Models & fields

dorm.model(name, schema, options?) returns a Model whose .objects manager is your query/write surface. The schema is the single source of truth: it drives type inference and runtime validation.

const User = dorm.model(
  "users",
  {
    email: f.string({ required: true, validate: (v) => {
      if (!v.includes("@")) throw new Error("Enter a valid email.");
    } }),
    salary: f.number({ default: 0 }),
    active: f.boolean({ default: true }),
    supervisor: f.ref("users"),
  },
  { timestamps: true },
);

Models are declared synchronously and can be defined at module top-level, before dorm.connect().

Field builders

Every f.* builder accepts { required?, default?, validate?, unique?, index? }:

Builder	Stored as	Notes
f.string(opts?)	string
f.number(opts?)	number	rejects NaN
f.boolean(opts?)	boolean
f.date(opts?)	Date	ISO strings / timestamps are coerced
f.objectId(opts?)	ObjectId	hex strings are coerced
f.ref(collection, opts?)	ObjectId	supplies $lookup.from for __ traversal
f.array(element, opts?)	T[]	each element validated against element
f.embedded(schema, opts?)	object	validated against the sub-schema (typed)
f.enum(values, opts?)	union	value must be one of values

See Data modeling for array / embedded / enum in depth.

Options

• default — a value or a factory (() => new Date()) evaluated per create.
• validate — throw an Error to reject; the message surfaces on the validation error (code DORM_ERROR_3).
• unique / index — declare indexes, created by ensureIndexes().
• options.timestamps: true — manages createdAt / updatedAt automatically.

Typed input & output

The schema types every operation:

const u = await User.objects.create({ email: "a@b.com" });
u._id;       // ObjectId
u.createdAt; // Date  (present because timestamps: true)
u.salary;    // number

// @ts-expect-error — `email` is required
await User.objects.create({ salary: 10 });

• InferDoc — the stored/returned document shape (_id + fields + timestamps).
• CreateInput — required-without-default fields are mandatory; the rest optional.
• UpdateInput — every field optional (a partial patch).