Criteria

Type-safe, fluent query builder for filtering, ordering, and paginating data

What is Criteria?

Criteria is a type-safe query builder that provides a fluent API for constructing database-agnostic queries. It handles filtering, ordering, pagination, and search in a way that’s completely decoupled from your persistence layer.

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .whereEquals("status", "active")
  .where("age", "greaterThan", 18)
  .whereContains("email", "@company.com")
  .orderByDesc("createdAt")
  .paginate(1, 20);

// Use with repository
const result = await userRepository.find(criteria);

Why Use Criteria?

Type-Safe

Field paths, operators, and values are all validated by TypeScript at compile time

ORM Agnostic

Works with Prisma, Drizzle, TypeORM, or any persistence layer

Serializable

Convert to/from JSON for API transport or caching

Fluent API

Chain methods naturally for readable, maintainable queries

Basic Usage

Creating a Criteria

import { Criteria } from "@woltz/rich-domain";

// Create empty criteria
const criteria = Criteria.create<User>();

// Or with immediate filtering
const criteria = Criteria.create<User>().whereEquals("status", "active");

Adding Filters

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  // Equality
  .whereEquals("status", "active")

  // Comparison
  .where("age", "greaterThan", 18)
  .where("age", "lessThanOrEqual", 65)

  // String matching
  .whereContains("name", "john")

  // Array inclusion
  .whereIn("role", ["admin", "moderator"])

  // Range
  .whereBetween("salary", 50000, 100000)

  // Null checks
  .whereNotNull("email");

Ordering Results

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .orderBy("name", "asc")
  .orderByDesc("createdAt");

Pagination

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>().paginate(1, 20); // page 1, 20 items per page

// Or just limit
const criteria = Criteria.create<User>().limit(10);

Search

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>().search(
  ["name", "email", "bio"],
  "john"
);

Type Safety

Criteria leverages TypeScript to provide compile-time validation:

Field Paths

Only valid field paths from your type are allowed:

interface User {
  id: string;
  name: string;
  email: string;
  profile: {
    bio: string;
    avatar: string;
  };
  posts: Post[];
}

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .whereEquals("name", "John") // ✅ Valid
  .whereEquals("profile.bio", "Hello") // ✅ Valid nested path
  .whereEquals("posts.title", "Post") // ✅ Valid array item path
  .whereEquals("invalid", "value"); // ❌ TypeScript error

Operators Per Type

Operators are validated based on the field type:

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  // String fields
  .where("name", "contains", "john") // ✅ Valid
  .where("name", "greaterThan", "john") // ❌ Error: greaterThan not valid for string

  // Number fields
  .where("age", "greaterThan", 18) // ✅ Valid
  .where("age", "contains", "18") // ❌ Error: contains not valid for number

  // Boolean fields
  .where("isActive", "equals", true) // ✅ Valid
  .where("isActive", "contains", true); // ❌ Error: contains not valid for boolean

Value Types

Values are validated to match the field type:

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .whereEquals("age", 25) // ✅ Valid: number for number field
  .whereEquals("age", "25") // ❌ Error: string for number field
  .whereEquals("name", "John") // ✅ Valid: string for string field
  .whereIn("age", [20, 25, 30]); // ✅ Valid: number[] for number field

Serialization

To JSON

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .whereEquals("status", "active")
  .orderByDesc("createdAt")
  .paginate(1, 20);

const json = criteria.toJSON();
// {
//   filters: [{ field: "status", operator: "equals", value: "active" }],
//   orders: [{ field: "createdAt", direction: "desc" }],
//   pagination: { page: 1, limit: 20, offset: 0 },
//   search: undefined
// }

From Object

const criteria = Criteria.fromObject<User>({
  filters: [
    { field: "status", operator: "equals", value: "active" },
    { field: "age", operator: "greaterThan", value: 18 },
  ],
  orders: [{ field: "createdAt", direction: "desc" }],
  pagination: { page: 1, limit: 20, offset: 0 },
});

From Query Params

Perfect for REST APIs:

// URL: /users?status:equals=active&age:greaterThan=18&orderBy=createdAt:desc&page=1&limit=20

const criteria = Criteria.fromQueryParams<User>({
  "status:equals": "active",
  "age:greaterThan": "18",
  orderBy: "createdAt:desc",
  page: "1",
  limit: "20",
});

Cloning

Create independent copies for variations:

const baseCriteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .whereEquals("status", "active")
  .orderByDesc("createdAt");

// Clone and add more filters
const adminCriteria = baseCriteria.clone().whereEquals("role", "admin");

const recentCriteria = baseCriteria
  .clone()
  .where("createdAt", "greaterThan", lastWeek);

Checking State

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>().whereEquals("status", "active");

criteria.hasFilters(); // true
criteria.hasOrders(); // false
criteria.hasPagination(); // true (default pagination)
criteria.hasSearch(); // false

Getting Components

const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
  .whereEquals("status", "active")
  .where("age", "greaterThan", 18)
  .orderByDesc("createdAt")
  .paginate(2, 10);

// Get filters
const filters = criteria.getFilters();
// [
//   { field: "status", operator: "equals", value: "active" },
//   { field: "age", operator: "greaterThan", value: 18 }
// ]

// Get orders
const orders = criteria.getOrders();
// [{ field: "createdAt", direction: "desc" }]

// Get pagination
const pagination = criteria.getPagination();
// { page: 2, limit: 10, offset: 10 }

// Get search
const search = criteria.getSearch();
// undefined or { fields: [...], value: "..." }

Integration with Repository

class UserRepository extends Repository<User> {
  async findActive(
    page: number,
    limit: number
  ): Promise<PaginatedResult<User>> {
    const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
      .whereEquals("status", "active")
      .whereNotNull("email")
      .orderByDesc("createdAt")
      .paginate(page, limit);

    return this.find(criteria);
  }

  async search(query: string): Promise<PaginatedResult<User>> {
    const criteria = Criteria.create<User>()
      .search(["name", "email", "bio"], query)
      .limit(50);

    return this.find(criteria);
  }
}

Next Steps

Filters & Operators

Complete guide to all filter operators and their usage

Ordering & Pagination

Learn about sorting, pagination, and search

Query Params & Adapters

API integration, field adapters, and quantifiers

PaginatedResult

Working with paginated query results