Export Types

Rhino includes an Artisan command that generates TypeScript interfaces from your registered models. It introspects the database schema, builds an OpenAPI 3.0 spec internally, and runs openapi-typescript to produce a .d.ts file.

Requirements

The command runs npx openapi-typescript under the hood, so Node.js must be available on the machine where you run the command.

Usage

terminal

php artisan rhino:export-types

This introspects all registered models from config/rhino.php, reads their database columns, and writes TypeScript interfaces to the configured output paths.

Command Flags

Flag	Default	Description
--output	(none)	Explicit output file path. Overrides config/env paths.

Examples

terminal

# Write to configured paths (RHINO_CLIENT_PATH / RHINO_MOBILE_PATH)
php artisan rhino:export-types

# Write to a specific file
php artisan rhino:export-types --output=resources/js/types/rhino.d.ts

Configuration

Set the output paths in your .env file:

.env

RHINO_CLIENT_PATH=../client
RHINO_MOBILE_PATH=../mobile

Or in config/rhino.php:

config/rhino.php

return [
    'client_path' => env('RHINO_CLIENT_PATH'),
    'mobile_path' => env('RHINO_MOBILE_PATH'),
    // ...
];

When both RHINO_CLIENT_PATH and RHINO_MOBILE_PATH are set, the command writes to both:

• {RHINO_CLIENT_PATH}/src/types/rhino.d.ts
• {RHINO_MOBILE_PATH}/src/types/rhino.d.ts

The --output flag overrides both and writes to a single explicit path.

Generated Output

The command generates one interface per model. All fields are optional because Rhino's policy system controls which attributes are visible per user/role at runtime.

src/types/rhino.d.ts

export interface Post {
  id?: number;
  title?: string;
  content?: string;
  is_published?: boolean;
  blog_id?: number;
  created_at?: string;
  updated_at?: string;
  deleted_at?: string | null;
}

export interface Blog {
  id?: number;
  name?: string;
  created_at?: string;
  updated_at?: string;
}

Type Mapping

Database Column Type	TypeScript Type
integer, bigint, smallint, tinyint	number
decimal, float, double	number
boolean	boolean
timestamp, datetime, date	string
json, jsonb	Record<string, unknown>
text, varchar, string	string
Nullable columns	adds | null

Using Generated Types

Import the generated types and pass them as generics to Rhino hooks:

src/components/PostsList.tsx

import type { Post } from '../types/rhino';
import { useModelIndex, useModelStore, useModelUpdate } from '@rhino-dev/rhino-react';

// Typed list — data.data is Post[]
const { data } = useModelIndex<Post>('posts', { sort: '-created_at' });

// Typed create — mutate accepts Partial<Post>
const store = useModelStore<Post>('posts');
store.mutate({ title: 'Hello', content: 'World' });

// Typed update — mutate accepts { id, data: Partial<Post> }
const update = useModelUpdate<Post>('posts');
update.mutate({ id: 1, data: { title: 'Updated' } });

Why all fields optional?

Rhino's policy system (permittedAttributesForShow, hiddenAttributesForShow) dynamically controls which fields appear in API responses based on the authenticated user's role and custom logic. The generated types represent the union of all possible fields, not a guarantee of which fields will be present in any given response.

Workflow

1. Define your models and run migrations
2. Run php artisan rhino:export-types
3. Import the generated types in your React/React Native code
4. Re-run the command whenever you change your database schema