Widgets

A widget is how a field renders. It is independent of the type and of the fill.

Most fields never name one — each type has a default that is right most of the time.

The matrix

Type	Legal widgets	Default
text	text, textarea	text
integer	number, slider	number
number	number, slider	number
boolean	checkbox	checkbox
date	date	date
enum	select, radio	select
array	checkboxes	checkboxes
object	none	—
map	none	—

The first entry is always the default.

Choosing one

// Long free text.
{ "name": "notes", "type": "text", "widget": "textarea" },

// A bounded rating reads better as a slider.
{ "name": "rating", "type": "integer", "widget": "slider", "min": 1, "max": 5, "step": 1 },

// Three options, always visible, one click each.
{ "name": "sentiment", "type": "enum", "widget": "radio", "choices": [ /* … */ ] },

Rules of thumb:

• radio over select when there are two to five options and speed matters — every option is visible and one click away. select earns its place past about seven.
• slider over number only when the range is small and bounded, and the exact value matters less than the rough position. Give it min, max and step.
• textarea over text whenever a sentence is expected rather than a phrase.

Mismatches are structural errors

The legal widgets are declared per type in the schema itself, not checked by hand afterwards. So this is caught the same way a misspelled key is — including by your editor, as you type:

{ "name": "notes", "type": "text", "widget": "slider" }
// ✗ Unrecognized key / invalid value: "slider" is not a widget a text field can use.

Composite types render no widget

object and map have no legal widgets at all. There is no sensible control for capturing an arbitrary nested structure, so an output field of either type must declare a fill that does not involve asking a person:

{
  "name": "meta",
  "type": "object",
  "fields": [
    /* … */
  ],
}
// ✗ "object" fields cannot be filled by a user; give the field a `fill`.

They display perfectly well on the input side, as tables — see Value types.

Derived fields render nothing

A copy or timestamp field is filled without asking, so it has no widget regardless of type. Naming one is an error:

{ "name": "id", "type": "text", "fill": { "kind": "copy" }, "widget": "text" }
// ✗ A "copy" field renders no widget.

Multi-select

checkboxes is the widget for an array of enum:

{
  "name": "issues",
  "type": "array",
  "items": {
    "type": "enum",
    "choices": [
      { "name": "toxic", "shortcut": "t" },
      { "name": "off-topic", "shortcut": "o" },
    ],
  },
}

Choice shortcuts toggle rather than replace, which is what you want when several answers can apply at once.

Full reference

OutputField — the widget key on each type variant.