The EitherT Transformer:

Combining Monadic Effects

What You'll Learn

  • How to combine async operations (CompletableFuture) with typed error handling (Either)
  • Building workflows that can fail with specific domain errors while remaining async
  • Using fromKind, fromEither, and liftF to construct EitherT values
  • Real-world order processing with validation, inventory checks, and payment processing
  • Why EitherT eliminates "callback hell" in complex async workflows

See Example Code:

EitherT Monad Transformer.

eithert_transformer.svg

EitherT<F, L, R>: Combining any Monad F with Either<L, R>

The EitherT monad transformer allows you to combine the error-handling capabilities of Either<L, R> with another outer monad F. It transforms a computation that results in Kind<F, Either<L, R>> into a single monadic structure that can be easily composed. This is particularly useful when dealing with operations that can fail (represented by Left<L>) within an effectful context F (like asynchronous operations using CompletableFutureKind or computations involving state with StateKind).

  • F: The witness type of the outer monad (e.g., CompletableFutureKind.Witness, OptionalKind.Witness). This monad handles the primary effect (e.g., asynchronicity, optionality).
  • L: The Left type of the inner Either. This typically represents the error type for the computation or alternative result.
  • R: The Right type of the inner Either. This typically represents the success value type.
public record EitherT<F, L, R>(@NonNull Kind<F, Either<L, R>> value) { 
  /* ... static factories ... */ }

It holds a value of type Kind<F, Either<L, R>>. The real power comes from its associated type class instance, EitherTMonad.

Essentially, EitherT<F, L, R> wraps a value of type Kind<F, Either<L, R>>. It represents a computation within the context F that will eventually yield an Either<L, R>.

The primary goal of EitherT is to provide a unified Monad interface (specifically MonadError for the L type) for this nested structure, hiding the complexity of manually handling both the outer F context and the inner Either context.

EitherTKind<F, L, R>: The Witness Type

Just like other types in the Higher-Kinded-J, EitherT needs a corresponding Kind interface to act as its witness type in generic functions. This is EitherTKind<F, L, R>.

  • It extends Kind<G, R> where G (the witness for the combined monad) is EitherTKind.Witness<F, L>.
  • F and L are fixed for a specific EitherT context, while R is the variable type parameter A in Kind<G, A>.

You'll primarily interact with this type when providing type signatures or receiving results from EitherTMonad methods.

EitherTKindHelper

  • Provides widen and narrow methods to safely convert between the concrete EitherT<F, L, R> and its Kind representation (Kind<EitherTKind<F, L, ?>, R>).

EitherTMonad<F, L>: Operating on EitherT

  • The EitherTMonad class implements MonadError<EitherTKind.Witness<F, L>, L>.
  • It requires a Monad instance for the outer monad F to be provided during construction. This outer monad instance is used internally to handle the effects of F.
  • It uses EITHER_T.widen and EITHER_T.narrow internally to manage the conversion between the Kind and the concrete EitherT.
  • The error type E for MonadError is fixed to L, the 'Left' type of the inner Either. Error handling operations like raiseError(L l) will create an EitherT representing F<Left(l)>, and handleErrorWith allows recovering from such Left states.
// Example: F = CompletableFutureKind.Witness, L = DomainError
// 1. Get the MonadError instance for the outer monad F
MonadError<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Throwable> futureMonad = CompletableFutureMonad.INSTANCE;

// 2. Create the EitherTMonad, providing the outer monad instance
//    This EitherTMonad handles DomainError for the inner Either.
MonadError<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, DomainError> eitherTMonad =
    new EitherTMonad<>(futureMonad);

// Now 'eitherTMonad' can be used to operate on Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, A> values.

Key Operations with EitherTMonad:

  • eitherTMonad.of(value): Lifts a pure value A into the EitherT context. Result: F<Right(A)>.
  • eitherTMonad.map(f, eitherTKind): Applies function A -> B to the Right value inside the nested structure, preserving both F and Either contexts (if Right). Result: F<Either<L, B>>.
  • eitherTMonad.flatMap(f, eitherTKind): The core sequencing operation. Takes a function A -> Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<F, L>, B> (i.e., A -> EitherT<F, L, B>). It unwraps the input EitherT, handles the F context, checks the inner Either:
    • If Left(l), it propagates F<Left(l)>.
    • If Right(a), it applies f(a) to get the next EitherT<F, L, B>, and extracts its inner Kind<F, Either<L, B>>, effectively chaining the F contexts and the Either logic.
  • eitherTMonad.raiseError(errorL): Creates an EitherT representing a failure in the inner Either. Result: F<Left(L)>.
  • eitherTMonad.handleErrorWith(eitherTKind, handler): Handles a failure L from the inner Either. Takes a handler L -> Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<F, L>, A>. It unwraps the input EitherT, checks the inner Either:
    • If Right(a), propagates F<Right(a)>.
    • If Left(l), applies handler(l) to get a recovery EitherT<F, L, A>, and extracts its inner Kind<F, Either<L, A>>.

Creating EitherT Instances

You typically create EitherT instances using its static factory methods, providing the necessary outer Monad<F> instance:

// Assume:
Monad<OptionalKind.Witness> optMonad = OptionalMonad.INSTANCE; // Outer Monad F=Optional
String errorL = "FAILED";
String successR = "OK";
Integer otherR = 123;

// 1. Lifting a pure 'Right' value: Optional<Right(R)>
EitherT<OptionalKind.Witness, String, String> etRight = EitherT.right(optMonad, successR);
// Resulting wrapped value: Optional.of(Either.right("OK"))

// 2. Lifting a pure 'Left' value: Optional<Left(L)>
EitherT<OptionalKind.Witness, String, Integer> etLeft = EitherT.left(optMonad, errorL);
// Resulting wrapped value: Optional.of(Either.left("FAILED"))

// 3. Lifting a plain Either: Optional<Either(input)>
Either<String, String> plainEither = Either.left(errorL);
EitherT<OptionalKind.Witness, String, String> etFromEither = EitherT.fromEither(optMonad, plainEither);
// Resulting wrapped value: Optional.of(Either.left("FAILED"))

// 4. Lifting an outer monad value F<R>: Optional<Right(R)>
Kind<OptionalKind.Witness, Integer> outerOptional = OPTIONAL.widen(Optional.of(otherR));
EitherT<OptionalKind.Witness, String, Integer> etLiftF = EitherT.liftF(optMonad, outerOptional);
// Resulting wrapped value: Optional.of(Either.right(123))

// 5. Wrapping an existing nested Kind: F<Either<L, R>>
Kind<OptionalKind.Witness, Either<String, String>> nestedKind =
    OPTIONAL.widen(Optional.of(Either.right(successR)));
EitherT<OptionalKind.Witness, String, String> etFromKind = EitherT.fromKind(nestedKind);
// Resulting wrapped value: Optional.of(Either.right("OK"))

// Accessing the wrapped value:
Kind<OptionalKind.Witness, Either<String, String>> wrappedValue = etRight.value();
Optional<Either<String, String>> unwrappedOptional = OPTIONAL.narrow(wrappedValue);
// unwrappedOptional is Optional.of(Either.right("OK"))

Async Workflow with Error Handling

The most common use case for EitherT is combining asynchronous operations (CompletableFuture) with domain error handling (Either). The OrderWorkflowRunner class provides a detailed example.

Here's a simplified conceptual structure based on that example:

public class EitherTExample {

  // --- Setup ---

  // Assume DomainError is a sealed interface for specific errors
  // Re-defining a local DomainError to avoid dependency on the full DomainError hierarchy for this isolated example.
  // In a real scenario, you would use the shared DomainError.
  record DomainError(String message) {}
  record ValidatedData(String data) {}
  record ProcessedData(String data) {}

  MonadError<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Throwable> futureMonad = CompletableFutureMonad.INSTANCE;
  MonadError<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, DomainError> eitherTMonad =
          new EitherTMonad<>(futureMonad);

  // --- Workflow Steps (returning Kinds) ---

  // Simulates a sync validation returning Either
  Kind<EitherKind.Witness<DomainError>, ValidatedData> validateSync(String input) {
    System.out.println("Validating synchronously...");
    if (input.isEmpty()) {
      return EITHER.widen(Either.left(new DomainError("Input empty")));
    }
    return EITHER.widen(Either.right(new ValidatedData("Validated:" + input)));
  }

  // Simulates an async processing step returning Future<Either>
  Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> processAsync(ValidatedData vd) {
    System.out.println("Processing asynchronously for: " + vd.data());
    CompletableFuture<Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> future =
            CompletableFuture.supplyAsync(() -> {
              try {
                Thread.sleep(50);
              } catch (InterruptedException e) { /* ignore */ }
              if (vd.data().contains("fail")) {
                return Either.left(new DomainError("Processing failed"));
              }
              return Either.right(new ProcessedData("Processed:" + vd.data()));
            });
    return FUTURE.widen(future);
  }

  // Function to run the workflow for given input
  Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> runWorkflow(String initialInput) {

    // Start with initial data lifted into EitherT
    Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, String> initialET = eitherTMonad.of(initialInput);

    // Step 1: Validate (Sync Either lifted into EitherT)
    Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, ValidatedData> validatedET =
            eitherTMonad.flatMap(
                    input -> {
                      // Call sync step returning Kind<EitherKind.Witness,...>
                      // Correction 1: Use EitherKind.Witness here
                      Kind<EitherKind.Witness<DomainError>, ValidatedData> validationResult = validateSync(input);
                      // Lift the Either result into EitherT using fromEither
                      return EitherT.fromEither(futureMonad, EITHER.narrow(validationResult));
                    },
                    initialET
            );

    // Step 2: Check Inventory (Asynchronous - returns Future<Either<DomainError, Unit>>) 
    Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, WorkflowContext> inventoryET =
        eitherTMonad.flatMap( // Chain from validation result
            ctx -> { // Executed only if validatedET was F<Right(...)>
                // Call async step -> Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, Unit>> 
                Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, Unit>> inventoryCheckFutureKind =
                    steps.checkInventoryAsync(ctx.validatedOrder().productId(), ctx.validatedOrder().quantity());
    
                // Lift the F<Either> directly into EitherT using fromKind
                Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, Unit> inventoryCheckET = 
                    EitherT.fromKind(inventoryCheckFutureKind);
    
                // If inventory check resolves to Right (now Right(Unit.INSTANCE)), update context.
 
                return eitherTMonad.map(unitInstance -> ctx.withInventoryChecked(), inventoryCheckET);
            },
            validatedET // Input is result of validation step
        );

    // Unwrap the final EitherT to get the underlying Future<Either>
    return ((EitherT<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError, ProcessedData>) processedET).value();
  }

  public void asyncWorkflowErrorHandlingExample(){
    // --- Workflow Definition using EitherT ---

    // Input data
    String inputData = "Data";
    String badInputData = "";
    String processingFailData = "Data-fail";

    // --- Execution ---
    System.out.println("--- Running Good Workflow ---");

    Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> resultGoodKind = runWorkflow(inputData);
    System.out.println("Good Result: "+FUTURE.join(resultGoodKind));
    // Expected: Right(ProcessedData[data=Processed:Validated:Data])

    System.out.println("\n--- Running Bad Input Workflow ---");

    Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> resultBadInputKind = runWorkflow(badInputData);
    System.out.println("Bad Input Result: "+ FUTURE.join(resultBadInputKind));
    // Expected: Left(DomainError[message=Input empty])

    System.out.println("\n--- Running Processing Failure Workflow ---");

    Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> resultProcFailKind = runWorkflow(processingFailData);
    System.out.println("Processing Fail Result: "+FUTURE.join(resultProcFailKind));
    // Expected: Left(DomainError[message=Processing failed])

  }
  public static void main(String[] args){
    EitherTExample example = new EitherTExample();
    example.asyncWorkflowErrorHandlingExample();

  }

}

This example demonstrates:

  1. Instantiating EitherTMonad with the outer CompletableFutureMonad.
  2. Lifting the initial value using eitherTMonad.of.
  3. Using eitherTMonad.flatMap to sequence steps.
  4. Lifting a synchronous Either result into EitherT using EitherT.fromEither.
  5. Lifting an asynchronous Kind<F, Either<L,R>> result using EitherT.fromKind.
  6. Automatic short-circuiting: If validation returns Left, the processing step is skipped.
  7. Unwrapping the final EitherT using .value() to get the Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ProcessedData>> result.

Using EitherTMonad for Sequencing and Error Handling

The primary use is chaining operations using flatMap and handling errors using handleErrorWith or related methods. The OrderWorkflowRunner is the best example. Let's break down a key part:

// --- From OrderWorkflowRunner.java ---
// Assume setup:
// F = CompletableFutureKind<?>
// L = DomainError
// futureMonad = CompletableFutureMonad.INSTANCE;
// eitherTMonad = new EitherTMonad<>(futureMonad);
// steps = new OrderWorkflowSteps(dependencies); // Contains workflow logic

// Initial Context (lifted)
WorkflowContext initialContext = WorkflowContext.start(orderData);
Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, WorkflowContext> initialET =
    eitherTMonad.of(initialContext); // F<Right(initialContext)>

// Step 1: Validate Order (Synchronous - returns Either)
Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, WorkflowContext> validatedET =
    eitherTMonad.flatMap( // Use flatMap on EitherTMonad
        ctx -> { // Lambda receives WorkflowContext if initialET was Right
            // Call sync step -> Either<DomainError, ValidatedOrder>
            Either<DomainError, ValidatedOrder> syncResultEither =
                EITHER.narrow(steps.validateOrder(ctx.initialData()));

            // Lift sync Either into EitherT: -> F<Either<DomainError, ValidatedOrder>>
            Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, ValidatedOrder>
                validatedOrderET = EitherT.fromEither(futureMonad, syncResultEither);

            // If validation produced Left, map is skipped.
            // If validation produced Right(vo), map updates the context: F<Right(ctx.withValidatedOrder(vo))>
            return eitherTMonad.map(ctx::withValidatedOrder, validatedOrderET);
        },
        initialET // Input to the flatMap
    );

// Step 2: Check Inventory (Asynchronous - returns Future<Either<DomainError, Void>>)
Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, WorkflowContext> inventoryET =
    eitherTMonad.flatMap( // Chain from validation result
        ctx -> { // Executed only if validatedET was F<Right(...)>
            // Call async step -> Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, Void>>
            Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, Void>> inventoryCheckFutureKind =
                steps.checkInventoryAsync(ctx.validatedOrder().productId(), ctx.validatedOrder().quantity());

            // Lift the F<Either> directly into EitherT using fromKind
            Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, Void> inventoryCheckET =
                EitherT.fromKind(inventoryCheckFutureKind);

            // If inventory check resolves to Right, update context. If Left, map is skipped.
            return eitherTMonad.map(ignored -> ctx.withInventoryChecked(), inventoryCheckET);
        },
        validatedET // Input is result of validation step
    );

// Step 4: Create Shipment (Asynchronous with Recovery)
Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, WorkflowContext> shipmentET =
    eitherTMonad.flatMap( // Chain from previous step
        ctx -> {
            // Call async shipment step -> F<Either<DomainError, ShipmentInfo>>
            Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, ShipmentInfo>> shipmentAttemptFutureKind =
                steps.createShipmentAsync(ctx.validatedOrder().orderId(), ctx.validatedOrder().shippingAddress());

            // Lift into EitherT
            Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, ShipmentInfo> shipmentAttemptET =
                 EitherT.fromKind(shipmentAttemptFutureKind);

            // *** Error Handling using MonadError ***
            Kind<EitherTKind.Witness<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError>, ShipmentInfo> recoveredShipmentET =
                eitherTMonad.handleErrorWith( // Operates on the EitherT value
                    shipmentAttemptET,
                    error -> { // Lambda receives DomainError if shipmentAttemptET resolves to Left(error)
                        if (error instanceof DomainError.ShippingError se && "Temporary Glitch".equals(se.reason())) {
                           // Specific recoverable error: Return a *successful* EitherT
                           return eitherTMonad.of(new ShipmentInfo("DEFAULT_SHIPPING_USED"));
                        } else {
                           // Non-recoverable error: Re-raise it within EitherT
                           return eitherTMonad.raiseError(error); // Returns F<Left(error)>
                        }
                    });

            // Map the potentially recovered result to update context
            return eitherTMonad.map(ctx::withShipmentInfo, recoveredShipmentET);
        },
        paymentET // Assuming paymentET was the previous step
    );

// ... rest of workflow ...

// Final unwrap
// EitherT<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, DomainError, FinalResult> finalET = ...;
// Kind<CompletableFutureKind.Witness, Either<DomainError, FinalResult>> finalResultKind = finalET.value();

This demonstrates how EitherTMonad.flatMap sequences the steps, while EitherT.fromEither, EitherT.fromKind, and eitherTMonad.of/raiseError/handleErrorWith manage the lifting and error handling within the combined Future<Either<...>> context.

Key Points:

The Higher-Kinded-J library simplifies the implementation and usage of concepts like monad transformers (e.g., EitherT) in Java precisely because it simulates Higher-Kinded Types (HKTs). Here's how:

  1. The Core Problem Without HKTs: Java's type system doesn't allow you to directly parameterize a type by a type constructor like List, Optional, or CompletableFuture. You can write List<String>, but you cannot easily write a generic class Transformer<F, A> where F itself represents any container type (like List<_>) and A is the value type. This limitation makes defining general monad transformers rather difficult. A monad transformer like EitherT needs to combine an arbitrary outer monad F with the inner Either monad. Without HKTs, you would typically have to:

    • Create separate, specific transformers for each outer monad (e.g., EitherTOptional, EitherTFuture, EitherTIO). This leads to significant code duplication.
    • Resort to complex, often unsafe casting or reflection.
    • Write extremely verbose code manually handling the nested structure for every combination.

  2. How this helps with simulating HKTs): Higher-Kinded-J introduces the Kind<F, A> interface. This interface, along with specific "witness types" (like OptionalKind.Witness, CompletableFutureKind.Witness, EitherKind.Witness<L>), simulates the concept of F<A>. It allows you to pass F (the type constructor, represented by its witness type) as a type parameter, even though Java doesn't support it natively.

  3. Simplifying Transformer Definition (EitherT<F, L, R>): Because we can now simulate F<A> using Kind<F, A>, we can define the EitherT data structure generically:

    // Simplified from EitherT.java
public record EitherT<F, L, R>(@NonNull Kind<F, Either<L, R>> value)
    implements EitherTKind<F, L, R> { /* ... */ }

    Here, F is a type parameter representing the witness type of the outer monad. EitherT doesn't need to know which specific monad F is at compile time; it just knows it holds a Kind<F, ...>. This makes the EitherT structure itself general-purpose.

  4. Simplifying Transformer Operations (EitherTMonad<F, L>): The real benefit comes with the type class instance EitherTMonad. This class implements MonadError<EitherTKind.Witness<F, L>, L>, providing the standard monadic operations (map, flatMap, of, ap, raiseError, handleErrorWith) for the combined EitherT structure.

    Critically, EitherTMonad takes the Monad<F> instance for the specific outer monadF as a constructor argument:

    // From EitherTMonad.java
public class EitherTMonad<F, L> implements MonadError<EitherTKind.Witness<F, L>, L> {
    private final @NonNull Monad<F> outerMonad; // <-- Holds the specific outer monad instance

    public EitherTMonad(@NonNull Monad<F> outerMonad) {
        this.outerMonad = Objects.requireNonNull(outerMonad, "Outer Monad instance cannot be null");
    }
    // ... implementation of map, flatMap etc. ...
}

    Inside its map, flatMap, etc., implementations, EitherTMonad uses the provided outerMonad instance (via its map and flatMap methods) to handle the outer context F, while also managing the inner Either logic (checking for Left/Right, applying functions, propagating Left). This is where the Higher-Kinded-J drastically simplifies things:

  • You only need oneEitherTMonad implementation.
  • It works generically for any outer monad Ffor which you have a Monad<F> instance (like OptionalMonad, CompletableFutureMonad, IOMonad, etc.).
  • The complex logic of combining the two monads' behaviours (e.g., how flatMap should work on F<Either<L, R>>) is encapsulated withinEitherTMonad, leveraging the simulated HKTs and the provided outerMonad instance.
  • As a user, you just instantiate EitherTMonad with the appropriate outer monad instance and then use its standard methods (map, flatMap, etc.) on your EitherT values, as seen in the OrderWorkflowRunner example. You don't need to manually handle the nesting.

In essence, the HKT simulation provided by Higher-Kinded-J allows defining the structure (EitherT) and the operations (EitherTMonad) generically over the outer monad F, overcoming Java's native limitations and making monad transformers feasible and much less boilerplate-heavy than they would otherwise be.

Further Reading

Learning Path

Start with the Java-focused resources to see practical applications, then explore General FP concepts for deeper understanding, and finally check Related Libraries to see alternative approaches.

Java-Focused Resources

Beginner Level:

Intermediate Level:

Advanced:

General FP Concepts

Related Libraries & Comparisons

Community & Discussion