This library does not depend on the database type that you use

How to use

1. Install the dependency

npm install @zestjs/seeder --save-dev

2. Define the model class

In this example, we'll use @nestjs/mongoose to define our model. But you could use any class that you want. It's not tied to any database type. The only requirement is that you use ES2015 class.

user.schema.ts

import { Prop, Schema, SchemaFactory } from "@nestjs/mongoose";
import { Document } from "mongoose";
import { Factory } from "@nestjs/seeder";

@Schema()
export class User extends Document {
  @Factory((faker) => faker.person.fullName())
  @Prop()
  name: string;
}

export const userSchema = SchemaFactory.createForClass(User);

Notice that we use @Factory decorator to specify the value for this property. This value will be used during the seeding process.

@Factory decorator supports multiple argument types, for example:

Static Value

@Factory('male')
gender: string;

Faker Generated Value

@Factory(faker => faker.location.streetAddress())
address: string;

Custom Function

@Factory(() => {
  const minAge = 18;
  const maxAge = 30;
  return Math.round(Math.random() * (maxAge - minAge) + minAge);
})
age: number;

3. Define seeder

A seeder is a class that implements Seeder interface. It requires you to implement two methods:

• async seed(): Promise<any>
• async drop(): Promise<any>

Use seed method to insert data into the database, and use drop method to clear the data in the database (collection / table).

To insert the data into the database, you could use the provided DataFactory.createForClass method. Please see the example below:

users.seeder.ts

import { Injectable } from "@nestjs/common";
import { InjectModel } from "@nestjs/mongoose";
import { Model } from "mongoose";
import { User } from "../schemas/user.schema";
import { Seeder, DataFactory } from "@nestjs/seeder";

@Injectable()
export class UsersSeeder implements Seeder {
  constructor(@InjectModel(User.name) private readonly user: Model<User>) {}

  async seed(): Promise<any> {
    // Generate 10 users.
    const users = DataFactory.createForClass(User).generate(10);

    // Insert into the database.
    return this.user.insertMany(users);
  }

  async drop(): Promise<any> {
    return this.user.deleteMany({});
  }
}

4. Register the seeder

Create a seeder file under src folder in your NestJS project and name it seeder.ts.

src/seeder.ts

import { seeder } from "@nestjs/seeder";
import { MongooseModule } from "@nestjs/mongoose";
import { User, userSchema } from "./schemas/user.schema";
import { UsersSeeder } from "./seeders/users.seeder";

seeder({
  imports: [
    MongooseModule.forRoot("mongodb://localhost/@nestjs/seeder-sample"),
    MongooseModule.forFeature([{ name: User.name, schema: userSchema }]),
  ],
}).run([UsersSeeder]);

Notice that seeder function accepts NestJS @Module() decorator metadata such as imports and providers. This will allow you to use NestJS dependency injection and later inject it in your seeder file.

Finally, we call run method and pass any number of seeders that you want to run. In this case we want to run UsersSeeder.

If you want to run multiple seeders, you could do:

.run([UsersSeeder, ProductsSeeder])

5. Integrate your seeder into command line

Add these two script (seed and seed:refresh) under the scripts property in your package.json file:

package.json

"scripts": {
  "seed": "node dist/seeder",
  "seed:refresh": "node dist/seeder --refresh"
}

NOTE: Don't replace the scripts. Add both seed and seed:refresh scripts after your existing scripts.

With the scripts integrated in the package.json file, now you could run 2 different commands:

Run seeders normally

npm run seed

Run seeders and replace existing data

npm run seed:refresh

Advance Usage

Access previously generated value

user.schema.ts

@Schema()
export class User extends Document {
  @Factory((faker) => faker.helpers.arrayElement(["male", "female"]))
  @Prop({ required: true })
  gender: string;

  @Factory((faker, ctx) => faker.person.firstName(ctx.gender))
  @Prop({ required: true })
  firstName: string;
}

Fill context with predefined values

user.schema.ts

const users = DataFactory.createForClass(User).generate(10, {
  zipCode: "10153",
});

users.seeder.ts

@Schema()
export class User extends Document {
  // If you pass predefined values to the `generate` function, you will be
  // able to access it in the context.
  @Factory((faker, ctx) => `${faker.location.streetAddress()} ${ctx.zipCode}`)
  @Prop({ required: true })
  address: string;
}

📜 License

@nestjs/seeder is MIT licensed.