Target Generators

Target Generators

This page summarizes the targets currently supported built-in by xidlc and their typical use cases.

Built-in Targets

Target	Common Aliases	Artifact Type	Typical Combination
rust	rs	Rust types and modules	Rust libraries or applications
rust-jsonrpc	rust_jsonrpc, rs_jsonrpc, rs-jsonrpc	Rust JSON-RPC bindings	xidl-jsonrpc
rust-axum	rust_axum, axum, rs_axum, rs-axum	Rust HTTP / Stream bindings	xidl-rust-axum
typescript	ts	TypeScript declarations and Schemas	Frontend or toolchains
typescript-rest	typescript_rest, ts-rest, ts_rest	TypeScript REST client/server bindings	xidl-typescript-server
go	golang	Go types or auxiliary code	Go projects
go-rest	go_rest	Go HTTP bindings	Go HTTP services
openapi	None	openapi_{filename}.json	Documentation and downstream consumption
openrpc	open-rpc	openrpc.json	JSON-RPC documentation

--client and --server

Some generators support distinguishing between client and server artifacts, such as:

• rust-axum
• rust-jsonrpc
• typescript-rest

If a target does not support this distinction, these parameters may be ignored or have no significant effect.

typescript-rest defaults to client-only generation. Use --server for server-only output, or --client --server to generate both sides.

When to Choose Which Target

• Only data structures: Choose rust, typescript, or go.
• HTTP service capabilities: Choose rust-axum, go-rest, or typescript-rest.
• JSON-RPC: Choose rust-jsonrpc.
• Publishing HTTP contracts externally: Choose openapi.
• Publishing JSON-RPC contracts externally: Choose openrpc.
• Debugging internal representations: Choose hir, rest-hir, or typed-ast.

Schema File Output

In addition to generating code, XIDL can also generate OpenAPI and OpenRPC files suitable for HTTP and JSON-RPC:

• openapi
• openrpc