Expose thread.toJSON() on the public Thread type

.changeset/green-tables-lie.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"chat": patch
+---
+
+Expose thread.toJSON() on the public Thread type so generated declarations match the runtime API and docs.

packages/chat/src/types.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+import { execSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+function createTempProject(source: string): string {
+  const tempDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "chat-public-types-"));
+
+  const tsconfig = {
+    compilerOptions: {
+      target: "ES2022",
+      module: "ESNext",
+      moduleResolution: "bundler",
+      strict: true,
+      skipLibCheck: true,
+      noEmit: true,
+      typeRoots: [join(import.meta.dirname, "../../../node_modules/@types")],
+      paths: {
+        chat: [join(import.meta.dirname, "index.ts")],
+      },
+    },
+    include: [join(tempDir, "index.ts")],
+  };
+
+  writeFileSync(
+    join(tempDir, "tsconfig.json"),
+    JSON.stringify(tsconfig, null, 2)
+  );
+  writeFileSync(join(tempDir, "index.ts"), source);
+
+  return tempDir;
+}
+
+describe("chat public types", () => {
+  it("exposes Thread.toJSON() to consumers", () => {
+    const tempDir = createTempProject(`
+import type { SerializedThread, Thread } from "chat";
+
+declare const thread: Thread<{ count: number }>;
+
+const serialized: SerializedThread = thread.toJSON();
+
+serialized satisfies SerializedThread;
+`);
+
+    try {
+      execSync(`pnpm exec tsc --project ${tempDir}/tsconfig.json --noEmit`, {
+        cwd: join(import.meta.dirname, ".."),
+        encoding: "utf-8",
+        stdio: "pipe",
+      });
+    } catch (error) {
+      const execError = error as { stdout?: string; stderr?: string };
+      const output = execError.stdout || execError.stderr || String(error);
+      rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+
+      expect.fail(
+        "Consumer Thread.toJSON() type-check failed:\n\n" +
+          output +
+          "\n\nSnippet tested:\n" +
+          'import type { SerializedThread, Thread } from "chat";\n' +
+          "declare const thread: Thread<{ count: number }>;\n" +
+          "const serialized: SerializedThread = thread.toJSON();\n"
+      );
+    }
+
+    rmSync(tempDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+});

packages/chat/src/types.ts

@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import type { ChatElement } from "./jsx-runtime";
 import type { Logger, LogLevel } from "./logger";
 import type { Message } from "./message";
 import type { ModalElement } from "./modals";
+import type { SerializedThread } from "./thread";
 
 // =============================================================================
 // Re-exports from extracted modules
@@ -940,6 +941,12 @@ export interface Thread<TState = Record<string, unknown>, TRawMessage = unknown>
    */
   subscribe(): Promise<void>;
 
+  /**
+   * Serialize the thread to a plain JSON object.
+   * Use this to persist thread context or pass it across workflow boundaries.
+   */
+  toJSON(): SerializedThread;
+
   /**
    * Unsubscribe from this thread.
    *