Writable

The writable option controls whether an attribute can be set during create or update requests.

WARNING

Only attributes backed by a database column can be writable. Virtual attributes (methods) cannot be written.

Basic Usage

attribute :title, writable: true        # Writable on create AND update
attribute :title, writable: false       # Read-only (default)

Context-Specific Writing

Control which actions allow writing:

attribute :bio, writable: :create       # Only on create
attribute :verified, writable: :update  # Only on update
attribute :name, writable: true         # Both create and update

Generated Payload Types

Apiwork generates separate types for create and update based on writable declarations:

class AuthorRepresentation < Apiwork::Representation::Base
  attribute :name, writable: true
  attribute :bio, writable: :create
  attribute :verified, writable: :update
end

Create payload — includes name and bio:

export interface AuthorCreatePayload {
  name: string;
  bio?: string;
}

Update payload — includes name and verified:

export interface AuthorUpdatePayload {
  name?: string;
  verified?: boolean;
}

The actual request shape (how payloads are shaped) depends on the adapter. See the adapter documentation for details.

TIP

The Standard Adapter wraps writable attributes under the resource key in the request body.

Write-Only

The write_only option excludes an attribute from response serialization and response types while keeping it in writable payloads.

class UserRepresentation < Apiwork::Representation::Base
  attribute :email, writable: true
  attribute :password, writable: :create, write_only: true
  attribute :password_confirmation, writable: :create, write_only: true
end

The password and password_confirmation attributes are accepted in create requests but never included in API responses. Generated types reflect this:

Response type — excludes write-only attributes:

export interface User {
  email: string;
}

Create payload — includes write-only attributes:

export interface UserCreatePayload {
  email: string;
  password: string;
  passwordConfirmation: string;
}

TIP

write_only is typically combined with writable — a write-only attribute that is not writable is excluded from both requests and responses.

Examples

• Value Transforms — Transform values during serialization and handle nil/empty conversion