Helpers

Every framework ships a grab bag of small utilities that save you from reinventing wheels—dot-notation config access, string casing, pluralization for table names. Arvel exposes these under arvel.support: data_get, pluralize, and to_snake_case, exported for convenience and used throughout the framework itself (for example when generating code or resolving ORM table names).

They are plain functions—no magic globals—so you can import them explicitly and keep tests deterministic.

data_get

Walk nested dict, list, and object structures using a dotted path. Handy for optional config blobs, JSON payloads, and error objects where you do not want a ladder of .get() calls.

from arvel.support import data_get

payload = {"user": {"profile": {"tier": "pro"}}}
tier = data_get(payload, "user.profile.tier", "free")  # "pro"

rows = data_get({"items": [{"id": 1}]}, "items.0.id")  # 1
missing = data_get({}, "nope", "default")  # "default"

Paths support numeric segments for list indexing. Pass a default as the third argument when the path might not exist.

to_snake_case

Convert PascalCase or camelCase identifiers to snake_case—ideal for filenames, column hints, and codegen that must match Python style.

from arvel.support import to_snake_case

to_snake_case("UserProfile")  # "user_profile"
to_snake_case("HTTPResponse")  # "http_response"

Use it when you derive resource names from class names and want consistency without hand-maintaining strings.

pluralize

Turn a singular English word into a plural form for table names and routes. The ORM uses pluralize(to_snake_case(ModelName)) when inferring __tablename__.

from arvel.support import pluralize, to_snake_case


class BlogPost:
    pass


table = pluralize(to_snake_case(BlogPost.__name__))  # e.g. "blog_posts"

English pluralization has edge cases; for production table names you can always set __tablename__ explicitly on models when the helper does not match your dictionary.

Philosophy

Helpers in Arvel are boring on purpose: small, testable, and imported explicitly. They give you Laravel-adjacent ergonomics without hiding dependencies inside facades—so your modules stay clear, and your type checker stays happier.