Core Concepts

This page explains the fundamental concepts of the registry system.

BaseRegistry

The abstract base class that provides common registration, retrieval, and management functionality. All registries in the schema-engine ecosystem extend this class.

import { BaseRegistry } from '@schema-engine/registry';
import type { BaseRegistration } from '@schema-engine/registry';
 
abstract class BaseRegistry<TKey extends string, TValue extends BaseRegistration> {
	protected items: Map<TKey, TValue>;
	abstract get registryName(): string;
	
	register(item: TValue): void;
	has(key: TKey): boolean;
	get(key: TKey): TValue | undefined;
	getAll(): TValue[];
	getAllKeys(): TKey[];
	get size(): number;
	clear(): void;
}

Key Methods

Method	Description
`register(item)`	Adds an item to the registry. Logs a warning if overriding.
`has(key)`	Checks if an item exists
`get(key)`	Retrieves an item by key
`getAll()`	Returns all registered items
`getAllKeys()`	Returns all registered keys
`size`	Number of registered items
`clear()`	Removes all items (useful for testing)

ComponentRegistry

A specialized registry for visual components that require a render method. Elements, layouts, and steppers use this.

import { ComponentRegistry } from '@schema-engine/registry';
import type { ComponentRegistration } from '@schema-engine/registry';
 
abstract class ComponentRegistry<
	TKey extends string,
	TValue extends ComponentRegistration
> extends BaseRegistry<TKey, TValue> {
	// Inherits all BaseRegistry methods
	// Enforces that items have a render() method
}

BaseRegistration

The interface that all registry items must implement:

interface BaseRegistration<TConfig = unknown, TMeta extends ComponentMetadata = ComponentMetadata> {
	$type: string;           // Unique identifier within the registry
	schema: z.ZodType<TConfig>;  // Zod schema for validation
	metadata: TMeta;         // Component metadata
}

ComponentRegistration

Extended interface for renderable components:

interface ComponentRegistration<
	TType extends string,
	TConfig,
	TProps,
	TMeta extends ComponentMetadata
> extends BaseRegistration<TConfig, TMeta> {
	$type: TType;
	render: (props: TProps) => unknown;
}

ComponentMetadata

Standard metadata for all components:

interface ComponentMetadata {
	name: string;           // Human-readable display name
	description?: string;   // Detailed description
	icon?: string;          // Icon identifier for UI
	tags?: string[];        // Tags for filtering
	version?: string;       // Component version
}