files, schema-backed API payloads, cross-file schemas, third-party schema providers, ...).
• Cheatsheet — quick API/type/CLI lookups.
• DXN reference — the full, implementation -independent format specification, plus its own tutorial, examples, and cheatsheet for the format itself.

Installation

npm install dextrin
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Other language implementations

DXN's format spec (dxn/DXN.md, ported from the Elixir project's own guides/dxn/DXN.md) is implementation-independent — this library, dextrin (Elixir), and php-dextrin all satisfy the same document, and stay close to dextrin's own in-memory shape-per-type choices wherever their host language allows.

Language	Package	Source
Elixir	dextrin on Hex.pm	joetjen/dextrin
Node.js (this project)	dextrin on npm	joetjen/node-dextrin
PHP	joetjen/dextrin on Packagist	joetjen/php-dextrin

Development

npm install
npm run precommit
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npm run precommit runs tsc --checkJs --noEmit (type-checking the JSDoc annotations) followed by the full Mocha test suite — the check this project expects to pass before every commit.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to propose changes, and CHANGELOG.md for release history.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.