Writing a Custom Resource Provider
A provider is what gives meaning to a Resource
declaration. When you yield* a resource inside a Stack, Alchemy
looks up the provider for that resource’s type and calls the
appropriate lifecycle method — reconcile, delete, and
optionally diff, read, precreate, tail, logs.
Providers are just Effect Layers, which means adding support for
a new cloud or third-party API is “declare a type, implement a
Layer” — no codegen, no registry, no schema.
This guide walks through building a Stripe Product provider
end-to-end: declaring props and attributes, defining the resource
type, implementing the lifecycle, bundling it into a providers()
layer, and writing a test.
See Provider for the conceptual overview and Resource Lifecycle for the semantics of when each lifecycle method fires.
Declare props and attributes
Section titled “Declare props and attributes”Every resource has two sides:
- Input properties — the desired configuration you pass in
- Output attributes — the values the cloud returns after creation
Start with two plain TypeScript types. Both are pure data, so they’re trivial to share between the provider and call sites.
Create src/stripe/Product.ts:
export interface StripeProductProps { name: string; description?: string; active?: boolean;}
export interface StripeProductAttributes { productId: string; created: number;}Declare the Resource type
Section titled “Declare the Resource type”A Resource<Type, Props, Attributes> is a phantom type that ties a
string Type to its props and attributes. The string Type (here
"Stripe.Product") is what Alchemy uses to look up the provider at
plan time — it must be globally unique.
import { Resource } from "alchemy";
export interface StripeProductProps { name: string; description?: string; active?: boolean;}
export interface StripeProductAttributes { productId: string; created: number;}
export type StripeProduct = Resource< "Stripe.Product", StripeProductProps, StripeProductAttributes>;Declare the Resource constructor (the “tag”)
Section titled “Declare the Resource constructor (the “tag”)”Resource<T>(type) returns the value users actually call —
StripeProduct("Pro", { ... }). It also doubles as the tag
the provider Layer registers itself against, so by convention the
type and the value share the same name.
import { Resource } from "alchemy";
// ... props / attributes / type unchanged ...
export type StripeProduct = Resource< "Stripe.Product", StripeProductProps, StripeProductAttributes>;
export const StripeProduct = Resource<StripeProduct>("Stripe.Product");You can already use this constructor in a stack — but with no
provider registered, planning will fail with Provider not found for Stripe.Product. Let’s fix that.
Scaffold the provider layer
Section titled “Scaffold the provider layer”A provider layer is a Layer<Provider<R>> produced by
Provider.effect(ResourceClass, effect). The inner Effect
constructs a ProviderService — an object with reconcile,
delete (required) and optional hooks like diff, read,
precreate.
Start with stubs so the types compile, then fill them in:
import { Resource } from "alchemy";import * as Provider from "alchemy/Provider";import { Resource } from "alchemy";import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";
// ... props / attributes / type / constructor unchanged ...
export const StripeProduct = Resource<StripeProduct>("Stripe.Product");
export const StripeProductProvider = () => Provider.effect( StripeProduct, Effect.gen(function* () { return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ reconcile: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), delete: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), }); }), );A few patterns worth knowing:
Provider.effectwraps an Effect that returns aProviderServiceinto aLayer<Provider<StripeProduct>>.StripeProduct.Provider.of({...})is a typed constructor — it forces every method’s input/output to match the resource’s props and attributes.- The outer
Effect.genruns once when the layer is built. Use it to acquire shared dependencies (clients, credentials, HTTP).
Acquire dependencies in the outer Effect
Section titled “Acquire dependencies in the outer Effect”The Stripe API needs a client, and the client needs an API key. Don’t take the key as a constructor argument — that puts it in your code, your env, or your CI secret store, and ignores the profile/login system that makes Alchemy ergonomic across stages.
Instead, declare a StripeCredentials service. Later we’ll
implement an AuthProvider that supplies it from the configured
profile (or env on CI).
Create src/stripe/Credentials.ts:
import * as Context from "effect/Context";import * as Redacted from "effect/Redacted";
export class StripeCredentials extends Context.Tag("StripeCredentials")< StripeCredentials, { apiKey: Redacted.Redacted<string> }>() {}Yield it inside the provider’s outer Effect, then build the SDK client once. Anything you yield there becomes a requirement on the resulting Layer:
import * as Provider from "alchemy/Provider";import { Resource } from "alchemy";import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";import * as Redacted from "effect/Redacted";import Stripe from "stripe";import { StripeCredentials } from "./Credentials.ts";
// ...
export const StripeProductProvider = () => Provider.effect( StripeProduct, Effect.gen(function* () { const { apiKey } = yield* StripeCredentials; const stripe = new Stripe(Redacted.value(apiKey));
return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ reconcile: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), delete: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), }); }), );The provider Layer now has type
Layer<Provider<StripeProduct>, never, StripeCredentials> —
Alchemy won’t let you use it in a stack without supplying
credentials. We’ll provide them via an AuthProvider in a later
step.
Implement reconcile
Section titled “Implement reconcile”reconcile is the single lifecycle method that converges the
cloud’s actual state to the desired state. It runs on every apply
— first-time provisioning, routine updates, and adoption
takeovers — so its body must work correctly for all three.
It receives news (resolved input props), id (logical ID),
instanceId (deterministic suffix), bindings, plus two
context-dependent inputs:
output: Attributes | undefined—undefinedon greenfield creates; defined on updates and on adoption (where the engine imported an existing cloud resource viaread).olds: Props | undefined—undefinedon greenfield AND on adoption (the engine has no prior props for a resource it just discovered); defined only on routine updates.
A reconciler is shaped like:
1. Observe — derive the physical id; read live cloud state2. Ensure — if missing, create it; tolerate AlreadyExists/etc.3. Sync — for each mutable aspect: read observed, diff vs desired, apply only the delta4. Return — fresh AttributesDon’t branch the body on output === undefined
Writing if (output === undefined) { /* create body */ } else { /* update body */ }
just renames the old create/update split. The reconciler must be a single
flow that produces correct cloud state regardless of starting point. Trust
observed cloud state, not olds.
For the Stripe product, the SDK gives us retrieve, create, and
update. The reconciler observes via retrieve, ensures via
create (catching the cached-id case), and syncs the mutable name
- description + active flag in a single
updatecall:
return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ reconcile: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), reconcile: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, output }) { // Observe — fetch live state if we have a cached id. let product = output?.productId ? yield* Effect.tryPromise(() => stripe.products.retrieve(output.productId), ).pipe(Effect.catchAll(() => Effect.succeed(undefined))) : undefined;
// Ensure — create if missing. if (!product) { product = yield* Effect.tryPromise(() => stripe.products.create({ name: news.name, description: news.description, active: news.active, }), ); }
// Sync — patch any mutable field that drifted from desired. if ( product.name !== news.name || product.description !== (news.description ?? null) || product.active !== (news.active ?? true) ) { product = yield* Effect.tryPromise(() => stripe.products.update(product!.id, { name: news.name, description: news.description, active: news.active, }), ); }
return { productId: product.id, created: product.created, }; }), delete: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), });The reconciler is idempotent by construction — running it
twice with the same news and a fresh output cache produces
the same end state. Alchemy may retry it if state persistence
fails, and the same body recovers gracefully. Adoption (where
output is set but olds is undefined) goes through the same
path: retrieve finds the resource, the sync step rewrites any
fields that drifted from news, and we’re converged.
Implement delete
Section titled “Implement delete”delete runs when the resource is removed from code, replaced, or
when alchemy destroy runs.
return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ reconcile: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, output }) { /* ... */ }), delete: () => Effect.die("not implemented"), delete: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ output }) { yield* Effect.tryPromise(() => stripe.products.del(output.productId), ).pipe( Effect.catchAll((cause) => cause instanceof Error && cause.message.includes("No such product") ? Effect.void : Effect.fail(cause), ), ); }), });Implement diff (optional)
Section titled “Implement diff (optional)”Some property changes can’t be applied in place. For Stripe
products the name is mutable but (hypothetically) the
description is not — changing it requires recreating the
product. Implement diff to tell Alchemy which kind of change to
plan.
diff runs at plan time, before update, and returns one of:
{ action: "noop" }— change is trivial, skipupdate{ action: "update", stables?: [...] }— apply in place{ action: "replace", deleteFirst?: boolean }— destroy and recreateundefined/void— fall back to default (treat asupdate)
import { isResolved } from "alchemy/Diff";
// ...
return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ diff: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, olds }) { if (!isResolved(news)) return undefined; if (news.description !== olds.description) { return { action: "replace" } as const; } return undefined; }), reconcile: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, output }) { /* ... */ }), delete: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ output }) { /* ... */ }), });For attributes that are immutable across all updates (e.g.
the Stripe productId, an ARN), declare them in
stables at the top level:
return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ stables: ["productId"], diff: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, olds }) { /* ... */ }), // ... });Implement read (optional, for recovery and adoption)
Section titled “Implement read (optional, for recovery and adoption)”The engine calls read whenever a resource has no prior state, both
to recover from interrupted reconciles and to import pre-existing
cloud resources into a fresh state store. Returning undefined tells
Alchemy the resource doesn’t exist and should be created.
return StripeProduct.Provider.of({ stables: ["productId"], diff: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, olds }) { /* ... */ }), read: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ output }) { if (!output?.productId) return undefined; const product = yield* Effect.tryPromise(() => stripe.products.retrieve(output.productId), ).pipe( Effect.catchAll(() => Effect.succeed(undefined)), ); if (!product) return undefined; return { productId: product.id, created: product.created }; }), reconcile: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ news, output }) { /* ... */ }), delete: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ output }) { /* ... */ }), });This Stripe example only finds resources by an ID we previously
saved (output.productId) — without a prior output it can’t
locate anything, so it returns undefined. That’s a fine default.
Ownership-aware reads. If your provider can detect an existing
resource from props alone (e.g. by tag-aware lookup or deterministic
naming), brand the returned attributes with Unowned when they
belong to someone else:
import { Unowned } from "alchemy/AdoptPolicy";
read: Effect.fnUntraced(function* ({ id, olds }) { const live = yield* lookupByName(olds.name); if (!live) return undefined; const attrs = { productId: live.id, created: live.created }; // Compare tags/owner against this stack/stage/id. return ownsResource(id, live.tags) ? attrs : Unowned(attrs);}),The engine uses this to decide:
- plain attrs → silently import the resource as our own
Unowned(attrs)→ fail withOwnedBySomeoneElseunless the user passed--adopt(or wrapped the effect inadopt(true)), in which case it’s a takeover.
See Resource Lifecycle › Adoption for the full flow.
Implement an AuthProvider
Section titled “Implement an AuthProvider”Alchemy ships a profile/login system: alchemy login walks the
user through configuring credentials, stores them under
~/.alchemy/credentials/{profile}/{provider}.json, and resolves
them per-stack at deploy time. CI runs read from environment
variables instead.
Plug into it by implementing AuthProvider. It’s a five-method
interface — configure, login, logout, prettyPrint, read
— that Alchemy’s login command and credential-resolution layer
both use.
Declare the config and resolved-credentials types
Section titled “Declare the config and resolved-credentials types”Start with two types per supported method (env, stored, OAuth,
etc.). The Config is what gets persisted under the profile; the
Resolved shape is what your provider Layer consumes:
import * as Redacted from "effect/Redacted";
export type StripeAuthConfig = | { method: "env" } | { method: "stored" };
export type StripeStoredCredentials = { apiKey: string;};
export type StripeResolvedCredentials = { apiKey: Redacted.Redacted<string>; source: { type: StripeAuthConfig["method"] };};
export const STRIPE_AUTH_PROVIDER_NAME = "Stripe";const STORAGE_KEY = "stripe-stored";Build the AuthProvider layer
Section titled “Build the AuthProvider layer”AuthProviderLayer<Config, Credentials>()(name, impl) wraps your
implementation in a Layer that registers itself into Alchemy’s
AuthProviders registry. alchemy login discovers it by name.
import * as Console from "effect/Console";import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";import * as Match from "effect/Match";import * as Redacted from "effect/Redacted";import { AuthError, AuthProviderLayer, type ConfigureContext,} from "alchemy/Auth/AuthProvider";import { deleteCredentials, displayRedacted, readCredentials, writeCredentials,} from "alchemy/Auth/Credentials";import { getEnvRedacted, retryOnce } from "alchemy/Auth/Env";import * as Clank from "alchemy/Util/Clank";
// ... config / credential types unchanged ...
export const StripeAuth = AuthProviderLayer< StripeAuthConfig, StripeResolvedCredentials>()(STRIPE_AUTH_PROVIDER_NAME, { configure: (profileName, ctx) => configureCredentials(profileName, ctx), login: (profileName, config) => login(profileName, config), logout: (profileName, config) => logout(profileName, config), prettyPrint: (profileName, config) => prettyPrint(profileName, config), read: (profileName, config) => resolveCredentials(profileName, config),});configure — pick a method (with Clank prompts)
Section titled “configure — pick a method (with Clank prompts)”configure runs once when the user runs alchemy login for a
profile that doesn’t yet have a Stripe entry. Use
alchemy/Util/Clank
for terminal prompts — it wraps @clack/prompts in Effect with
proper cancellation handling.
const configureCredentials = (profileName: string, ctx: ConfigureContext) => Effect.gen(function* () { if (ctx.ci) { return { method: "env" as const }; }
const method = yield* Clank.select({ message: "Stripe authentication method", options: [ { value: "env" as const, label: "Environment Variables", hint: "STRIPE_API_KEY", }, { value: "stored" as const, label: "API Key", hint: "enter interactively, stored in ~/.alchemy/credentials", }, ], }).pipe(retryOnce);
return yield* Match.value(method).pipe( Match.when("env", () => Effect.succeed({ method: "env" as const })), Match.when("stored", () => loginStored(profileName)), Match.exhaustive, ); }).pipe( Effect.mapError( (e) => new AuthError({ message: "configure failed", cause: e }), ), );
const loginStored = Effect.fnUntraced(function* (profileName: string) { const apiKey = yield* Clank.password({ message: "Stripe API Key", validate: (v) => v.length === 0 ? "Required" : v.startsWith("sk_") || v.startsWith("rk_") ? undefined : "Expected a key starting with sk_ or rk_", }).pipe(retryOnce);
yield* writeCredentials<StripeStoredCredentials>( profileName, STORAGE_KEY, { apiKey: Redacted.value(apiKey) }, ); yield* Clank.success("Stripe: credentials saved.");
return { method: "stored" as const };});Clank provides select, text, password, confirm,
multiselect, success, info, warn, error, and openUrl
— enough to build any login flow including OAuth device codes.
Wrap each prompt in retryOnce so a stray Ctrl+C doesn’t abort
the whole login.
login / logout — handle re-auth and credential removal
Section titled “login / logout — handle re-auth and credential removal”login runs whenever alchemy login is invoked for an
already-configured profile (e.g. to refresh an expired token).
logout removes stored credentials.
const login = (profileName: string, config: StripeAuthConfig) => Match.value(config).pipe( Match.when({ method: "env" }, () => Effect.void), Match.when({ method: "stored" }, () => readCredentials<StripeStoredCredentials>(profileName, STORAGE_KEY).pipe( Effect.flatMap((creds) => creds == null ? loginStored(profileName).pipe(Effect.asVoid) : Effect.void, ), ), ), Match.exhaustive, );
const logout = (profileName: string, config: StripeAuthConfig) => Match.value(config).pipe( Match.when({ method: "env" }, () => Effect.void), Match.when({ method: "stored" }, () => deleteCredentials(profileName, STORAGE_KEY).pipe( Effect.andThen(Clank.success("Stripe: stored credentials removed")), ), ), Match.exhaustive, );read — resolve credentials at deploy time
Section titled “read — resolve credentials at deploy time”read is called every deploy to materialize the credentials. For
env, pull from environment variables (using getEnvRedacted so
the value stays redacted); for stored, read from the credentials
file under the profile.
const resolveCredentials = ( profileName: string, config: StripeAuthConfig,) => Match.value(config).pipe( Match.when({ method: "env" }, () => Effect.gen(function* () { const apiKey = yield* getEnvRedacted("STRIPE_API_KEY"); if (!apiKey) { return yield* new AuthError({ message: "Stripe env credentials not found. Set STRIPE_API_KEY.", }); } return { apiKey, source: { type: "env" as const }, } satisfies StripeResolvedCredentials; }), ), Match.when({ method: "stored" }, () => readCredentials<StripeStoredCredentials>(profileName, STORAGE_KEY).pipe( Effect.flatMap((creds) => creds == null ? Effect.fail( new AuthError({ message: "Stripe stored credentials not found. Run: alchemy login --configure", }), ) : Effect.succeed({ apiKey: Redacted.make(creds.apiKey), source: { type: "stored" as const }, } satisfies StripeResolvedCredentials), ), ), ), Match.exhaustive, );prettyPrint — show resolved credentials in alchemy auth
Section titled “prettyPrint — show resolved credentials in alchemy auth”const prettyPrint = (profileName: string, config: StripeAuthConfig) => resolveCredentials(profileName, config).pipe( Effect.tap((creds) => Effect.all([ Console.log(` apiKey: ${displayRedacted(creds.apiKey, 7)}`), Console.log(` source: ${creds.source.type}`), ]), ), Effect.catch((e) => Console.error(` Failed to retrieve credentials: ${e}`), ), );Wire credentials into the provider
Section titled “Wire credentials into the provider”The provider needs StripeCredentials; the AuthProvider produces
StripeResolvedCredentials. Bridge them with a fromAuthProvider
layer that resolves the auth provider from the registry, runs
read, and supplies the result as StripeCredentials:
// src/stripe/Credentials.ts (additions)import * as Config from "effect/Config";import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";import * as Layer from "effect/Layer";import { getAuthProvider } from "alchemy/Auth/AuthProvider";import { ALCHEMY_PROFILE, loadOrConfigure } from "alchemy/Auth/Profile";import { STRIPE_AUTH_PROVIDER_NAME, type StripeAuthConfig, type StripeResolvedCredentials,} from "./AuthProvider.ts";
export const fromAuthProvider = () => Layer.effect( StripeCredentials, Effect.gen(function* () { const auth = yield* getAuthProvider< StripeAuthConfig, StripeResolvedCredentials >(STRIPE_AUTH_PROVIDER_NAME); const profileName = yield* ALCHEMY_PROFILE; const ci = yield* Config.boolean("CI").pipe(Config.withDefault(false));
const config = yield* loadOrConfigure(auth, profileName, { ci }); const creds = yield* auth.read(profileName, config as StripeAuthConfig); return { apiKey: creds.apiKey }; }), );loadOrConfigure reads any existing config for the profile, and
falls back to configure (interactive in TTYs, env in CI) if
nothing is stored yet. ALCHEMY_PROFILE resolves the active
profile name (default unless ALCHEMY_PROFILE is set).
Bundle into a providers() layer
Section titled “Bundle into a providers() layer”Users expect the same one-line ergonomics as the built-ins
(Cloudflare.providers(), AWS.providers()). Bundle everything
into a single layer: the resource collection, every provider
implementation, the credentials bridge, and the AuthProviderLayer
so alchemy login can discover it.
import * as Provider from "alchemy/Provider";import * as Layer from "effect/Layer";import { StripeAuth } from "./AuthProvider.ts";import { fromAuthProvider } from "./Credentials.ts";import { StripeProduct, StripeProductProvider } from "./Product.ts";
export class Providers extends Provider.ProviderCollection<Providers>()( "Stripe",) {}
export const providers = () => Layer.effect( Providers, Provider.collection([StripeProduct]), ).pipe( Layer.provide(StripeProductProvider()), Layer.provideMerge(fromAuthProvider()), Layer.provideMerge(StripeAuth), );Layer.provide (private) wires each resource provider to the
collection, while Layer.provideMerge (public) keeps the auth
machinery in scope so the host stack can also use it.
Now users plug your providers in like any built-in — no API key in sight:
import * as Alchemy from "alchemy";import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";import * as Stripe from "./src/stripe";
export default Alchemy.Stack( "MyApp", { providers: Stripe.providers() }, Effect.gen(function* () { const pro = yield* Stripe.Product("Pro", { name: "Pro plan", description: "Everything in Free, plus...", }); return { productId: pro.productId }; }),);The first time they deploy, Alchemy walks them through
alchemy login (or reads STRIPE_API_KEY on CI), stores the
result under their profile, and resolves it for every subsequent
deploy.
To mix with another cloud, merge the layers:
import * as Layer from "effect/Layer";
providers: Layer.mergeAll(Cloudflare.providers(), Stripe.providers()),Test the lifecycle
Section titled “Test the lifecycle”Alchemy’s test harness (alchemy/Test/Vitest or alchemy/Test/Bun)
configures providers + state once at the top of the file, then
exposes test.provider(name, (stack) => ...) for provider-level
tests. Each test.provider body receives a fresh in-memory scratch
stack with .deploy(effect) and .destroy() helpers.
Create test/Product.test.ts:
import * as Test from "alchemy/Test/Vitest";import { expect } from "@effect/vitest";import * as Effect from "effect/Effect";import Stripe from "stripe";import * as StripeProvider from "../src/stripe";
// Configure providers once per file. Credentials resolve through the// same AuthProvider system as `alchemy deploy` — set STRIPE_API_KEY// (with `method: "env"`) or run `alchemy login` against a test// profile beforehand.const { test } = Test.make({ providers: StripeProvider.providers() });
const stripe = new Stripe(process.env.STRIPE_API_KEY!);
test.provider( "create, update, delete a product", (stack) => Effect.gen(function* () { // Create const created = yield* stack.deploy( Effect.gen(function* () { return yield* StripeProvider.Product("TestProduct", { name: "v1", description: "first version", }); }), ); expect(created.productId).toBeDefined();
const live1 = yield* Effect.promise(() => stripe.products.retrieve(created.productId), ); expect(live1.name).toBe("v1");
// Update (in place) const updated = yield* stack.deploy( Effect.gen(function* () { return yield* StripeProvider.Product("TestProduct", { name: "v2", description: "first version", }); }), ); expect(updated.productId).toBe(created.productId);
const live2 = yield* Effect.promise(() => stripe.products.retrieve(updated.productId), ); expect(live2.name).toBe("v2");
// Destroy yield* stack.destroy(); }),);To verify replacement semantics, change a stables field (or the
field your diff flags as replace) and assert that
updated.productId !== created.productId.
Reference implementations
Section titled “Reference implementations”If you’d rather start from a real provider:
Axiom/VirtualField.ts— minimal CRUD withdiffandreadCloudflare/R2/Bucket.ts— production provider with bindings and replace semanticsAxiom/AuthProvider.ts— fullAuthProviderwithenv+storedmethods andClankpromptsAxiom/Credentials.ts—fromAuthProvider()bridge layerAxiom/Providers.ts— example of bundling aproviders()layer withAuthProviderLayer