Capability · Framework — orchestration

TypeChat

TypeChat takes a simple idea seriously: your types are the prompt contract. You write a TypeScript interface, TypeChat generates the system prompt, parses the model output against the interface, and repairs invalid responses automatically. It's a small library — not a framework — but it solves the 'structured output' problem elegantly.

Framework facts

Category: orchestration
Language: TypeScript
License: MIT
Repository: https://github.com/microsoft/TypeChat

Install

npm install typechat

Quickstart

import { createJsonTranslator, createLanguageModel } from 'typechat';
import fs from 'fs';

interface Sentiment { sentiment: 'neg' | 'neu' | 'pos'; }

const schema = fs.readFileSync('sentiment.ts', 'utf8');
const model = createLanguageModel(process.env);
const translator = createJsonTranslator<Sentiment>(model, schema, 'Sentiment');

const res = await translator.translate('I love this laptop');
if (res.success) console.log(res.data.sentiment);

Alternatives

Instructor — Python equivalent with Pydantic
Zod + OpenAI function-calling — hand-rolled equivalent
Outlines / Guidance — grammar-constrained generation
LangChain StructuredOutputParser

Frequently asked questions

Is TypeChat still actively developed?

Microsoft shifted energy toward newer agent frameworks (TypeAgent, Semantic Kernel), but TypeChat remains a clean, stable pattern many teams still use for simple structured extraction.

Does TypeChat work with non-OpenAI models?

Yes — `createLanguageModel` is a thin adapter; you can point it at Anthropic, Azure OpenAI, or any local model that supports chat completions.

Sources

TypeChat — docs — accessed 2026-04-20
TypeChat GitHub — accessed 2026-04-20