🚀 Building a TypeScript SDK for the Hevy API – Dev Log #1

Hey everyone 👋

I've decided to start sharing weekly updates about what I’m building,
learning, and overcoming as a software developer.

𝗪𝗵𝘆?
To track and share what I’m learning, stay consistent with my personal projects, and connect with others in the tech community.

🛠 This first post covers the past couple of weeks as I’ve kicked off a new project:

💡 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 - 𝗛𝗲𝘃𝘆 𝗦𝗗𝗞 (https://github.com/JackEcuyer/hevy-sdk/)
I'm building a TypeScript SDK for the Hevy API, to be compatible with Node.js, JavaScript frameworks, and browsers. I chose to build this because of my love for the Hevy app, which I use to track all of my workouts (https://www.hevyapp.com/). I hope to expand the Hevy API ecosystem while improving my TypeScript skills.

✅ 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗦𝗼 𝗙𝗮𝗿
• Set up GitHub repository and version control
• Configured TypeScript to build npm package for CommonJS & ES Modules
• Developed HevyClient class for SDK interaction
• Implemented API routines to retrieve & create workout data
• Integrated Zod for schema validation when posting workouts
• Setup Jest for SDK testing
• Improved error handling with user-friendly API & validation error formatting
• Installed and configured ESLint for code consistency
• Set up Husky for pre-commit testing & linting

📚 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱
• How to configure TypeScript for both CommonJS and ES Modules
• Best practices for creating reusable and modular SDK classes (e.g. HevyClient)
• Integrating Zod for data validation and ensuring strong API request handling
• Writing effective tests for SDK functionality using Jest
• Handling and presenting API and validation errors in a user-friendly way
• Configuring ESLint to maintain consistent code quality and style
• Using Husky for automating pre-commit checks to ensure clean code
• Using the Git CLI to fix incorrect commits to Github

⚠️ 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀
• ESLint v9 configuration was tricky, as the new format required importing plugin modules. However, using the TypeScript ESLint package made this easier.
• I made a couple of incorrect git commits that were pushed to the remote Github repository, meaning I had to learn to correctly use the Git CLI to fix the commit history.
• While testing with ts-node, I ran into ESM syntax errors, which helped me understand the differences between ESM and CommonJS in Node.js.

🔜 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽𝘀
Next steps include improving test coverage by integrating mock fetch requests into Jest, adding prettier and JSDoc, and refining type checking.

If you’re into learning new technologies, building personal projects, or are passionate about software - follow along!

I’ll be posting an update every week, within reason. Some weeks, circumstances may mean I can’t make a progress post, but I’ll keep it as consistent as I can. Happy to connect 👇