circe automatic derivation - struggling with the imports

Question

I have a method exposed on my API that looks like this:

def read[T](implicit decoder: Decoder[T]): T

A user can bring along any T they like and my code will attempt to parse the json result into a T .

The issue I want to resolve is that any user must also import io.circe.generic.auto._ in order to get this to work and auto-derive the Decoder[T] .

Is there any way I can change my API to avoid the user having to bring this import?

Answer 1

It could be if you do it in a library - implicits would easily conflict causing troubles for your users.

In Typelevel Scala 4 can use customizable imports - it didn't landed in Scala 2.12 but (after several iterations) landed on 2.13 . You could recommend your users have some implicits always in scope this way once 2.13.0 is released, but that will be conscious decision on their part.