typebox-fastify

name	TypeBox + Fastify
description	TypeBox schemas with Fastify routes for type-safe API development. Native JSON Schema, automatic OpenAPI generation. Use when: building Fastify REST APIs with schema validation and OpenAPI generation.

Skill: fastify

Scope

• Applies to: Fastify v5+ with TypeBox schemas, type-safe route definitions, automatic OpenAPI generation, plugins, hooks, testing
• Does NOT cover: Database integration (see drizzle-orm)

Assumptions

• Fastify v5+
• @fastify/type-provider-typebox for TypeBox type provider
• @sinclair/typebox for schema definitions
• TypeScript v5+ with strict mode

Principles

• Use TypeBox schemas for route validation (params, query, body, response)
• Use TypeBoxTypeProvider for automatic type inference from schemas
• Define response schemas for all status codes
• Use OpenAPI generation from schemas (via @fastify/swagger)
• Request types (request.params, request.query, request.body) are inferred from schemas
• Response validation happens automatically based on schema

Constraints

MUST

• Use TypeBoxTypeProvider for type safety: fastify.withTypeProvider<TypeBoxTypeProvider>()
• Define response schemas for all status codes
• Use TypeBox Type.* constructors for schema definitions

SHOULD

• Use operationId in route schemas for OpenAPI generation
• Use tags for route organization in OpenAPI docs
• Define error response schemas for error cases

AVOID

• Manual type assertions (types inferred from schemas)
• Skipping response schema definitions
• Mixing TypeBox with other schema libraries in same route

Interactions

• Complements drizzle-orm for database integration
• Generates OpenAPI specs compatible with openapi-ts codegen

Patterns

Route Schema Pattern

import { Type } from '@sinclair/typebox'
import type { FastifyPluginAsync } from 'fastify'

const UserSchema = Type.Object({
  id: Type.String(),
  email: Type.String({ format: 'email' }),
  name: Type.String(),
})

const userRoutes: FastifyPluginAsync = async fastify => {
  fastify.get('/users/:id', {
    schema: {
      operationId: 'getUser',
      params: Type.Object({ id: Type.String() }),
      response: {
        200: UserSchema,
        404: Type.Object({ code: Type.String(), message: Type.String() }),
      },
    },
  }, async (request, reply) => {
    // request.params.id is typed
    const { id } = request.params
    return reply.send(user)
  })
}

Schema Types

Type.String()
Type.Number()
Type.Boolean()
Type.Object({ id: Type.String() })
Type.Array(Type.String())
Type.Optional(Type.String())
Type.Union([Type.String(), Type.Number()])

See Route Schema Template for complete example.

Instance Configuration

Configure Fastify instance with TypeBox type provider, logger, and request settings:

import type { TypeBoxTypeProvider } from '@fastify/type-provider-typebox'
import Fastify from 'fastify'

const fastify = Fastify({
  logger: {
    level: 'info',
    transport: process.env.NODE_ENV === 'development' ? {
      target: 'pino-pretty',
    } : undefined,
  },
  trustProxy: true,
  bodyLimit: 1048576, // 1MB
  requestTimeout: 30000,
  requestIdHeader: 'x-request-id',
  requestIdLogLabel: 'reqId',
}).withTypeProvider<TypeBoxTypeProvider>()

See Instance Configuration for complete setup.

Plugin Development

Create reusable plugins with fastify-plugin for non-encapsulated behavior:

import type { FastifyPluginAsync } from 'fastify'
import fp from 'fastify-plugin'

const myPlugin: FastifyPluginAsync = async fastify => {
  // Plugin logic
}

export default fp(myPlugin, {
  name: 'my-plugin',
})

See Plugin Patterns and Plugin Template for examples.

Hooks (Request Lifecycle)

Use hooks to intercept requests, modify responses, or handle errors:

fastify.addHook('onRequest', async (request, reply) => {
  // Add security headers, logging, etc.
})

fastify.addHook('onResponse', async (request, reply) => {
  // Modify response, add headers, etc.
})

fastify.addHook('onError', async (request, reply, error) => {
  // Handle errors
})

See Hooks Guide and Hook Plugin Template for patterns.

Testing with inject()

Test routes using Fastify's inject() method for blackbox testing:

const response = await fastify.inject({
  method: 'GET',
  url: '/users/123',
})

expect(response.statusCode).toBe(200)
const data = JSON.parse(response.body)

See Testing Patterns and Test Utils Template for setup.

Streaming Responses

Handle streaming responses (e.g., Server-Sent Events, text streams):

fastify.post('/stream', {
  schema: {
    response: {
      200: Type.String({ description: 'Streaming response' }),
    },
  },
}, async (request, reply) => {
  reply.header('Content-Type', 'text/event-stream')
  reply.header('Cache-Control', 'no-cache')
  return reply.send(stream)
})

Common Plugins

Rate Limiting

import rateLimit from '@fastify/rate-limit'

await fastify.register(rateLimit, {
  max: 100,
  timeWindow: 60000,
  keyGenerator: request => request.ip,
})

CORS

import cors from '@fastify/cors'

await fastify.register(cors, {
  origin: (origin, callback) => {
    // Validate origin
    callback(null, true)
  },
  credentials: false,
})

Error Handler

fastify.setErrorHandler((error, request, reply) => {
  // Global error handling
  reply.status(error.statusCode ?? 500).send({
    code: 'ERROR',
    message: error.message,
  })
})

Graceful Shutdown

Handle process signals for graceful shutdown:

const shutdown = async (signal: string) => {
  fastify.log.info({ signal }, 'Shutting down')
  await fastify.close()
  process.exit(0)
}

process.on('SIGTERM', () => shutdown('SIGTERM'))
process.on('SIGINT', () => shutdown('SIGINT'))

AutoLoad Pattern

Use @fastify/autoload for automatic plugin/route discovery:

import AutoLoad from '@fastify/autoload'

await fastify.register(AutoLoad, {
  dir: path.join(__dirname, 'plugins'),
  forceESM: true,
})

References

• OpenAPI Integration - OpenAPI generation patterns
• Plugin Patterns - Plugin development with fastify-plugin
• Hooks Guide - Request lifecycle hooks
• Testing Patterns - Testing with inject()
• Instance Configuration - Fastify instance setup