Building a TypeScript SDK for an Autonomous Trucking TMS (Design, Types, and Testing)

Hook: Why your TMS integration needs a TypeScript SDK now

Integrating autonomous trucking capacity into a Transportation Management System (TMS) is business-critical and brittle: APIs change, webhooks arrive out of order, pagination kills integrations, and tests are flaky. In 2026, fleets and TMS vendors expect a reliable programmatic surface that enforces contracts and survives real-world edge cases. A well-designed TypeScript SDK removes the friction — it provides typed API contracts, safe pagination helpers, secure webhook verification, deterministic mocks for tests, and a CI pipeline for safe releases.

What you'll get from this guide

This article gives a pragmatic, step-by-step blueprint for building a production-ready TypeScript SDK for TMS integrations (autonomous trucks included). It covers:

• API contract strategies (OpenAPI, hand-written, runtime validation)
• Designing request/response types and pagination helpers
• Webhook delivery, signature verification, and idempotency
• Mocking strategies for reliable tests (msw, nock, Pact)
• CI deployment and publishing best practices (2026 trends included)
• Framework integration examples for Node, React, Next.js, and Vue

Context: Why this matters in 2026

The freight industry moved quickly in late 2024–2025. Integrations like Aurora and McLeod's TMS link proved that customers expect autonomous trucking to be a first-class capability inside existing TMS workflows. By 2026, integration expectations are higher: teams want typed contracts, deterministic SDKs, and streamable events. That means SDKs must be ESM-first, compatible with edge runtimes, and built with runtime schema checks to protect against silent breaking changes.

Design principles for a TMS SDK

Start with principles that scale across teams and systems. Keep them visible in your README and design docs.

• API-first: Publish an OpenAPI or JSON Schema as the canonical contract.
• Type-only safety + runtime checks: TypeScript for DX, zod/ajv for runtime validation.
• Small, predictable surface: Lean client, explicit options, and caution about global state.
• Idempotency and retries: Provide helpers for safe retries and idempotency keys.
• Isomorphic: Support Node, browser, and edge runtimes (Deno compatibility optional).
• Testability: Designed to be mocked and contract-tested.

API contracts: OpenAPI vs. hand-written types

Two common approaches:

1. Generate from OpenAPI — fast and consistent. Generate fetch wrappers and types, then layer runtime validation. Good for large teams with automated API changes.
2. Hand-written types — more control. Use hand-crafted TypeScript types plus runtime validators (zod). Easier when your API surface needs ergonomic helpers.

Example: a lightweight OpenAPI fragment for tendering a load (illustrative):

openapi: 3.0.1
paths:
  /loads/tender:
    post:
      requestBody:
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/TenderRequest'
      responses:
        201:
          description: Tender accepted
components:
  schemas:
    TenderRequest:
      type: object
      properties:
        origin:
          type: string
        destination:
          type: string
        weight:
          type: number
      required: [origin, destination, weight]

Type design: ergonomics and safety

Use discriminated unions, generics, and branded types to capture domain rules. Combine TypeScript types with runtime validators to avoid trusting external data.

import { z } from 'zod'

const TenderRequestSchema = z.object({
  id: z.string().uuid().optional(),
  origin: z.string(),
  destination: z.string(),
  weightKg: z.number().positive(),
  pickupWindow: z.object({start: z.string(), end: z.string()}).optional(),
})

export type TenderRequest = z.infer

const TenderResponseSchema = z.object({
  tenderId: z.string(),
  status: z.enum(['accepted','rejected','queued']),
})

type TenderResponse = z.infer

SDK client basics

Provide a small client with typed methods and a pluggable HTTP layer. Example: an isomorphic fetch-based client with injectable fetch for testing or edge runtime compatibility.

export interface ClientOptions {
  apiKey: string
  baseUrl?: string
  fetch?: typeof fetch
}

export class TmsClient {
  #apiKey: string
  #baseUrl: string
  #fetch: typeof fetch

  constructor(opts: ClientOptions) {
    this.#apiKey = opts.apiKey
    this.#baseUrl = opts.baseUrl ?? 'https://api.trucking.example'
    this.#fetch = opts.fetch ?? globalThis.fetch.bind(globalThis)
  }

  async tenderLoad(req: TenderRequest): Promise {
    const res = await this.#fetch(`${this.#baseUrl}/loads/tender`, {
      method: 'POST',
      headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${this.#apiKey}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
      body: JSON.stringify(req),
    })
    const body = await res.json()
    return TenderResponseSchema.parse(body)
  }
}

Handling pagination correctly

TMS APIs commonly use cursor-based or offset pagination. Offer a unified helper that returns an async iterator so consumers can stream results and avoid manual paging logic.

type Page = { items: T[]; nextCursor?: string }

async function* paginate(
  fetchPage: (cursor?: string) => Promise>,
  startCursor?: string
): AsyncGenerator {
  let cursor = startCursor
  while (true) {
    const page = await fetchPage(cursor)
    for (const item of page.items) yield item
    if (!page.nextCursor) return
    cursor = page.nextCursor
  }
}

// usage
for await (const shipment of paginate((c) => client.listShipments({cursor: c}))) {
  // process shipment
}

Webhooks: reliable delivery and security

Webhooks are the hardest part of TMS integrations: retries, out-of-order delivery, and signature verification matter. Design webhook payloads with an event type and a stable idempotency key.

Signature verification (HMAC) example

import crypto from 'crypto'

function verifySignature(secret: string, rawBody: string | Buffer, signature: string): boolean {
  const expected = crypto
    .createHmac('sha256', secret)
    .update(typeof rawBody === 'string' ? rawBody : rawBody.toString())
    .digest('hex')
  return crypto.timingSafeEqual(Buffer.from(expected), Buffer.from(signature))
}

In Node servers or Next.js API routes make sure to access the raw body for signature checks. Provide adapters for Express, Fastify, and serverless/edge functions.

Idempotency and deduplication

• Require events to include a stable eventId.
• Expose an SDK helper to store processedIds in a fast store (Redis) with TTL.
• Provide a built-in dedup store adapter interface for consumers.

Mocking for tests: deterministic and fast

Reliable tests are critical. In 2026, msw remains the de-facto library for request mocking across Node and browser. For Node-only tests, nock is an option. For contract testing, use Pact or OpenAPI-based contract tests.

msw example (Node + browser)

import { rest } from 'msw'
import { setupServer } from 'msw/node'

const server = setupServer(
  rest.post('https://api.trucking.example/loads/tender', (req, res, ctx) => {
    const body = req.json()
    return res(ctx.status(201), ctx.json({tenderId: 't-123', status: 'accepted'}))
  })
)

beforeAll(() => server.listen())
afterAll(() => server.close())

Use fixtures and typed factories to generate valid payloads. This prevents TypeScript drift between your tests and the real API.

Testing strategies beyond unit tests

• Contract tests: Verify SDK expectations against API schemas using Pact or schema-based tests.
• Integration tests: Run tests against a staging API with CI secrets, but quarantine slow tests.
• Webhook end-to-end tests: Use ephemeral tunnels (ngrok, localtunnel) or a replay service to simulate webhook delivery in CI.

CI and publishing (2026 best practices)

Automate build, test, and publishing. Key points for 2026: ESM-first bundles, type declaration files, and reproducible builds. Consider supporting Deno or providing a Deno-compatible distribution if your audience requires it.

Build and package

• Bundle with tsup or rollup to produce ESM and CJS artifacts.
• Emit declaration files (declaration: true) and publish types alongside the package.
• Use conditional exports in package.json to point to ESM/CJS and a separate entry for browser (if needed).

Sample GitHub Actions pipeline

name: CI
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
  build-test:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
        with:
          version: 8
      - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: pnpm test --reporter=dot
      - run: pnpm build

  publish:
    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build-test
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
      - run: pnpm build
      - name: Publish to npm
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: '20'
          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
      - run: pnpm publish --access public
        env:
          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

Framework integration examples

Node (CLI / worker)

import { TmsClient } from '@acme/tms-sdk'

const client = new TmsClient({ apiKey: process.env.TMS_KEY })
await client.tenderLoad({ origin: 'PHX', destination: 'LAX', weightKg: 12000 })

React (browser)

import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
import { TmsClient } from '@acme/tms-sdk'

export function useShipments() {
  const [list, setList] = useState([])
  useEffect(() => {
    const client = new TmsClient({ apiKey: process.env.REACT_APP_TMS_KEY })
    client.listShipments().then(r => setList(r.items))
  }, [])
  return list
}

Next.js API Route for webhooks

export default async function handler(req, res) {
  const raw = await buffer(req) // make sure raw body available
  if (!verifySignature(process.env.WEBHOOK_SECRET, raw, req.headers['x-signature'])) {
    return res.status(401).end()
  }
  const payload = JSON.parse(raw.toString())
  // validate and process
  res.status(200).send('ok')
}

Vue (Composition API)

import { ref, onMounted } from 'vue'
import { TmsClient } from '@acme/tms-sdk'

export function useTmsShipments() {
  const shipments = ref([])
  onMounted(async () => {
    const client = new TmsClient({ apiKey: process.env.VUE_APP_TMS_KEY })
    const page = await client.listShipments()
    shipments.value = page.items
  })
  return { shipments }
}

Observability, retries, and robustness

• Timeouts and aborts: Always support AbortController so callers can cancel long requests.
• Retry policies: Expose retry options and idempotency keys for mutating endpoints.
• Telemetry: Add configurable telemetry hooks instead of builtin analytics (respect privacy rules and SOC/TISPs).

Maintenance: docs, changelog, and semantic versioning

Keep a clear changelog and follow semver. For breaking changes, publish migration guides and deprecation notices in advance. Use typed examples in your docs and provide a playground repo that demonstrates Node, React, Next.js, and Vue usage.

Actionable checklist

1. Publish OpenAPI or JSON Schema as the canonical contract.
2. Ship TypeScript types + runtime validators (zod/ajv).
3. Provide async pagination helpers and idempotency utilities.
4. Implement webhook verification adapters and a deduplication store interface.
5. Use msw for deterministic tests; add contract tests with Pact or OpenAPI checks.
6. Build ESM/CJS bundles, emit types, and automate publishing via CI with gated releases.
7. Provide examples for Node, React, Next.js, and Vue.

Future predictions (2026+)

Looking ahead, expect three trends to shape SDK design:

• Edge-first compatibility: SDKs will need to run on edge functions; small, dependency-free builds will win.
• Runtime contract enforcement: Teams will adopt lightweight runtime checks in production to fail fast on API drift.
• AI-assisted schema generation: Large-language-model tools will speed schema generation from logs and sample traffic, but you still must review and test those schemas.

Case in point: Autonomous trucking integrations

When a TMS partner exposes autonomous truck capacity, customers expect the same tendering and tracking semantics they use for human drivers. A TypeScript SDK helps ensure those semantics are preserved across customers and versions. It also provides a safe upgrade path as autonomous fleets and APIs evolve — exactly what industry-first integrations needed in 2025 and will need even more in 2026.

Parting takeaways

Building a TypeScript SDK for a TMS is not just about types — it's about reliability, testability, and operational safety. Protect integration points with runtime validation, make pagination and webhooks ergonomic, and invest in deterministic mocks and CI pipelines. In 2026, customers will choose platforms that make integrations simple and safe.

"An SDK is a contract with your integrators — design it to be trustworthy, testable, and tiny enough to run where they need it."

Call to action

Ready to ship an SDK that enterprise TMS teams will trust? Download the starter repo with code samples for Node, React, Next.js, and Vue, plus CI workflows and automated contract tests. Want a code review or migration plan for your TMS integration? Reach out or subscribe to our TypeScript SDK newsletter for monthly playbooks and templates.

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