Typed dialogs for inputs, forms and schemas you can trust
Create Type-Safe
Interactive Dialogs
Declarative forms with Nickel/TOML definitions, 6 backends (CLI, TUI, Web, AI, Agent, Prov-Gen), and type-safe validation. From interactive prompts to infrastructure generation.
One schema. Every surface.
What TypeDialog Solves
Per-Backend Code
One Nickel or TOML definition drives CLI, TUI, Web, and AI. No per-backend form code. The schema is the single source of truth.
Fail-Open Validation
Nickel contracts validate every predicate at load time. Unknown predicates cause hard failures, not silent passes. No parallel Rust reimplementation.
Hidden I/O in Execution
Fragment loading happens once at load_form(). The three-phase executor is pure — no filesystem access, no side effects during user interaction.
Manual IaC Assembly
Interactive forms generate validated infrastructure configurations for 6 cloud providers. 7-layer validation pipeline from forms to final JSON.
How It Works
Declarative Forms
Define forms in Nickel (.ncl) or TOML (.toml). Nickel provides contracts, imports, and type-safe composition. TOML provides zero-dependency simplicity. Both produce identical FormDefinition structs.
Three-Phase Execution
Phase 1: Execute selector fields that control conditionals. Phase 2: Build element list (pure, no I/O). Phase 3: Dispatch to backend with when/when_false evaluation. Complete or field-by-field rendering modes.
BackendFactory
Compile-time feature gates (#[cfg(feature)]) eliminate dead backend code. Runtime BackendType match dispatches to Box<dyn FormBackend>. Auto-detection via TYPEDIALOG_BACKEND env var with CLI fallback.
AI & Agent Backends
AI backend with RAG, embeddings, and semantic search. Agent backend executes .agent.mdx files with multi-LLM support (Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, Ollama). Template variables, file imports, streaming output.
Infrastructure Generation
Prov-Gen transforms form answers into IaC configurations. 6 cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure, Hetzner, UpCloud, LXD). 7-layer validation: Forms → Constraints → Values → Validators → Schemas → Defaults → JSON.
Nickel Roundtrip
Read .ncl schemas, collect user input via any backend, generate validated .ncl output preserving contracts. ContractParser extracts validators. TemplateRenderer preserves formatting. when_false ensures all schema fields have values.