Coalescence

Coalescence is a cross-language code-generation tool for the Coalescence Web API ecosystem. It bridges the gap between database schemas and application code by automatically generating models, endpoints, client libraries, and database contexts for various frameworks, streamlining full-stack development without the boilerplate.

Usage

Run the coalesce command-line tool with options to specify your source database or project file:

coalesce [options]

Command-Line Options

Option	Description
-h, --help	Display the help information and exit.
-rd, --root-directory <dir>	Specifies the root directory of the project.
-pf, --project-file <file>	Specifies the path to the project file (defaults to .coalescence.sdl in the root).
--db-mssql	Indicates the source database is Microsoft SQL Server.
--db-mysql	Indicates the source database is MySQL or MariaDB.
--db-postgresql	Indicates the source database is PostgreSQL.
--db-server <host>	The hostname or IP address of the database server.
--db-name <name>	The name of the database to read from (required for MySQL / PostgreSQL).
--db-user <user>	The username for database authentication.
--db-password <pass>	The password for database authentication.

Project Configuration (.coalescence.sdl)

Coalescence uses SDLang for its project configuration. By default, it looks for a .coalescence.sdl file in the project's root directory.

Example

project {
    exclude:database "Migrations" "SystemFiles"
    exclude:client "SecretModels"

    generators:csharp {
        server outputPath="out/server" namespace="MyProject.Server" shortTransports=true {
            serializers "SystemTextJson"
        }
        client outputPath="out/client" namespace="MyProject.Client" uiBindings=true changeTracking=true {
            serializers "SystemTextJson" "NewtonsoftJson"
        }
    }
}

Configuration Options

Option	Type	Description
exclude:database	Node Values	A list of schema or model names to entirely exclude during database reads.
exclude:client	Node Values	A list of schema or model names to filter out of the client generation.
outputPath	Attribute	Required. The path (relative to the project root) where generated files will be placed.
outputMode	Attribute	Describes how files are grouped. Values: FilePerObject (default), FilePerSchema, SingleFile.
namespace	Attribute	The base namespace/package name applied to generated code.
contextName	Attribute	Replaces the name of the generated Database Context (defaults to the database name).
uiBindings	Attribute	Boolean. Generates classes that implement data-binding (e.g. BindingObject).
serializeFields	Attribute	Boolean. Configures serializers to target fields instead of properties.
shortTransports	Attribute	Boolean. Shortens transport/payload names for network serialization to save bandwidth.
changeTracking	Attribute	Boolean. Generates change-tracking features on objects (e.g. TrackingObject).
enableEFExtensions	Attribute	Boolean. Enables Coalescence Entity Framework Core Extensions (IDatabaseMergeable, etc.).
enableEFLazyLoading	Attribute	Boolean. Modifies generated properties to support EF Core proxy lazy-loading (virtual).
enableEFContextMocking	Attribute	Boolean. Replaces sealed modifiers and makes Context DbSet properties virtual for mocking.
serializers	Node Values	A list of serializers to support. E.g. "SystemTextJson", "NewtonsoftJson", "DataContract".

Contributing

Contributions to Coalescence are welcome! Please submit patches and features via Pull Requests.

Important LLM Guideline: If you use a Large Language Model (such as GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, etc.) to generate or assist heavily with your contribution, you must include the exact prompt(s) you used to generate the code in the PROMPTS.txt file at the root of the repository.

License

This project is licensed under the Boost Software License 1.0 (BSL-1.0). See the LICENSE file for details.