inversify vs tsyringe vs typedi vs awilix
Dependency Injection Libraries Comparison
3 Years
inversifytsyringetypediawilix
What's Dependency Injection Libraries?

Dependency Injection (DI) libraries in JavaScript and TypeScript help manage the creation and lifecycle of objects (dependencies) in an application. They promote loose coupling, making code more modular, testable, and maintainable. These libraries provide a way to define how dependencies are provided to classes or functions, often using Inversion of Control (IoC) containers. Popular DI libraries include awilix, inversify, tsyringe, and typedi, each with unique features and design philosophies.

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Package
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inversify1,342,156
11,86933.7 kB102 days agoMIT
tsyringe685,660
5,612149 kB724 months agoMIT
typedi267,917
4,178-575 years agoMIT
awilix205,038
3,891311 kB15 months agoMIT
Feature Comparison: inversify vs tsyringe vs typedi vs awilix

TypeScript Support

  • inversify:

    inversify is designed with TypeScript in mind, offering first-class support for decorators, interfaces, and type annotations. It leverages TypeScript's features to provide a highly type-safe DI experience, making it suitable for large-scale applications.

  • tsyringe:

    tsyringe offers strong TypeScript support, particularly for projects that utilize decorators. It is lightweight and leverages TypeScript's type system to ensure type safety while keeping the API simple and intuitive.

  • typedi:

    typedi provides good TypeScript support with a focus on decorators. It allows for type-safe injection and is designed to work seamlessly with TypeScript, making it a solid choice for TypeScript-based projects.

  • awilix:

    awilix provides excellent TypeScript support, allowing for type-safe dependency injection. It encourages explicit type definitions, which helps catch errors at compile time and improves code readability.

Decorator Support

  • inversify:

    inversify heavily utilizes decorators, making it a great choice for projects that embrace this pattern. It provides built-in decorators for defining injectable classes, properties, and methods, promoting a clean and declarative style.

  • tsyringe:

    tsyringe is built around the concept of decorators, providing a simple and elegant way to define dependencies. It encourages the use of @injectable, @inject, and other decorators to manage dependency injection in a type-safe manner.

  • typedi:

    typedi also emphasizes decorator usage, providing a straightforward API for defining and injecting dependencies. It supports @Service, @Inject, and other decorators to facilitate easy and intuitive dependency management.

  • awilix:

    awilix supports decorators but does not require them. It allows for both explicit and implicit dependency injection, giving developers the flexibility to choose their preferred style.

Async Support

  • inversify:

    inversify supports asynchronous operations, but it requires some manual handling. Developers can define async factories and use promises, but the library does not provide out-of-the-box async resolution for all dependencies.

  • tsyringe:

    tsyringe supports async dependency injection, allowing for asynchronous initialization of dependencies. This feature is useful for scenarios where dependencies need to be loaded or initialized asynchronously, such as fetching data from an API or connecting to a database.

  • typedi:

    typedi supports asynchronous initialization of dependencies, allowing for async operations during the creation of services. This is useful for scenarios where a service needs to perform async tasks, such as fetching data or initializing connections.

  • awilix:

    awilix has built-in support for asynchronous dependency resolution, allowing dependencies to be initialized asynchronously when needed. This is particularly useful for scenarios like loading configuration or connecting to databases.

Community and Ecosystem

  • inversify:

    inversify boasts a large and active community, particularly among TypeScript developers. It is well-established, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and third-party resources. The ecosystem includes various plugins and integrations, making it a versatile choice.

  • tsyringe:

    tsyringe is a relatively new but rapidly growing library with an enthusiastic community. It is well-documented, and its minimalist design encourages contributions and extensions. The ecosystem is still developing, but it is gaining traction among TypeScript developers.

  • typedi:

    typedi has a smaller but dedicated community. It is actively maintained and well-documented, making it easy for developers to understand and use. The ecosystem is limited compared to larger libraries, but it is sufficient for most use cases.

  • awilix:

    awilix has a growing community and is actively maintained. It is well-documented, and its simplicity makes it easy to adopt and integrate into projects. The ecosystem is expanding, with plugins and extensions being developed.

Ease of Use: Code Examples

  • inversify:

    inversify Example

    import 'reflect-metadata';
    import { Container, injectable, inject } from 'inversify';
    
    // Define types
    const TYPES = {
      UserService: Symbol.for('UserService'),
      Logger: Symbol.for('Logger'),
    };
    
    // Create a container
    const container = new Container();
    
    // Define services
    @injectable()
    class Logger {
      log(message: string) {
        console.log(message);
      }
    }
    
    @injectable()
    class UserService {
      constructor(@inject(TYPES.Logger) private logger: Logger) {}
      getUser() {
        this.logger.log('Fetching user...');
        return { id: 1, name: 'Alice' };
      }
    }
    
    // Bind services to the container
    container.bind(TYPES.Logger).to(Logger);
    container.bind(TYPES.UserService).to(UserService);
    
    // Resolve services
    const userService = container.get<UserService>(TYPES.UserService);
    const user = userService.getUser();
    console.log(user);
    
  • tsyringe:

    tsyringe Example

    import 'reflect-metadata';
    import { container, injectable, inject } from 'tsyringe';
    
    // Define services
    @injectable()
    class Logger {
      log(message: string) {
        console.log(message);
      }
    }
    
    @injectable()
    class UserService {
      constructor(private logger: Logger) {}
      getUser() {
        this.logger.log('Fetching user...');
        return { id: 1, name: 'Alice' };
      }
    }
    
    // Register services
    container.register(Logger, { useClass: Logger });
    container.register(UserService, { useClass: UserService });
    
    // Resolve services
    const userService = container.resolve(UserService);
    const user = userService.getUser();
    console.log(user);
    
  • typedi:

    typedi Example

    import 'reflect-metadata';
    import { Service, Container } from 'typedi';
    
    // Define services
    @Service()
    class Logger {
      log(message: string) {
        console.log(message);
      }
    }
    
    @Service()
    class UserService {
      constructor(private logger: Logger) {}
      getUser() {
        this.logger.log('Fetching user...');
        return { id: 1, name: 'Alice' };
      }
    }
    
    // Resolve services
    const userService = Container.get(UserService);
    const user = userService.getUser();
    console.log(user);
    
  • awilix:

    awilix Example

    const { createContainer, asClass, asFunction, asValue } = require('awilix');
    
    // Create a container
    const container = createContainer();
    
    // Register dependencies
    container.register({
      // Class-based injection
      userService: asClass(UserService),
      // Function-based injection
      logger: asFunction(createLogger),
      // Value injection
      appName: asValue('MyApp'),
    });
    
    // Resolve dependencies
    const userService = container.resolve('userService');
    const logger = container.resolve('logger');
    const appName = container.resolve('appName');
    
How to Choose: inversify vs tsyringe vs typedi vs awilix
  • inversify:

    Select inversify if you prefer a TypeScript-first approach with strong support for decorators and interfaces. It is ideal for large applications that require a robust and feature-rich DI solution with advanced features like multi-injection and scope management.

  • tsyringe:

    Opt for tsyringe if you want a lightweight, decorator-based DI container that integrates seamlessly with TypeScript. It is designed for simplicity and minimalism, making it a great choice for projects that need a straightforward DI solution without much overhead.

  • typedi:

    Choose typedi if you need a DI container that emphasizes simplicity and ease of use, with built-in support for decorators and a focus on TypeScript. It is suitable for small to medium-sized projects where a lightweight and intuitive DI solution is desired.

  • awilix:

    Choose awilix if you need a simple yet powerful DI container that supports both class-based and function-based injection. It offers a clear API, supports async initialization, and promotes best practices like explicit dependency declaration.

README for inversify

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InversifyJS

A powerful and lightweight inversion of control container for JavaScript & Node.js apps powered by TypeScript.

📕 Documentation

Documentation is available at https://inversify.io

About

InversifyJS is a lightweight inversion of control (IoC) container for TypeScript and JavaScript apps. An IoC container uses a class constructor to identify and inject its dependencies. InversifyJS has a friendly API and encourages the usage of the best OOP and IoC practices.

Motivation

JavaScript now supports object oriented (OO) programming with class based inheritance. These features are great but the truth is that they are also dangerous.

We need a good OO design (SOLID, Composite Reuse, etc.) to protect ourselves from these threats. The problem is that OO design is difficult and that is exactly why we created InversifyJS.

InversifyJS is a tool that helps JavaScript developers write code with good OO design.

Philosophy

InversifyJS has been developed with 4 main goals:

  1. Allow JavaScript developers to write code that adheres to the SOLID principles.

  2. Facilitate and encourage the adherence to the best OOP and IoC practices.

  3. Add as little runtime overhead as possible.

  4. Provide a state of the art development experience.

Testimonies

Nate Kohari - Author of Ninject

"Nice work! I've taken a couple shots at creating DI frameworks for JavaScript and TypeScript, but the lack of RTTI really hinders things. The ES7 metadata gets us part of the way there (as you've discovered). Keep up the great work!"

Michel Weststrate - Author of MobX

Dependency injection like InversifyJS works nicely

Some companies using InversifyJS

Acknowledgements

Thanks a lot to all the contributors, all the developers out there using InversifyJS and all those that help us to spread the word by sharing content about InversifyJS online. Without your feedback and support this project would not be possible.

License

License under the MIT License (MIT)

Copyright © 2015-2017 Remo H. Jansen

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.