@synstack/text

String templating as it was meant to be

This is a strongly opinionated implementation of string templating. It's basically JSX for text and solves many quirks of string interpolation and formatting.

[!WARNING] This package is included in the @synstack/synscript package. It is not recommended to install both packages at the same time.

What is it for ?

Turns this:

import { t } from "@synstack/text";

const items = ["Hello", "World"];

const text: string = await t`
    Value: ${items.join(", ")}
    Promise: ${Promise.resolve(items.join(", "))}

    Callables:
      Callable: ${() => items.join(", ")}
      Callable Promise: ${() => Promise.resolve(items.join(", "))}

    List of items:
      ${() => Promise.resolve(items.map((item) => `- ${item}`))}
`;

Into this:

Value: Hello, World
Promise: Hello, World

Callables:
  Callable: Hello, World
  Callable Promise: Hello, World

List of items:
  - Hello
  - World

What's baked in ?

• Functions are called
• Promises even nested in arrays are resolved in parallel
• Array values are joined with a newline
• Text is trimmed
• Base indentation is removed
• Nested indentation is preserved for multi-line values
• Returned value is either a string or a promise of a string based on interpolated values

Installation

npm install @synstack/text
yarn add @synstack/text

Features

Text formatting

• t will automatically trim unecessary whitespaces and indentations. This allows your code to remain indented and readable while still being able to use the template.
• t will auto-join array values with a newline.
• t will propagate indentation to each line of the nested values.

const text: string = t`
              Hello
                ${"- Item 1\n- Item 2"}
              World
            `;

Will be transformed into:

Hello
  - Item 1
  - Item 2
World

Async support

• t automatically detects if the template is async or not and handles it accordingly.
• When t is async, it resolves all values in parralel with a Promise.all
• If you want to force serial execution, use an await expression.

const sync: string = t`Hello ${"World"}`;
const async: Promise<string> = t`Hello ${Promise.resolve("World")}`;

/*
Asuming retrieveUserName and retrieveUserEmail are async functions
Both queries will be resolved in parallel 
*/
const async: Promise<string> = t`Hello ${retrieveUserName()} ${retrieveUserEmail()}`;

Callable values

• You can use any function without argument as a template value.
• t will call the function and then handle it's sync or async state through the async support logic.

/*
Asuming retrieveUserName and retrieveUserEmail are async functions with no arguments
Both queries will be called and resolved in parallel 
*/
const async: Promise<string> = t`Hello ${retrieveUserName} ${retrieveUserEmail}`;

Arrays

• Array values are resolved in parrallel with Promise.all
• The resulting strings are joined with a newline
• The indentation is preserved for each line

const items = [Promise.resolve("Hello"), Promise.resolve("World")];

const text: Promise<string> = t`
  This is a list of items:
    ${items}
`;

console.log(await text);

Will output:

This is a list of items:
  Hello
  World

Extra objects

[!NOTE] This feature was built to seemlessly integrate inline content blocks in LLM messages. e.g. Adding images, tool responses, etc.

• t is able to handle non-string objects as values. As long as they have a type property.
  • The value will be JSON.stringifyed and added to the template.
  • The returned value will be string & { __extra: TExtraObject }
• The value can then be accessed through the tParse(resultingString) property.
• You can constrain the type of the extra object by using a type assertion from Text.String
• You can infer the value type of the extra object by using a type assertion from Text.ExtraObject.Infer

import { t, tParse, type Text } from "@pairprog/text";

// @ts-expect-error - The non-matching extra object will be rejected
const textFail: Text.String<{ type: "extra"; value: string }> =
  t`Hello ${{ type: "other-type" as const, value: "Hello" }} World`;

// string & { __extra: { type: "extra"; value: string } } is equivalent to Text.String<{ type: "extra"; value: string }>
const text: string & { __extra: { type: "extra"; value: string } } =
  t`Hello ${{ type: "extra" as const, value: "Hello" }} World`;

console.log(text);
// Hello %STR_EXTRA%{"type":"extra","value":"Hello"}%!STR_EXTRA% World

console.log(tParse(text));
// ["Hello ", { type: "extra", value: "Hello" }, " World"]