query-spec

query-spec

The Constructive query language specification. One shared grammar for filters, ordering, and pagination — used by the generated GraphQL SDK/ORM clients, the PostGraphile connection filters, and the SQL query builder, so the same where JSON means the same thing at every layer of the stack.

Install

npm install query-spec

The filter grammar

Sibling keys AND together; or/not introduce disjunction and negation, nestable arbitrarily:

import type { Filter } from 'query-spec';

const where: Filter = {
  status: { in: ['queued', 'retry'] },
  attempts: { lessThan: 5 },
  completed_at: { isNull: true },
  or: [
    { priority: { greaterThan: 0 } },
    { escalated: { equalTo: true } },
  ],
};

The same shape works in a generated SDK client (api.jobs.findMany({ where })) and in the SQL query builder (new QueryBuilder().table('jobs').where(where)).

Operand generics

Filter, FieldFilter, and RelationalFilter are generic over the operand type, so each layer constrains what a field may be compared against:

import type { Filter } from 'query-spec';

type JsonFilter = Filter<string | number | boolean | null>; // SDK layer
type SqlFilter = Filter<SqlValue | Expr | QueryBuilder>;    // SQL layer

Operators

Group	Operators
Null check	isNull
Comparison	equalTo, notEqualTo, lessThan, lessThanOrEqualTo, greaterThan, greaterThanOrEqualTo
Distinct	distinctFrom, notDistinctFrom
List membership	in, notIn
LIKE	like, notLike, likeInsensitive, notLikeInsensitive
Pattern sugar	includes, startsWith, endsWith (+ not* / *Insensitive variants)
Case-insensitive	equalToInsensitive, notEqualToInsensitive, distinctFromInsensitive, notDistinctFromInsensitive, inInsensitive, notInInsensitive
Array	contains, containedBy, overlaps
PostGIS	intersects, within, touches, covers, bboxIntersects2D, ...

Each group is exported both as a const array (for runtime validation) and a string-literal union type:

import {
  FILTER_OPERATORS,        // readonly string[] of every operator
  COMPARISON_FILTER_OPERATORS,
  isFilterOperator,        // (op: string) => op is FilterOperator
  isLogicalOperator,       // 'and' | 'or' | 'not'
} from 'query-spec';

isFilterOperator('equalTo');  // true
isFilterOperator('bogus');    // false

Relational filters

GraphQL/ORM layers filter on related records with every / some / none:

const where: Filter = {
  tags: { some: { name: { startsWith: 'infra' } } },
};

(The SQL layer expresses the same thing with joins or { in: subquery }.)

Ordering and pagination

import type { OrderByItem, PageInfo, ConnectionResult } from 'query-spec';

const orderBy: OrderByItem[] = [{ field: 'name', direction: 'asc' }];

const page: ConnectionResult<{ id: string }> = {
  nodes: [{ id: '1' }],
  totalCount: 1,
  pageInfo: { hasNextPage: false, hasPreviousPage: false },
};

API Reference

Types

Type	Description
Filter<TOperand>	The main nestable filter shape (and/or/not + field filters)
FieldFilter<TOperand>	Operator → operand map for a single field
RelationalFilter<TOperand>	every/some/none filters on related records
FilterOperator	Union of every supported operator
LogicalOperator	'and' | 'or' | 'not'
OrderByItem, OrderDirection	Ordering specification
PageInfo, ConnectionResult<T>	Relay-style pagination shapes

Runtime

Export	Description
FILTER_OPERATORS	All operators as a readonly array
NULL_FILTER_OPERATORS, COMPARISON_FILTER_OPERATORS, DISTINCT_FILTER_OPERATORS, LIST_FILTER_OPERATORS, LIKE_FILTER_OPERATORS, PATTERN_FILTER_OPERATORS, INSENSITIVE_FILTER_OPERATORS, ARRAY_FILTER_OPERATORS, POSTGIS_FILTER_OPERATORS	Operator groups
LOGICAL_OPERATORS	['and', 'or', 'not']
isFilterOperator(op)	Type-guard for FilterOperator
isLogicalOperator(op)	Type-guard for LogicalOperator

Related

• @constructive-io/query-builder — AST-backed SQL builder consuming this grammar for WHERE/HAVING
• @constructive-io/graphql-codegen — generates SDK/ORM clients whose where arguments conform to this grammar

---

Education and Tutorials

1. Quickstart: Getting Up and Running Get started with modular databases in minutes. Install prerequisites and deploy your first module.

2. Modular PostgreSQL Development with Database Packages Learn to organize PostgreSQL projects with pgpm workspaces and reusable database modules.

3. Authoring Database Changes Master the workflow for adding, organizing, and managing database changes with pgpm.

4. End-to-End PostgreSQL Testing with TypeScript Master end-to-end PostgreSQL testing with ephemeral databases, RLS testing, and CI/CD automation.

5. Supabase Testing Use TypeScript-first tools to test Supabase projects with realistic RLS, policies, and auth contexts.

6. Drizzle ORM Testing Run full-stack tests with Drizzle ORM, including database setup, teardown, and RLS enforcement.

7. Troubleshooting Common issues and solutions for pgpm, PostgreSQL, and testing.

Related Constructive Tooling

Package Management

• pgpm: PostgreSQL Package Manager for modular Postgres development. Works with database workspaces, scaffolding, migrations, seeding, and installing database packages.

Testing

• pgsql-test: Isolated testing environments with per-test transaction rollbacks—ideal for integration tests, complex migrations, and RLS simulation.
• pgsql-seed: PostgreSQL seeding utilities for CSV, JSON, SQL data loading, and pgpm deployment.
• supabase-test: Supabase-native test harness preconfigured for the local Supabase stack—per-test rollbacks, JWT/role context helpers, and CI/GitHub Actions ready.
• graphile-test: Authentication mocking for Graphile-focused test helpers and emulating row-level security contexts.
• pg-query-context: Session context injection to add session-local context (e.g., SET LOCAL) into queries—ideal for setting role, jwt.claims, and other session settings.

Parsing & AST

• pgsql-parser: SQL conversion engine that interprets and converts PostgreSQL syntax.
• libpg-query-node: Node.js bindings for libpg_query, converting SQL into parse trees.
• pg-proto-parser: Protobuf parser for parsing PostgreSQL Protocol Buffers definitions to generate TypeScript interfaces, utility functions, and JSON mappings for enums.
• @pgsql/enums: TypeScript enums for PostgreSQL AST for safe and ergonomic parsing logic.
• @pgsql/types: Type definitions for PostgreSQL AST nodes in TypeScript.
• @pgsql/utils: AST utilities for constructing and transforming PostgreSQL syntax trees.

Documentation & Skills

• constructive-skills: Platform documentation and AI agent skills — feature catalog, blueprint reference, SDK guides (i18n, billing, limits, events, uploads, security, entities, search, AI), and deployment guides.

Install skills for AI coding agents:

# All platform skills (security, blueprints, codegen, billing, etc.)
npx skills add constructive-io/constructive-skills

# Individual repo skills (pgpm, testing, CLI, search, etc.)
npx skills add https://github.com/constructive-io/constructive --skill pgpm
npx skills add https://github.com/constructive-io/constructive --skill constructive-testing

Credits

Built by the Constructive team — creators of modular Postgres tooling for secure, composable backends. If you like our work, contribute on GitHub.

Disclaimer

AS DESCRIBED IN THE LICENSES, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

No developer or entity involved in creating this software will be liable for any claims or damages whatsoever associated with your use, inability to use, or your interaction with other users of the code, including any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages, or loss of profits, cryptocurrencies, tokens, or anything else of value.