How to Dynamically Map URL Queries to Type-Safe SQL (Drizzle ORM Architecture)

If you use an ORM like Drizzle or Prisma, you eventually run into a wall: How do you safely convert dynamic URL query strings into type-safe SQL queries? Imagine a user hits this endpoint from a data table on your frontend: GET /api/users?filter[name][ilike]=%jack%&filter[age][gte]=18&sort=-createdAt You need to convert that string into this Drizzle ORM execution: db.select() .from(users) .where( and( ilike(users.name, "%jack%"), gte(users.age, 18) ) ) .orderBy(desc(users.createdAt)); Most developers write a giant, brittle switch statement for every single API endpoint. It's unscalable, error-prone, and a massive security risk if not sanitized properly. In this post, we are going to look at the Dynamic Query Builder Architecture. This is the exact pattern I used to build the engine behind TableCraft, and you can use it to build your own generic API endpoints. 🧠 The Core Problem: String to AST You cannot just pass user input into database functions. You need an intermediate lay