2023-04-15 · TypeScript
Use satisfies instead of as when you only need checking
The difference between asserting a type and validating one, and why it matters during refactors.
Introduction
as hides mistakes until production while satisfies keeps inference intact; worked examples with config objects and variant unions show when each is correct.
Field notes
A few patterns we kept seeing while puttering around TypeScript problems:
- The simple version survived every refactor; the clever version didn’t.
- Documentation written during the work aged far better than documentation written after.
- The second time a problem shows up, it is already a pattern — name it.
A checklist you can steal
- The failure is reproducible with one command.
- The fix has a test that fails without it.
- Someone other than the author has run it on their machine.
Closing
Write the short version future-you will actually read. That is the whole trick.