Daml Codegen for JavaScript

Use the Daml Codegen for JavaScript (daml codegen js) to generate JavaScript/TypeScript code representing all Daml data types defined in a Daml Archive (.dar) file.

The generated code makes it easier to construct types and work with JSON when using the JSON Ledger API.

See Get started with Canton and the JSON Ledger API for details on how to use the generated code to interact with JSON Ledger API. See the sections below for guidance on setting up and invoking the codegen.

Install

Install the Daml Codegen for JavaScript by installing the Daml Assistant.

Configure

To configure the Daml Codegen, choose one of the two following methods:

• Command line configuration: Specify all settings directly in the command line.

• Project file configuration: Define all settings in the daml.yaml file.

Command line configuration

To view all available command line configuration options for Daml Codegen for JavaScript, run daml codegen js --help in your terminal:

DAR-FILES                DAR files to generate TypeScript bindings for
-o DIR                   Output directory for the generated packages
-s SCOPE                 The NPM scope name for the generated packages;
                         defaults to daml.js
-h,--help                Show this help text

Project file configuration

Specify the above settings in the codegen element of the Daml project file daml.yaml.

Here is an example:

sdk-version: 3.3.0-snapshot.20250507.0
name: quickstart
source: daml
init-script: Main:initialize
parties:
  - Alice
  - Bob
  - USD_Bank
  - EUR_Bank
version: 0.0.1
exposed-modules:
  - Main
dependencies:
  - daml-prim
  - daml-stdlib
codegen:
  js:
    output-directory: ui/daml.js
    npm-scope: daml.js

Operate

Run the Daml Codegen using project file configuration with:

$ daml codegen js

or using command line configuration with:

$ daml codegen js ./.daml/dist/quickstart-0.0.1.dar -o ui/daml.js -s daml.js

References

Generated JavaScript/TypeScript code

Daml primitives to TypeScript

Daml built-in types are translated to the following equivalent types in TypeScript. The TypeScript equivalents of the primitive Daml types are provided by the @daml/types.

Interfaces:

• interface Template<T extends object, K = unknown, I extends string = string>

• interface Choice<T extends object, C, R, K = unknown>

Types:

Daml	TypeScript	TypeScript definition
()	Unit	{}
Bool	Bool	boolean
Int	Int	string
Decimal	Decimal	string
Numeric ν	Numeric	string
Text	Text	string
Time	Time	string
Party	Party	string
[τ]	List<τ>	τ[]
Date	Date	string
ContractId τ	ContractId<τ>	string
Optional τ	Optional<τ>	null | (null extends τ ? [] | [Exclude<τ, null>] : τ)
TextMap τ	TextMap<τ>	{ [key: string]: τ }
(τ₁, τ₂)	Tuple₂<τ₁, τ₂>	{_1: τ₁; _2: τ₂}

Note

The types given in the TypeScript column are defined in @daml/types.

Note

For n-tuples where n ≥ 3, representation is analogous with the pair case (the last line of the table).

Note

The TypeScript types Time, Decimal, Numeric and Int all alias to string. These choices relate to the avoidance of precision loss under serialization over the JSON Ledger API.

Note

The TypeScript definition of type Optional<τ> in the above table might look complicated. It accounts for differences in the encoding of optional values when nested versus when they are not (i.e. “top-level”). For example, null and "foo" are two possible values of Optional<Text> whereas, [] and ["foo"] are two possible values of type Optional<Optional<Text>> (null is another possible value, [null] is not).

Generated TypeScript mappings

The mappings from user-defined data types in Daml to TypeScript are best explained by example.

Records (a.k.a. product types)

In Daml, we might model a person like this.

data Person =
  Person with
    name: Text
    party: Party
    age: Int

Given the above definition, the generated TypeScript code will be as follows.

type Person = {
  name: string;
  party: damlTypes.Party;
  age: damlTypes.Int;
}

Variants (a.k.a. sum types)

This is a Daml type for a language of additive expressions.

data Expr a =
    Lit a
  | Var Text
  | Add (Expr a, Expr a)

In TypeScript, it is represented as a discriminated union.

type Expr<a> =
  |  { tag: 'Lit'; value: a }
  |  { tag: 'Var'; value: string }
  |  { tag: 'Add'; value: Tuple2<Expr<a>, Expr<a>> }

Sum of products

Let’s slightly modify the Expr a type of the last section into the following.

data Expr a =
    Lit a
  | Var Text
  | Add {lhs: Expr a, rhs: Expr a}

Compared to the earlier definition, the Add case is now in terms of a record with fields lhs and rhs. This renders in TypeScript like so.

type Expr<a> =
  |  { tag: 'Lit'; value: a }
  |  { tag: 'Var'; value: string }
  |  { tag: 'Add'; value: Expr.Add<a> }

namespace Expr {
  type Add<a> = {
    lhs: Expr<a>;
    rhs: Expr<a>;
  }
}

Note how the definition of the Add case has given rise to a record type definition Expr.Add.

Enums

Given a Daml enumeration like this,

data Color = Red | Blue | Yellow

the generated TypeScript will consist of a type declaration and the definition of an associated companion object.

type Color = 'Red' | 'Blue' | 'Yellow'

const Color:
  damlTypes.Serializable<Color> & {
  }
& { readonly keys: Color[] } & { readonly [e in Color]: e };

Templates and Choices

Here is a Daml template of a basic ‘IOU’ contract.

template Iou
  with
    issuer: Party
    owner: Party
    currency: Text
    amount: Decimal
  where
    signatory issuer
    choice Transfer: ContractId Iou
      with
        newOwner: Party
      controller owner
      do
        create this with owner = newOwner

The daml codegen js command generates types for each of the choices defined on the template as well as the template itself.

type Transfer = {
  newOwner: damlTypes.Party;
}

type Iou = {
  issuer: damlTypes.Party;
  owner: damlTypes.Party;
  currency: string;
  amount: damlTypes.Numeric;
}

Each template results in the generation of an interface and a companion object. Here, is a schematic of the one generated from the Iou template [1], [2].

interface IouInterface {
  Archive: damlTypes.Choice<Iou, DA.Internal.Template.Archive, {}, undefined> & damlTypes.ChoiceFrom<damlTypes.Template<Iou, undefined>>;
  Transfer: damlTypes.Choice<Iou, Transfer, damlTypes.ContractId<Iou>, undefined> & damlTypes.ChoiceFrom<damlTypes.Template<Iou, undefined>>;
}

const Iou:
  damlTypes.Template<Iou, undefined, '<template_id>'> &
  damlTypes.ToInterface<Iou, never> &
  IouInterface;

[1]

The undefined type parameter captures the fact that Iou has no contract key.

[2]

The never type parameter captures the fact that Iou does not implement directly any interface.

See the Use contracts and transactions in JavaScript for details on how to use generated code to interact with the JSON Ledger API.