zod

What is zod?

Zod is a TypeScript-first schema declaration and validation library. It allows developers to create complex schemas for data validation with a simple and intuitive API. Zod schemas are composable and can be used to validate data at the edge of your application, ensuring that you're working with well-structured and type-safe data.

What are zod's main functionalities?

Basic Type Validation

Validates that the input is a string.

{"const schema = zod.string(); try { schema.parse('hello world'); } catch (e) { console.error(e); }"}

Object Schema Validation

Validates that the input is an object with specific properties of certain types.

{"const userSchema = zod.object({ name: zod.string(), age: zod.number(), email: zod.string().email() }); try { userSchema.parse({ name: 'John', age: 30, email: '[e-mail]' }); } catch (e) { console.error(e); }"}

Array Validation

Validates that the input is an array of strings.

{"const stringArraySchema = zod.array(zod.string()); try { stringArraySchema.parse(['apple', 'banana']); } catch (e) { console.error(e); }"}

Complex Nested Validation

Validates nested objects with various property types.

{"const nestedSchema = zod.object({ user: zod.object({ name: zod.string(), contact: zod.object({ email: zod.string().email(), phone: zod.string() }) }) }); try { nestedSchema.parse({ user: { name: 'Jane', contact: { email: '[e-mail]', phone: '123-456-7890' } } }); } catch (e) { console.error(e); }"}

Custom Validation

Validates that a number is positive using custom validation logic.

{"const positiveNumber = zod.number().positive(); try { positiveNumber.parse(42); } catch (e) { console.error(e); }"}

Error Formatting

Formats validation errors for easier debugging and display.

{"const schema = zod.string(); try { schema.parse(42); } catch (e) { console.error(e.format()); }"}

Other packages similar to zod

joi

Joi is a powerful schema description language and data validator for JavaScript. It offers a similar API to Zod but has been around longer and is often considered more mature. Joi provides a wide range of built-in validators and is highly extensible.

yup

Yup is a JavaScript schema builder for value parsing and validation. It defines a schema with an expressive API and can be used with or without TypeScript. Yup is often used in the context of form validation, especially with libraries like Formik.

ajv

Ajv is a JSON Schema Validator. It validates data against JSON Schema (draft 06/07/2019) and is known for its performance. Unlike Zod, which is TypeScript-first, Ajv focuses on JSON Schema validation and is often used for validating data structures in RESTful APIs.

class-validator

Class-validator allows for validation of class instances based on decorators. It is tightly coupled with TypeScript and uses decorators to define validation rules, which can be more familiar to developers used to working with TypeScript classes and decorators.

README

Zod

TypeScript-first schema validation with static type inference
by @colinhacks

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Read the docs →

What is Zod?

Zod is a TypeScript-first validation library. Define a schema and parse some data with it. You'll get back a strongly typed, validated result.

import * as z from "zod";

const User = z.object({
  name: z.string(),
});

// some untrusted data...
const input = {
  /* stuff */
};

// the parsed result is validated and type safe!
const data = User.parse(input);

// so you can use it with confidence :)
console.log(data.name);

Features

• Zero external dependencies
• Works in Node.js and all modern browsers
• Tiny: 2kb core bundle (gzipped)
• Immutable API: methods return a new instance
• Concise interface
• Works with TypeScript and plain JS
• Built-in JSON Schema conversion
• Extensive ecosystem

Installation

npm install zod

Basic usage

Before you can do anything else, you need to define a schema. For the purposes of this guide, we'll use a simple object schema.

import * as z from "zod";

const Player = z.object({
  username: z.string(),
  xp: z.number(),
});

Parsing data

Given any Zod schema, use .parse to validate an input. If it's valid, Zod returns a strongly-typed deep clone of the input.

Player.parse({ username: "billie", xp: 100 });
// => returns { username: "billie", xp: 100 }

Note — If your schema uses certain asynchronous APIs like async refinements or transforms, you'll need to use the .parseAsync() method instead.

const schema = z.string().refine(async (val) => val.length <= 8);

await schema.parseAsync("hello");
// => "hello"

Handling errors

When validation fails, the .parse() method will throw a ZodError instance with granular information about the validation issues.

try {
  Player.parse({ username: 42, xp: "100" });
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof z.ZodError) {
    err.issues;
    /* [
      {
        expected: 'string',
        code: 'invalid_type',
        path: [ 'username' ],
        message: 'Invalid input: expected string'
      },
      {
        expected: 'number',
        code: 'invalid_type',
        path: [ 'xp' ],
        message: 'Invalid input: expected number'
      }
    ] */
  }
}

To avoid a try/catch block, you can use the .safeParse() method to get back a plain result object containing either the successfully parsed data or a ZodError. The result type is a discriminated union, so you can handle both cases conveniently.

const result = Player.safeParse({ username: 42, xp: "100" });
if (!result.success) {
  result.error; // ZodError instance
} else {
  result.data; // { username: string; xp: number }
}

Note — If your schema uses certain asynchronous APIs like async refinements or transforms, you'll need to use the .safeParseAsync() method instead.

const schema = z.string().refine(async (val) => val.length <= 8);

await schema.safeParseAsync("hello");
// => { success: true; data: "hello" }

Inferring types

Zod infers a static type from your schema definitions. You can extract this type with the z.infer<> utility and use it however you like.

const Player = z.object({
  username: z.string(),
  xp: z.number(),
});

// extract the inferred type
type Player = z.infer<typeof Player>;

// use it in your code
const player: Player = { username: "billie", xp: 100 };

In some cases, the input & output types of a schema can diverge. For instance, the .transform() API can convert the input from one type to another. In these cases, you can extract the input and output types independently:

const mySchema = z.string().transform((val) => val.length);

type MySchemaIn = z.input<typeof mySchema>;
// => string

type MySchemaOut = z.output<typeof mySchema>; // equivalent to z.infer<typeof mySchema>
// number