Migrate to Shoehorn

Why shoehorn?

shoehorn lets you pass partial data in tests while keeping TypeScript happy. It replaces as assertions with type-safe alternatives.

Test code only. Never use shoehorn in production code.

Problems with as in tests:

• Trained not to use it

• Must manually specify target type

• Double-as (as unknown as Type ) for intentionally wrong data

Install

npm i @total-typescript/shoehorn

Migration patterns

Large objects with few needed properties

Before:

type Request = { body: { id: string }; headers: Record<string, string>; cookies: Record<string, string>; // ...20 more properties };

it("gets user by id", () => { // Only care about body.id but must fake entire Request getUser({ body: { id: "123" }, headers: {}, cookies: {}, // ...fake all 20 properties }); });

After:

import { fromPartial } from "@total-typescript/shoehorn";

it("gets user by id", () => { getUser( fromPartial({ body: { id: "123" }, }), ); });

as Type → fromPartial()

Before:

getUser({ body: { id: "123" } } as Request);

After:

import { fromPartial } from "@total-typescript/shoehorn";

getUser(fromPartial({ body: { id: "123" } }));

as unknown as Type → fromAny()

Before:

getUser({ body: { id: 123 } } as unknown as Request); // wrong type on purpose

After:

import { fromAny } from "@total-typescript/shoehorn";

getUser(fromAny({ body: { id: 123 } }));

When to use each

Function Use case

fromPartial()

Pass partial data that still type-checks

fromAny()

Pass intentionally wrong data (keeps autocomplete)

fromExact()

Force full object (swap with fromPartial later)

Workflow

Gather requirements - ask user:

• What test files have as assertions causing problems?

• Are they dealing with large objects where only some properties matter?

• Do they need to pass intentionally wrong data for error testing?

Install and migrate:

• Install: npm i @total-typescript/shoehorn

• Find test files with as assertions: grep -r " as [A-Z]" --include=".test.ts" --include=".spec.ts"

• Replace as Type with fromPartial()

• Replace as unknown as Type with fromAny()

• Add imports from @total-typescript/shoehorn

• Run type check to verify