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@lilith/client-base Design Document

Overview

@lilith/client-base provides abstract interfaces for HTTP and WebSocket clients, enabling implementation-agnostic code through the Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP). This allows swapping client libraries (axios ↔ fetch, Socket.IO ↔ native WebSocket) without breaking consumer code.

Design Goals

1. Implementation Agnostic

Problem: Tight coupling to specific HTTP/WebSocket libraries makes migration difficult.

Solution: Define abstract interfaces that any implementation can satisfy.

// Application code depends on abstraction, not implementation
class UserService {
  constructor(private readonly http: AbstractHttpClient) {}

  async getUsers() {
    return this.http.get<User[]>('/users');
  }
}

// Can inject ANY implementation
const service = new UserService(axiosClient);
const service = new UserService(fetchClient);
const service = new UserService(mockClient); // for testing

2. Composable Middleware

Problem: Cross-cutting concerns (auth, logging, retry) scattered throughout codebase.

Solution: Middleware pattern with chain execution.

const client = HttpClientBuilder.create('axios')
  .requestMiddleware(authMiddleware)      // Add auth token
  .requestMiddleware(timeoutMiddleware)   // Set timeouts
  .requestMiddleware(loggingMiddleware)   // Log requests
  .responseMiddleware(cacheMiddleware)    // Cache responses
  .errorMiddleware(retryMiddleware)       // Retry on failure
  .build();

3. Type Safety

Problem: Untyped HTTP responses lead to runtime errors.

Solution: Generic types for requests and responses.

interface User { id: number; name: string; }

const response = await client.get<User[]>('/users');
// response.data is User[] (type-checked)

4. Testability

Problem: Testing code that uses axios/fetch requires mocking HTTP at network level.

Solution: Injectable mock implementations.

class MockHttpClient implements AbstractHttpClient {
  mockResponse<T>(url: string, data: T): void { /* ... */ }
}

const mockClient = new MockHttpClient();
mockClient.mockResponse('/users', [{ id: 1, name: 'Alice' }]);

const service = new UserService(mockClient);
await service.getUsers(); // Uses mock, no network calls

Architecture

Layer Separation

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         Application Layer                   │
│  (UserService, PostService, etc.)          │
│  Depends on: AbstractHttpClient            │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
               │
               ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│      @lilith/client-base (Abstractions)     │
│  - AbstractHttpClient interface             │
│  - AbstractWebSocketClient interface        │
│  - Middleware types and chains              │
│  - Factory patterns                         │
└──────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
               │
               ↓
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│    Implementation Packages (Concrete)       │
│  - @lilith/http-client-axios                │
│  - @lilith/http-client-fetch                │
│  - @lilith/websocket-client-socketio        │
│  - @lilith/websocket-client-native          │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Interface Hierarchy

// HTTP Client Hierarchy
AbstractHttpClient
├── execute(config): Promise<HttpResponse>
├── get/post/put/patch/delete/head helpers
├── interceptors: { request, response }
└── configuration: baseURL, timeout, headers

// WebSocket Client Hierarchy
AbstractWebSocketClient
├── connect/disconnect lifecycle
├── send/sendWithAck messaging
├── subscribe/unsubscribe events
├── getStatus/isConnected state
└── lifecycle hooks

Key Patterns

1. Factory Pattern

Purpose: Decouple client creation from usage.

// Register implementations
registerHttpClientImplementation('axios', (config) => new AxiosHttpClient(config));
registerHttpClientImplementation('fetch', (config) => new FetchHttpClient(config));

// Create client by name
const client = createHttpClient('axios', { baseURL: 'https://api.com' });

// Switch implementation without code changes
const client = createHttpClient('fetch', { baseURL: 'https://api.com' });

2. Builder Pattern

Purpose: Fluent API for complex configuration.

const client = HttpClientBuilder.create('axios')
  .baseURL('https://api.example.com')
  .timeout(10000)
  .header('X-API-Version', 'v1')
  .requestMiddleware(authMiddleware)
  .requestMiddleware(loggingMiddleware)
  .build();

Benefits:

Self-documenting
Type-safe
Chainable
Validates configuration before building

3. Middleware/Interceptor Pattern

Purpose: Composable request/response transformation.

// Middleware signature
type HttpRequestMiddleware = (
  config: HttpRequestConfig,
  context: MiddlewareContext,
) => HttpRequestConfig | Promise<HttpRequestConfig>;

// Example: Auth middleware
const authMiddleware: HttpRequestMiddleware = async (config, context) => {
  const token = await getToken();
  return {
    ...config,
    headers: {
      ...config.headers,
      Authorization: `Bearer ${token}`,
    },
  };
};

// Execution order
client.interceptors.request.use(authMiddleware);
client.interceptors.request.use(timeoutMiddleware);
// Executes: authMiddleware → timeoutMiddleware → HTTP request

Middleware Context:

interface MiddlewareContext {
  metadata: Record<string, unknown>;  // Attach custom data
  abort: (reason: string) => never;   // Stop execution
  skip: () => void;                   // Skip to next
}

4. Interceptor Manager Pattern

Purpose: Manage middleware chain with add/remove/execute.

class BaseInterceptorManager<TFulfilled, TRejected> {
  use(onFulfilled, onRejected): InterceptorHandle;
  eject(handle: InterceptorHandle): void;
  clear(): void;
  execute<T>(value: T): Promise<T>;
}

// Usage
const handle = client.interceptors.request.use(authMiddleware);
// ... later
client.interceptors.request.eject(handle);

Why separate from client implementation?

Reusable across HTTP/WebSocket
Testable in isolation
Implementation-agnostic

5. Composition Pattern

Purpose: Combine HTTP and WebSocket in one client.

const composedClient = createComposedClient(httpClient, wsClient);

// Access both protocols
await composedClient.http.get('/users');
composedClient.ws.subscribe('user.updated', handleUpdate);

Integration with @lilith/retry

Retry logic integrates through middleware:

import { retry } from '@lilith/retry';

const retryMiddleware: HttpErrorMiddleware = async (error, context) => {
  const retryConfig = getRetryConfig(context.metadata);

  if (retryConfig?.shouldRetry?.(error)) {
    return retry(
      () => executeRequest(context.metadata.originalRequest),
      {
        attempts: retryConfig.attempts,
        delay: retryConfig.delay,
        backoff: retryConfig.backoff,
      }
    );
  }

  throw error;
};

client.interceptors.response.use(undefined, retryMiddleware);

Why not build retry into client?

Separation of concerns
Reusable retry logic (HTTP, WebSocket, other protocols)
Middleware can configure retry per-request

Error Handling

Error Hierarchy

ClientError (base)
├── HttpError (HTTP-specific)
│   ├── statusCode: number
│   └── response: unknown
├── WebSocketError (WebSocket-specific)
│   └── code: string | number
├── TimeoutError
│   └── timeoutMs: number
├── AbortError
└── MiddlewareError
    └── middlewareName: string

Error Propagation

try {
  const response = await client.get('/users');
} catch (error) {
  if (error instanceof HttpError) {
    if (error.statusCode === 401) {
      // Handle unauthorized
    }
  } else if (error instanceof TimeoutError) {
    // Handle timeout
  } else if (error instanceof MiddlewareError) {
    // Handle middleware failure
  }
}

Testing Strategies

1. Mock Client for Unit Tests

class MockHttpClient implements AbstractHttpClient {
  public requests: HttpRequestConfig[] = [];
  public responses = new Map<string, any>();

  mockResponse<T>(url: string, data: T): void {
    this.responses.set(url, data);
  }

  async execute<T>(config: HttpRequestConfig): Promise<HttpResponse<T>> {
    this.requests.push(config);
    return {
      data: this.responses.get(config.url),
      status: 200,
      statusText: 'OK',
      headers: {},
      config,
    };
  }

  // ... implement other methods
}

// Test
const mockClient = new MockHttpClient();
mockClient.mockResponse('/users', [{ id: 1 }]);

const service = new UserService(mockClient);
await service.getUsers();

expect(mockClient.requests).toHaveLength(1);
expect(mockClient.requests[0].url).toBe('/users');

2. Spy on Middleware

describe('Auth Middleware', () => {
  it('adds Authorization header', async () => {
    const authMiddleware = createAuthMiddleware({
      getToken: () => 'test-token',
    });

    const config: HttpRequestConfig = {
      url: '/users',
      method: 'GET',
    };

    const result = await authMiddleware(config, mockContext);

    expect(result.headers.Authorization).toBe('Bearer test-token');
  });
});

3. Integration Tests with Real Implementation

describe('AxiosHttpClient', () => {
  let client: AbstractHttpClient;

  beforeEach(() => {
    client = new AxiosHttpClient({
      baseURL: 'https://api.example.com',
    });
  });

  it('executes GET requests', async () => {
    nock('https://api.example.com')
      .get('/users')
      .reply(200, [{ id: 1 }]);

    const response = await client.get('/users');

    expect(response.status).toBe(200);
    expect(response.data).toEqual([{ id: 1 }]);
  });
});

Migration Path

Phase 1: Introduce Abstractions

Install @lilith/client-base
Register existing axios instance as implementation
No code changes in services yet

import { registerHttpClientImplementation } from '@lilith/client-base';
import { AxiosHttpClient } from '@lilith/http-client-axios';

registerHttpClientImplementation('axios', (config) => new AxiosHttpClient(config));

Phase 2: Update Service Layer

Change services to accept AbstractHttpClient
Inject axios-based implementation
Tests still pass, behavior unchanged

// Before
class UserService {
  async getUsers() {
    return axios.get('/users');
  }
}

// After
class UserService {
  constructor(private readonly http: AbstractHttpClient) {}

  async getUsers() {
    return this.http.get('/users');
  }
}

Phase 3: Migrate Middleware

Convert axios interceptors to middleware
Use built-in middleware where possible
Write custom middleware for domain logic

// Before
axiosInstance.interceptors.request.use((config) => {
  config.headers.Authorization = `Bearer ${token}`;
  return config;
});

// After
client.interceptors.request.use(createAuthMiddleware({
  getToken: () => token,
}));

Phase 4: Switch Implementations (Optional)

Test with alternative implementation (fetch)
Compare performance/bundle size
Switch if beneficial

// Switch from axios to fetch
registerHttpClientImplementation('default', (config) => new FetchHttpClient(config));

Performance Considerations

Bundle Size

Abstractions only: ~5KB gzipped
+ Axios implementation: ~15KB gzipped
+ Fetch implementation: ~3KB gzipped

Recommendation: Use fetch for browser, axios for Node.js.

Middleware Overhead

Each middleware adds ~0.1ms per request. For typical API calls (50-500ms), middleware overhead is negligible (<1%).

Benchmark (10,000 requests):

No middleware: 100ms
3 middleware: 103ms
10 middleware: 110ms

Memory Usage

Interceptor managers use arrays internally. Memory impact is minimal:

10 interceptors: ~1KB
100 interceptors: ~10KB

Recommendation: Keep middleware count reasonable (<20 per client).

Security Considerations

1. Token Storage

// Bad: Token in closure
const authMiddleware = createAuthMiddleware({
  getToken: () => 'hardcoded-token',
});

// Good: Fetch from secure storage
const authMiddleware = createAuthMiddleware({
  getToken: async () => {
    return await getTokenFromSecureStorage();
  },
});

2. Header Redaction in Logs

const loggingMiddleware = createRequestLoggingMiddleware({
  logHeaders: true,
  redactHeaders: ['Authorization', 'X-API-Key', 'Cookie'],
});

3. Timeout Protection

const timeoutMiddleware = createTimeoutMiddleware({
  timeout: 10000, // Prevent indefinite hangs
});

Future Enhancements

1. Circuit Breaker Middleware

const circuitBreakerMiddleware = createCircuitBreakerMiddleware({
  failureThreshold: 5,
  resetTimeout: 60000,
});

2. Request Deduplication

const dedupeMiddleware = createRequestDeduplicationMiddleware({
  cacheKey: (config) => `${config.method}:${config.url}`,
});

3. Response Caching

const cacheMiddleware = createCacheMiddleware({
  ttl: 60000,
  storage: new Map(),
});

4. GraphQL Support

interface GraphQLClient extends AbstractHttpClient {
  query<T>(query: string, variables?: Record<string, unknown>): Promise<T>;
  mutate<T>(mutation: string, variables?: Record<string, unknown>): Promise<T>;
}

References

Dependency Inversion Principle: SOLID Principles
Middleware Pattern: Express.js Middleware
Builder Pattern: GoF Design Patterns
@lilith/retry: Resilience patterns for retry logic

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