📝 Document matcher caveats in the README

State the end-user limits once, in README § Caveats: a member colliding
with its stringification, the unsupported symbol/bigint, and NaN/-0. Drop
the duplicated known-issue prose from development/library.md and the
source comment; link to the README instead.
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tmu committed 2026-09-21 10:33:36 +00:00
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@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ ordinary objects whose `matches` method is a TypeScript type guard, so narrowing
composes the way any other guard does. It is deliberately not a regex engine and
not a macro: there is no transpiler and no DSL to learn, and the type-level
contract is the feature — see [development/library.md](./development/library.md)
for the design decisions and the known limitations.
for the design decisions and [Caveats](#caveats) for the limits.
## Requirements
@@ -23,6 +23,18 @@ for the design decisions and the known limitations.
Yet to be implemented
## Caveats
- **A value and its stringification collide.** Object keys stringify, so a
universe that mixes a member with the string it stringifies to — `1 | "1"`,
`true | "true"`, `null | "null"` — collapses to a single handler key and both
members are routed to it. Use one form or the other.
- **`symbol` and `bigint` are not supported.** A `symbol` brand is a
compile-time phantom with nothing to match at runtime, and a `bigint` is not a
valid property key; neither satisfies the matcher's universe constraint.
- **`NaN` and `-0` cannot be matched specifically.** They have no literal type,
so both stay part of `number`.
## License
MIT © 2025 tmu. See [LICENSE](./LICENSE).
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@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ Each factory is two overloads whose order is load-bearing:
#### Decision (2026-09)
The universe (`Matchable`) is `string | number | boolean | null | undefined`,
with `boolean` admitted as `true | false`. `symbol` and `bigint` are not.
with `boolean` admitted as `true | false`.
`boolean`/`null`/`undefined` are not property keys, so handler-map keys are a
projection (`PatternKey`: each member stringified) and `PatternParam` inverts
@@ -109,18 +109,6 @@ offers `true`, `false`, `null`, `undefined` by name (verified over LSP).
- Runtime dispatch is unchanged in effect: `handlers[true]` already coerces to
`"true"`. `dispatch` wraps the index in `String()` only because TypeScript
forbids indexing with `boolean`/`null`/`undefined` (`TS2538`).
#### Rejected
- **`symbol`.** A brand is a compile-time phantom — nothing to match at
runtime; the popup cannot offer symbol keys anyway.
- **`bigint`.** Not a valid property key; a stringified key (`"1"`) collides
with numeric `1`.
- **`NaN` / `-0`.** No literal type exists; they stay one `number`.
#### Known issue
- A universe mixing a member with its stringification (`1 | "1"`,
`true | "true"`, `null | "null"`) collapses to one handler key and routes
both members to it. Pre-existing for `1 | "1"`; now reachable for the new
members. Not guarded at the type level.
- `symbol`/`bigint`/`NaN`/`-0` are rejected, and a member colliding with its
stringification is unguarded: user-facing, stated once in
[README § Caveats](../README.md#caveats).
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@@ -3,16 +3,13 @@ import type { Exact, ValueOf } from "type-fest";
type UnaryFn<T, R> = (shape: T) => R;
// The primitive universe a matcher can discriminate. `boolean` is admitted as
// the pair `true | false`; `symbol` is deliberately absent (a brand is a
// compile-time phantom, so there is nothing to match at runtime).
// the pair `true | false`; see README § Caveats for the unsupported members.
type Matchable = string | number | boolean | null | undefined;
// `boolean`, `null` and `undefined` cannot be property keys, so a mapped type
// over the universe keys each non-key member by its stringification. `Param`
// inverts that projection, so a handler callback still receives the *real*
// member (`true`, not `"true"`). A universe mixing a member with the string it
// stringifies to (e.g. `true | "true"`) collapses to one key and is not
// representable — see development/library.md.
// member (`true`, not `"true"`) — see README § Caveats for the limits.
type PatternKey<T> = T extends boolean
? T extends true
? "true"