# The typed client

> A schema-aware query builder with inferred row types, shipped as its own package.

```bash
npm install @minnowdb/client
```

`@minnowdb/client` is optional. SQL is Minnow's contract — the engine runs every statement on its
own — and this package is one consumer of the primitives the engine publishes.

It ships separately for two reasons. It can move at its own pace without a version of the engine
riding along; and building it only from
[published primitives](/docs/reference/extending.md) is what proves those primitives are enough for
anyone else to build a layer of their own. If the seam were incomplete, this package would be the
first thing to break.

## What you get

One schema declaration drives migrations, row types, and every query:

```ts
import { MinnowDatabase, column, schema, table } from "@minnowdb/core";
import { IndexedDbBlockStore } from "@minnowdb/core/storage";
import { createMinnow, type InferDatabase } from "@minnowdb/client";

const appSchema = schema([
  table("customers", {
    customer_id: column.number().unique(),
    name: column.string(),
    city: column.string().nullable(),
  }),
]);

interface DB extends InferDatabase<typeof appSchema> {}

const database = new MinnowDatabase(await IndexedDbBlockStore.open({ name: "shop" }));
await database.migrate(appSchema);
const db = createMinnow<DB>(database, { schema: appSchema });

const rows = await db
  .selectFrom("customers")
  .select(["name", "city"])
  .where("city", "=", "London")
  .execute();
// Array<{ name: string; city: string | null }>
```

The named `interface DB extends InferDatabase<...> {}` is the standard form: it keeps hovers,
errors, and emitted declarations printing `Minnow<DB>` instead of the fully expanded schema, which
matters as soon as you have more than a table or two.

## Where to go next

- **[Reading data](/docs/client/queries.md)** — joins, expressions, aggregates, subqueries, and set
  operations.
- **[Writing data](/docs/client/writes.md)** — typed inserts, updates, deletes, and `returning`.
- **[Live queries](/docs/client/live.md)** — subscribe to a query and get a fresh result after every
  relevant commit.
- **[Schema & migrations](/docs/schema.md)** — defining tables, constraints, and views. Part of
  `@minnowdb/core`, and usable without this package.
- **[Extending Minnow](/docs/reference/extending.md)** — the primitives this package is built on, if
  you'd rather build your own layer.

## It wraps either half of the worker pair

`createMinnow` takes a `MinnowDatabase` or a `MinnowDatabaseClient`, so moving the engine into a
worker changes where you get the driver from and nothing about the queries you write. See
[Workers & multi-tab](/docs/engine/workers.md).

---

Minnow 0.1.1 · this page on the site: /docs/client/