Enumbrite

Enumbrite is a software library designed to enhance the use of enumerated types across programming languages by providing strongly typed, extensible enums with built-in validation and serialization support. It aims to improve safety and interoperability when enumerations are exchanged between services or persisted in data stores, emphasizing stability and broad language coverage.

Developed by an open-source team in the late 2010s, Enumbrite was released to improve safety and interoperability when enumerations are exchanged between services or persisted in data stores. The project emphasizes stability, backward compatibility, and broad language coverage, seeking to be a practical tool for both client and server codebases.

Key features include strict type safety, runtime value validation, and metadata support that allows enums to carry attributes such as descriptions or categories. It also offers code generation for multiple target languages, customizable value mappings, and seamless JSON or YAML serialization, enabling consistent representation across platforms and systems.

The core design centers on a lightweight Enum type and an accompanying registry that can be extended with plugins for validators and serializers. It favors deterministic behavior across environments and provides utilities for pattern matching, iteration, and comparison, simplifying common enum-related tasks.

In practice, Enumbrite is used to define domain-specific enumerations that must remain stable over time, support data exchange with APIs, and integrate with object-relational mappers. Users typically declare enums once and then consume them through generated bindings in client code, reducing boilerplate and divergence.

Reception has been generally positive in enterprise contexts, cited for reducing invalid states and improving readability. Critics point to a steeper learning curve and a modest ecosystem, but the library is regarded as a useful option for language-agnostic enum management.