trpc

name	trpc
description	Conventions for writing tRPC routers and procedures in PrairieLearn.

Quick reference

• Adding a procedure to an existing feature? Find the subrouter file in the appropriate scope directory, add the procedure. No other files need changes.
• Adding a new subrouter to an existing scope? Create a new file in the scope directory, export a router, register it in that scope's trpc.ts.
• Adding a new scope? Copy an existing scope directory (e.g. trpc/assessment/), adjust the ResLocalsForPage type, context fields, URL helper in lib/client/url.ts, and mount path in server.ts.
• Wiring up client-side React? Follow the pattern in any page that already uses tRPC (e.g. pages/instructorInstanceAdminSettings/). Key pieces: generatePrefixCsrfToken from @prairielearn/signed-token server-side, scope's client.ts + context.ts + QueryClientProviderDebug client-side.
• Returning typed errors? See Typed errors.

Authorization scopes

tRPC routers are mounted per authorization scope, not per page. Each scope has its own directory under apps/prairielearn/src/trpc/ and is mounted behind the corresponding Express authorization middleware chain.

Scope	Directory	Mount path	ResLocalsForPage type
administrator	trpc/administrator/	/pl/administrator/trpc	'plain'
course	(create when needed)	/pl/course/:course_id/trpc	'course'
course instance	trpc/courseInstance/	/pl/course_instance/:id/instructor/trpc	'course-instance'
assessment	trpc/assessment/	.../assessment/:assessment_id/trpc	'assessment'
assessment question	trpc/assessmentQuestion/	.../assessment/:aid/assessment_question/:aqid/trpc	'instructor-assessment-question'
assessment instance	(create when needed)	.../assessment_instance/:ai_id/trpc	'assessment-instance'
instance question	(create when needed)	.../instance_question/:iq_id/trpc	'instance-question'

Do not create per-page tRPC routers.

File structure

Every scope directory contains: init.ts, trpc.ts, client.ts, context.ts, plus one *.ts file per subrouter and optional *.sql files for scope-specific queries. All routers use superjson as the transformer in both init.ts and client.ts.

See any existing scope (e.g. trpc/assessment/) for the exact boilerplate. The files follow a mechanical pattern — init.ts creates the tRPC instance and authorization middleware, trpc.ts composes subrouters and exports Express middleware via createExpressMiddleware, client.ts creates the HTTP client with CSRF headers, context.ts exports TRPCProvider/useTRPC via createTRPCContext.

Conventions

Naming

• Procedure names describe the action: list, upsert, destroy — not listWidgets or deleteMutation.
• Variable names may use a Mutation/Procedure suffix (e.g. const setModeMutation = t.procedure...), but the router key must not: setMode: setModeMutation.
• Subrouter exports: {feature}Router (e.g. widgetsRouter). Router keys: camelCase (widgets).

Authorization

• Permission middleware (requireCourseInstancePermissionView, etc.) is defined in init.ts and chained with .use().
• Feature flag middleware (checking features.enabled(...)) goes in the subrouter file, not init.ts. See trpc/assessment/access-control.ts for an example.
• Each scope's createContext includes the full locals object alongside extracted fields as an escape hatch.

Returning data

• Use role-scoped schemas from lib/client/safe-db-types.ts (e.g. StaffStudentLabelSchema). Always .parse() records through the schema before returning.
• Use existing model functions from models/ instead of one-off SQL.

Client-side queries and mutations

• Use trpc.subrouter.procedure.queryOptions() with useQuery() for queries. Do not manually construct { queryKey, queryFn } objects — the generated queryOptions() provides type-safe keys and avoids stale cache issues.
• Use trpc.subrouter.procedure.mutationOptions() with useMutation() for mutations.
• Access the trpc proxy via the scope's useTRPC() hook from context.ts.

Client-side CSRF flow

The CSRF token is generated server-side with generatePrefixCsrfToken using the scope's URL helper from lib/client/url.ts, passed as a prop to the hydrated component, and sent by the tRPC client as an X-CSRF-Token header. The Express CSRF middleware validates it before the request reaches the tRPC router.

Errors

• Default to plain TRPCError. Use throwAppError only when the client needs extra fields beyond message (e.g. jobSequenceId to link to logs) or must branch on the code. A code that the client just renders as message is indistinguishable from UNKNOWN — don't add it.
• Every subrouter exports an error interface enumerating each procedure, with never for procedures that have no typed errors:

  export interface AssessmentGroupsError {
    AddGroup: never;
    EnableGroupWork: { code: 'SYNC_JOB_FAILED'; jobSequenceId: string };
  }
  

  Don't use Record<string, never> or empty interface XError {}.
• message: string is added automatically by throwAppError and getAppError — only declare procedure-specific fields.
• Client uses getAppError<XError['Procedure']>(mutation.error) — procedure-keyed even when the entry is never. Never read raw mutation/query errors.
• Render with <AppErrorAlert> or renderAppError, not {appError.message} directly. The exhaustive renderer map makes it a compile error to forget a variant or silently drop fields like jobSequenceId:

  <AppErrorAlert
    error={copyError}
    onDismiss={() => copyMutation.reset()}
    render={{
      SYNC_JOB_FAILED: ({ message, jobSequenceId }) => (
        <>
          {message} <a href={`${urlPrefix}/jobSequence/${jobSequenceId}`}>View job logs</a>
        </>
      ),
      UNKNOWN: ({ message }) => message,
    }}
  />
  

  Use renderAppError(error, {...}) when you need a ReactNode to pass elsewhere (e.g. StickySaveBar's alert.message).
• See pages/instructorStudentsLabels/components/LabelModifyModal.tsx (typed) and pages/administratorCourses/administratorCourses.html.tsx (never-keyed) for examples.

Testing

tRPC procedures are tested as integration tests via HTTP. See tests/instructorStudentsLabels.test.ts for the pattern: create a client with generatePrefixCsrfToken + the scope's create*TrpcClient, call procedures directly, assert with TRPCClientError for error cases.