Feature Request: Generate enums into a separate `enums.ts` file in ZenStack CLI

[motopods]

Feature Request: Generate enums into a separate enums.ts file in ZenStack CLI

Currently, ZenStack CLI generates both model types and enum types in the same file (e.g. models.ts). When importing enum value objects from this file, it can cause unexpected bundling behavior in frontend builds.

For example:

import {
  type ModelResult as $ModelResult,
  type TypeDefResult as $TypeDefResult,
} from '@zenstackhq/orm'
import { schema as $schema, type SchemaType as $Schema } from './schema-lite'
export type Order = $ModelResult<$Schema, 'Order'>
export const OrderType = $schema.enums.OrderType.values
export type OrderType = (typeof OrderType)[keyof typeof OrderType]

And then importing it in client code:

import { OrderType } from './zenstack/models'

During Vite bundling, this incorrectly pulls in server-side dependencies from @zenstackhq/orm, including kysely and pg, into the client bundle.

This results in warnings such as:

[plugin rolldown:vite-resolve] Module "util" has been externalized for browser compatibility, 
imported by "/node_modules/.bun/pg@8.18.0+32ccf17b773ffb11/node_modules/pg/lib/utils.js".
See https://vite.dev/guide/troubleshooting.html#module-externalized-for-browser-compatibility

Proposed improvement

Add an option (or change default behavior) in zenstack cli generate to output enums into a separate file such as:

zenstack/
  models.ts
  enums.ts

This would allow frontend projects to safely import enum values/types without pulling in server-only ORM dependencies.

Benefits

• Prevents accidental bundling of backend-only libraries in client builds
• Improves tree-shaking and frontend compatibility
• Makes enum usage cleaner in browser environments

---

[sanny-io]

I don't think this is needed. The error should go away if you import types with the type keyword, and stick to using verbatimModuleSyntax in your tsconfig.json

import type { OrderType } from './zenstack/models'

[sanny-io]

Oh nevermind I see that you mean the actual values for enums.

[motopods]

Oh nevermind I see that you mean the actual values for enums.

Yes, I need to iterate over the enum values. If I directly use
import { schema as $schema } from "./schema-lite";
then accessing $schema.enums.OrderType.values works without any issues.

[ymc9]

Thanks for filing this @motopods .

I tried with a vite project, it seems the root cause are from lines in "model.ts" like the following:

import { type ModelResult as $ModelResult } from "@zenstackhq/orm";

Vite is treating "@zenstackhq/orm" as a module import and thus bundling it and all its deps. Changing it to a type-only import, the problem is gone:

import type { ModelResult as $ModelResult } from "@zenstackhq/orm";

Could you help try if it works the same way in your environment?

@sanny-io , I saw you made a PR about it, but I wanted to confirm where the root cause is.

[motopods]

@ymc9 You're right.

Yes, this is quite interesting. Using

import type { ModelResult as $ModelResult, TypeDefResult as $TypeDefResult } from '@zenstackhq/orm'

resolves the issue.

Related to https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#verbatimModuleSyntax

import { type  ModelResult as $ModelResult, type TypeDefResult as $TypeDefResult } from '@zenstackhq/orm'
--->
import {  } from '@zenstackhq/orm'
has side effect

[ymc9]

@ymc9 You're right.

Yes, this is quite interesting. Using

import type { ModelResult as $ModelResult, TypeDefResult as $TypeDefResult } from '@zenstackhq/orm'

resolves the issue.

Related to https://www.typescriptlang.org/tsconfig#verbatimModuleSyntax

import { type  ModelResult as $ModelResult, type TypeDefResult as $TypeDefResult } from '@zenstackhq/orm'
--->
import {  } from '@zenstackhq/orm'
has side effect

Yes, bundler's behavior is reasonable. Although nothing's imported, side effects should still execute.

[sanny-io]

@ymc9 if this issue is solved then I don't see a need either to create a separate enums.ts file at this time.

We can forget about my old PR and close this.