Use Claude to Generate Typed Data Transfer Objects for Your API

Raw request arrays and untyped responses are a maintenance nightmare. DTOs give your API layer type safety, validation, and self-documenting structure. Claude generates them from a plain description.

Create PHP DTOs for my user registration API endpoint. I need a
CreateUserRequest DTO with: name (string, required), email (string,
required, valid email), password (string, required, min 8 chars),
and a UserResponse DTO with: id, name, email, created_at. Use
readonly properties and a static fromRequest() factory method.

Claude generates clean, immutable objects:

final readonly class CreateUserRequest
{
    public function __construct(
        public string $name,
        public string $email,
        public string $password,
    ) {}

    public static function fromRequest(Request $request): self
    {
        return new self(
            name: $request->validated('name'),
            email: $request->validated('email'),
            password: $request->validated('password'),
        );
    }
}

For TypeScript APIs, ask Claude to generate Zod schemas alongside the types:

Generate TypeScript DTOs with Zod validation for a product CRUD
API. Include CreateProductDto, UpdateProductDto (all fields
optional), and ProductResponseDto.

Claude also adds the transformation layer — toArray(), toJson(), and fromModel() methods — so your controllers stay thin and your API responses stay consistent.

DTOs are the boundary between messy input and clean code — let Claude scaffold them so every endpoint is type-safe from day one.