Pipeline Flow

The tsbindgen pipeline transforms .NET assemblies through six distinct phases.

Phase 1: Load

File: Load/AssemblyLoader.cs

Loads .NET assemblies using MetadataLoadContext and reflects all type information.

Input: Assembly file paths Output: Initial SymbolGraph with raw CLR data

Operations:

1. Create MetadataLoadContext for isolated assembly inspection
2. Load each assembly from disk
3. Reflect all public types and their members
4. Build TypeSymbol for each type
5. Create NamespaceSymbol groupings

Phase 2: Model (Index Building)

File: Builder.cs (inline)

Builds indices for fast type lookup and applies library mode filtering.

Operations:

1. Build TypeIndex dictionary (CLR full name to TypeSymbol)
2. Apply --lib filtering (exclude types from library package)
3. Resolve forward references between types

Phase 3: Shape (23 Transformation Passes)

File: Shape/*.cs

Transforms the symbol graph for TypeScript emission. See shape.md for all passes.

Phase 3.5: Normalize

File: Normalize/NameReservation.cs

Reserves all TypeScript identifiers and resolves conflicts. See normalize.md.

Phase 4: Plan

File: Plan/*.cs

Plans all import/export statements and validates invariants. See plan.md.

Phase 5: Emit

File: Emit/*.cs

Generates TypeScript declaration files. See emit.md.

Pipeline Orchestration

File: Builder.cs

public static void Build(BuildContext ctx, GenerateOptions options)
{
    // Phase 1: Load
    var graph = AssemblyLoader.Load(ctx, options.Assemblies);

    // Phase 2: Model
    graph = BuildIndices(graph);

    // Phase 3: Shape (23 passes)
    graph = StructuralConformance.Analyze(ctx, graph);
    graph = ViewPlanner.Plan(ctx, graph);
    // ... more passes ...

    // Phase 3.5: Normalize
    NameReservation.ReserveAll(ctx, graph);

    // Phase 4: Plan
    var emissionPlan = EmissionPlanner.Plan(ctx, graph, ...);
    PhaseGate.Validate(ctx, emissionPlan);

    // Phase 5: Emit
    InternalIndexEmitter.Emit(ctx, emissionPlan, options.OutDir);
    FacadeEmitter.Emit(ctx, emissionPlan, options.OutDir);
    FamilyIndexEmitter.Emit(ctx, families, options.OutDir);  // families.json
}