Field Modifiers

Modifiers enrich the stored type selected by a primitive or structured builder. Every modifier returns the same chainable FieldBuilder.

const title = bd
  .text()
  .required()
  .indexed()
  .description('Customer-facing project title.')
  .helper('Use the title shown in the signed proposal.')

Schema modifiers

Modifier	Effect
`.required()`	Sets `isRequired: true` and `isNullable: false`
`.optional()`	Sets `isRequired: false` and `isNullable: true`
`.nullable(value?)`	Explicitly controls nullability; defaults to `true`
`.default(value)`	Adds a default value
`.indexed(value?)`	Requests an index; defaults to `true`
`.unique(value?)`	Requests uniqueness; defaults to `true`
`.description(text)`	Adds schema-facing documentation

.required() and .optional() are schema/nullability declarations. They are not the same operation as running validateFieldValue() against notNull.

Renderer metadata

Modifier	Effect
`.helper(text)`	Adds renderer-facing helper text
`.formElement(type, metadata?)`	Chooses preferred input intent
`.dynamicOptions(config)`	Describes an endpoint-backed choice source

const assignee = bd
  .text()
  .formElement('dropdown')
  .dynamicOptions({
    endpoint: '/api/team-members',
    method: 'GET',
    cachePolicy: 'stale-while-revalidate',
  })

The SDK stores the endpoint metadata but does not fetch choices during schema compilation. The renderer owns that request.

Modifier	Effect
`.validate(rules)`	Merges a `ValidationRules` object
`.requiredIf(condition)`	Adds conditional presence metadata
`.regex(pattern)`	Adds a string pattern rule
`.check(sql)`	Stores `validation.checkExpression`

Storage and security intent

Modifier	Local metadata
`.strategy(mode, tableName?)`	Emits `flattened`, `jsonb`, or `separateTable` storage intent
`.encrypted()`	User-scoped encryption intent
`.encryptedLight()`	Master-key encryption intent
`.private()`	Private-field intent

strategy and separateTableName are emitted by toJSONSchema() in 0.9.50. Encryption and private-field metadata are still local-only; do not treat those security modifiers as end-to-end server enforcement until the receiving API carries them.

All RAW_JSON-backed object form elements can use .strategy('jsonb'), including object, address, measurement, availability, date range, geo, time slot, and structured date-time values. MultiPopulator uses the same strategy metadata when binding repeated entries to a JSONB field.

Relationship modifiers

.references(), .belongsToMany(), and .onDelete() operate on relation builders. They are covered after the core field topics in Relationships and Extensions.

Next: Validation.