Utility helpers, date helpers, and TypeScript utilities used across the monorepo

Utilities Package

The @workspace/utils package provides small, reusable helper functions and TypeScript utilities used across all applications and packages in the monorepo. It's focused on string/number helpers, date utilities, and lightweight helpers that keep application code concise.

Overview

Package: @workspace/utils
Location: packages/utils
Purpose: Shared utility functions and TypeScript types for common tasks across apps
Date Handling: date-fns for formatting and calculations

Architecture

The utilities package:

Provides Small Helpers - String, number, and date helpers used widely across apps
Date Handling - Re-exports from date-fns for formatting and calculations
Enables Code Reuse - Modular, composable helper functions

Project Structure

packages/utils/
├── src/
│   ├── helpers/              # Utility functions
│   │   ├── string.ts         # String manipulation (capitalize, truncate, isEmpty)
│   │   ├── number.ts         # Number operations (clamp, round)
│   │   ├── date.ts           # Date helpers (re-exports from date-fns)
│   │   └── index.ts          # Helper exports
│   └── index.ts              # Package entry point
├── package.json              # Dependencies and scripts
└── tsconfig.json             # TypeScript configuration

Usage

Importing Utilities

Import specific utilities by category:

// Date helpers (re-exported from date-fns)
import { formatDate, formatDistanceToNow } from "@workspace/utils/helpers";

// Helper functions
import { capitalize, isEmpty } from "@workspace/utils/helpers";

Helper Functions

The package includes helper functions for string manipulation and number operations (capitalize, truncate, isEmpty, clamp, round). These are lightweight utilities intended for common app tasks.

Date Helpers

All date helpers are re-exported from date-fns:

import {
  formatDate,
  formatDistanceToNow,
  formatDuration,
  intervalToDuration,
} from "@workspace/utils/helpers";

// Format a date
const date = new Date("2024-03-23");
formatDate(date); // "Mar 23, 2024" (default format)

// Get relative time
const pastDate = new Date(Date.now() - 2 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
formatDistanceToNow(pastDate); // "2 days ago"

// Format a duration
formatDuration({ hours: 2, minutes: 30 }); // "2h 30m"

// Calculate interval between dates
intervalToDuration({ start: date1, end: date2 });

Leverage Tree-Shaking

Import from subpaths when possible:

// ✓ Good - Only import helpers you need
import { capitalize } from "@workspace/utils/helpers";

// ✗ Bad - Imports entire utils package
import * as utils from "@workspace/utils";

Create Custom Helpers

Extend package with domain-specific helpers:

import { capitalize } from "@workspace/utils/helpers";

// App-specific helper
export function formatUserName(first: string, last: string) {
  return `${capitalize(first)} ${capitalize(last)}`;
}

Troubleshooting

Type Errors

If TypeScript can't find types, ensure @workspace/utils is installed:

pnpm install
pnpm check-types

Missing Utilities

Check the source for available utilities:

ls packages/utils/src/helpers/

Key Scripts

Command	Purpose
`pnpm dev`	Watch mode for development
`pnpm build`	Build package for production
`pnpm lint`	Check code quality

Authentication Package - Integrates helper utilities
API Application - Uses helpers and validators
Web Application - Uses helpers and types
date-fns Documentation - Date handling library

For additional utilities or to request new helpers, check the source code in packages/utils/src/ or open an issue on GitHub.

Utilities

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