entity-derive 0.1.5

Table of Contents

• The Problem
• The Solution
• Features
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Attribute Reference
• Generated Code
• Architecture
• Comparison
• Code Coverage
• Documentation
• MSRV
• License
• Contributing

The Problem

Building a typical CRUD application requires writing the same boilerplate over and over:

// 1. Your domain entity
pub struct User {
    pub id: Uuid,
    pub name: String,
    pub email: String,
    pub password_hash: String,
    pub created_at: DateTime<Utc>,
}

// 2. DTO for creating (without id, without auto-generated fields)
pub struct CreateUserRequest {
    pub name: String,
    pub email: String,
}

// 3. DTO for updating (all fields optional for partial updates)
pub struct UpdateUserRequest {
    pub name: Option<String>,
    pub email: Option<String>,
}

// 4. DTO for API response (without sensitive fields)
pub struct UserResponse {
    pub id: Uuid,
    pub name: String,
    pub email: String,
    pub created_at: DateTime<Utc>,
}

// 5. Database row struct
pub struct UserRow { /* ... */ }

// 6. Insertable struct
pub struct InsertableUser { /* ... */ }

// 7. Repository trait
pub trait UserRepository { /* ... */ }

// 8. SQL implementation
impl UserRepository for PgPool { /* ... */ }

// 9. Six From implementations for mapping between types
impl From<UserRow> for User { /* ... */ }
impl From<User> for UserResponse { /* ... */ }
// ... and more

That's 200+ lines of boilerplate for a single entity.

The Solution

use entity_derive::Entity;

#[derive(Entity)]
#[entity(table = "users", schema = "core")]
pub struct User {
    #[id]
    pub id: Uuid,

    #[field(create, update, response)]
    pub name: String,

    #[field(create, update, response)]
    pub email: String,

    #[field(skip)]
    pub password_hash: String,

    #[field(response)]
    #[auto]
    pub created_at: DateTime<Utc>,
}

Done. The macro generates everything else.

Features

• Zero Runtime Cost — All code generation happens at compile time
• Type Safe — Change a field type once, everything updates automatically
• Flexible Attributes — Fine-grained control over what goes where
• SQL Generation — Complete CRUD operations for PostgreSQL (via sqlx)
• Partial Updates — Non-optional fields automatically wrapped in Option for updates
• Security by Default — #[field(skip)] ensures sensitive data never leaks to responses

Installation

Add to your Cargo.toml:

[dependencies]
entity-derive = "0.1"

# Required peer dependencies
uuid = { version = "1", features = ["v7"] }
chrono = { version = "0.4", features = ["serde"] }
serde = { version = "1", features = ["derive"] }
async-trait = "0.1"

# For database support
sqlx = { version = "0.8", features = ["runtime-tokio", "postgres"] }

Quick Start

use entity_derive::Entity;
use uuid::Uuid;
use chrono::{DateTime, Utc};

#[derive(Entity)]
#[entity(table = "posts", schema = "blog")]
pub struct Post {
    #[id]
    pub id: Uuid,

    #[field(create, update, response)]
    pub title: String,

    #[field(create, update, response)]
    pub content: String,

    #[field(create, response)]
    pub author_id: Uuid,

    #[field(response)]
    #[auto]
    pub created_at: DateTime<Utc>,

    #[field(response)]
    #[auto]
    pub updated_at: DateTime<Utc>,
}

// Now you have:
// - CreatePostRequest { title, content, author_id }
// - UpdatePostRequest { title?, content? }
// - PostResponse { id, title, content, author_id, created_at, updated_at }
// - PostRow, InsertablePost
// - PostRepository trait
// - impl PostRepository for sqlx::PgPool

Attribute Reference

Entity-Level: #[entity(...)]

SQL Levels

Field-Level Attributes

Combine multiple: #[field(create, update, response)]

Generated Code

For a User entity, the macro generates:

DTOs

#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
pub struct CreateUserRequest {
    pub name: String,
    pub email: String,
}

#[derive(Debug, Clone, Default, Serialize, Deserialize)]
pub struct UpdateUserRequest {
    pub name: Option<String>,
    pub email: Option<String>,
}

#[derive(Debug, Clone, Serialize, Deserialize)]
pub struct UserResponse {
    pub id: Uuid,
    pub name: String,
    pub email: String,
    pub created_at: DateTime<Utc>,
}

Repository Trait

#[async_trait]
pub trait UserRepository: Send + Sync {
    type Error: std::error::Error + Send + Sync;

    async fn create(&self, dto: CreateUserRequest) -> Result<User, Self::Error>;
    async fn find_by_id(&self, id: Uuid) -> Result<Option<User>, Self::Error>;
    async fn update(&self, id: Uuid, dto: UpdateUserRequest) -> Result<User, Self::Error>;
    async fn delete(&self, id: Uuid) -> Result<bool, Self::Error>;
    async fn list(&self, limit: i64, offset: i64) -> Result<Vec<User>, Self::Error>;
}

SQL Implementation

#[async_trait]
impl UserRepository for sqlx::PgPool {
    type Error = sqlx::Error;

    async fn create(&self, dto: CreateUserRequest) -> Result<User, Self::Error> {
        let entity = User::from(dto);
        let insertable = InsertableUser::from(&entity);
        sqlx::query(
            "INSERT INTO core.users (id, name, email, password_hash, created_at) \
             VALUES ($1, $2, $3, $4, $5)"
        )
        .bind(insertable.id)
        .bind(&insertable.name)
        .bind(&insertable.email)
        .bind(&insertable.password_hash)
        .bind(insertable.created_at)
        .execute(self)
        .await?;
        Ok(entity)
    }

    // ... find_by_id, update, delete, list
}

Mappers

impl From<UserRow> for User { /* ... */ }
impl From<CreateUserRequest> for User { /* ... */ }
impl From<User> for UserResponse { /* ... */ }
impl From<&User> for InsertableUser { /* ... */ }
// ... and more

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Your Code                               │
│  #[derive(Entity)]                                          │
│  pub struct User { ... }                                    │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                   entity-derive                             │
│  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────────────┐  │
│  │   Parser    │  │ Generators  │  │      Output         │  │
│  │             │  │             │  │                     │  │
│  │ EntityDef   │─>│ dto.rs      │─>│ CreateRequest       │  │
│  │ FieldDef    │  │ row.rs      │  │ UpdateRequest       │  │
│  │ SqlLevel    │  │ repository  │  │ Response            │  │
│  │             │  │ sql.rs      │  │ Row, Insertable     │  │
│  │             │  │ mappers.rs  │  │ Repository trait    │  │
│  │             │  │             │  │ PgPool impl         │  │
│  │             │  │             │  │ From impls          │  │
│  └─────────────┘  └─────────────┘  └─────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Comparison

Code Coverage

We maintain high test coverage to ensure reliability. Below are visual representations of our codebase coverage:

Sunburst

The inner circle represents the entire project. Moving outward: folders, then individual files. Size = number of statements, color = coverage percentage.

Grid

Each block represents a file. Size = number of statements, color = coverage level (green = high, red = low).

Icicle

Hierarchical view: top = entire project, descending through folders to individual files. Size and color represent statements and coverage.

Documentation

• API Reference — Full API documentation
• Wiki — Guides and examples:
  • All Attributes Explained
  • Real-World Examples
  • Custom SQL Queries
  • Integration with Axum/Actix
  • Best Practices

MSRV

Minimum Supported Rust Version: 1.92 (Edition 2024)

License

Licensed under the MIT License.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.