nestjs-zod

✨ A superior validation solution for your NestJS application ✨

Ecosystem

Package	About
nestjs-zod	A tools for integrating Zod into your NestJS application
nestjs-zod-prisma	Generate Zod schemas from your Prisma schema

Core library features

• createZodDto - create DTO classes from Zod schemas
• ZodValidationPipe - validate body / query / params using Zod DTOs
• ZodGuard - guard routes by validating body / query / params
  (it can be useful when you want to do that before other guards)
• UseZodGuard - alias for @UseGuards(new ZodGuard(source, schema))
• ZodValidationException - BadRequestException extended with Zod errors
• zodToOpenAPI - create OpenAPI declarations from Zod schemas
• OpenAPI support
  • @nestjs/swagger integration using the patch
  • zodToOpenAPI - generate highly accurate Swagger Schema
  • Zod DTOs can be used in any @nestjs/swagger decorator
• Extended Zod schemas for NestJS (nestjs-zod/z)
  • dateString for dates (supports casting to Date)
  • password for passwords (more complex string rules + OpenAPI conversion)
• Customization - change exception format easily
• Useful helpers for client side error handling (nestjs-zod/frontend)

Installation

yarn add nestjs-zod zod

Peer dependencies:

• zod - >= 3.14.3
• @nestjs/common - >= 8.0.0 (required on server side)
• @nestjs/core - >= 8.0.0 (required on server side)
• @nestjs/swagger - >= 5.0.0 (only when using patchNestJsSwagger)

All peer dependencies are marked as optional for better client side usage, but you need to install required ones when using nestjs-zod on server side.

Navigation

• Writing Zod schemas
• Creating DTO from Zod schema
  • Using DTO
• Using ZodValidationPipe
  • Globally
  • Locally
  • Creating custom validation pipe
• Using ZodGuard
  • Creating custom guard
• Validation Exceptions
• Using ZodSerializerInterceptor
• Extended Zod
  • ZodDateString
  • ZodPassword
  • Json Schema
  • "from" function
  • Extended Zod Errors
  • Working with errors on the client side
• OpenAPI (Swagger) support
  • Setup
  • Writing more Swagger-compatible schemas
  • Using zodToOpenAPI

Writing Zod schemas

Extended Zod and Swagger integration are bound to the internal API, so even the patch updates can cause errors.

For that reason, nestjs-zod uses specific zod version inside and re-exports it under /z scope:

import { z, ZodString, ZodError } from 'nestjs-zod/z'

const CredentialsSchema = z.object({
  username: z.string(),
  password: z.string(),
})

Zod's classes and types are re-exported too, but under /z scope for more clarity:

import { ZodString, ZodError, ZodIssue } from 'nestjs-zod/z'

Creating DTO from Zod schema

import { createZodDto } from 'nestjs-zod'
import { z } from 'nestjs-zod/z'

const CredentialsSchema = z.object({
  username: z.string(),
  password: z.string(),
})

// class is required for using DTO as a type
class CredentialsDto extends createZodDto(CredentialsSchema) {}

Using DTO

DTO does two things:

• Provides a schema for ZodValidationPipe
• Provides a type from Zod schema for you

@Controller('auth')
class AuthController {
  // with global ZodValidationPipe (recommended)
  async signIn(@Body() credentials: CredentialsDto) {}
  async signIn(@Param() signInParams: SignInParamsDto) {}
  async signIn(@Query() signInQuery: SignInQueryDto) {}

  // with route-level ZodValidationPipe
  @UsePipes(ZodValidationPipe)
  async signIn(@Body() credentials: CredentialsDto) {}
}

// with controller-level ZodValidationPipe
@UsePipes(ZodValidationPipe)
@Controller('auth')
class AuthController {
  async signIn(@Body() credentials: CredentialsDto) {}
}

Using standalone (without server-side dependencies)

import { createZodDto } from 'nestjs-zod/dto'

Using ZodValidationPipe

The validation pipe uses your Zod schema to parse data from parameter decorator.

When the data is invalid - it throws ZodValidationException.

Globally (recommended)

import { ZodValidationPipe } from 'nestjs-zod'
import { APP_PIPE } from '@nestjs/core'

@Module({
  providers: [
    {
      provide: APP_PIPE,
      useClass: ZodValidationPipe,
    },
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Locally

import { ZodValidationPipe } from 'nestjs-zod'

// controller-level
@UsePipes(ZodValidationPipe)
class AuthController {}

class AuthController {
  // route-level
  @UsePipes(ZodValidationPipe)
  async signIn() {}
}

Also, you can instantly pass a Schema or DTO:

import { ZodValidationPipe } from 'nestjs-zod'
import { UserDto, UserSchema } from './auth.contracts'

// using schema
@UsePipes(new ZodValidationPipe(UserSchema))
// using DTO
@UsePipes(new ZodValidationPipe(UserDto))
class AuthController {}

class AuthController {
  // the same applies to route-level
  async signIn() {}
}

Creating custom validation pipe

import { createZodValidationPipe } from 'nestjs-zod'

const MyZodValidationPipe = createZodValidationPipe({
  // provide custom validation exception factory
  createValidationException: (error: ZodError) =>
    new BadRequestException('Ooops'),
})

Using ZodGuard

Sometimes, we need to validate user input before specific Guards. We can't use Validation Pipe since NestJS Pipes are always executed after Guards.

The solution is ZodGuard. It works just like ZodValidationPipe, except for that is doesn't transform the input.

It has 2 syntax forms:

• @UseGuards(new ZodGuard('body', CredentialsSchema))
• @UseZodGuard('body', CredentialsSchema)

Parameters:

1. The source - 'body' | 'query' | 'params'
2. Zod Schema or DTO (just like ZodValidationPipe)

When the data is invalid - it throws ZodValidationException.

import { ZodGuard } from 'nestjs-zod'

// controller-level
@UseZodGuard('body', CredentialsSchema)
@UseZodGuard('params', CredentialsDto)
class MyController {}

class MyController {
  // route-level
  @UseZodGuard('query', CredentialsSchema)
  @UseZodGuard('body', CredentialsDto)
  async signIn() {}
}

Creating custom guard

import { createZodGuard } from 'nestjs-zod'

const MyZodGuard = createZodGuard({
  // provide custom validation exception factory
  createValidationException: (error: ZodError) =>
    new BadRequestException('Ooops'),
})

Create validation from scratch

If you don't like ZodGuard and ZodValidationPipe, you can use validate function:

import { validate } from 'nestjs-zod'

validate(wrongThing, UserDto, (zodError) => new MyException(zodError)) // throws MyException

const validatedUser = validate(
  user,
  UserDto,
  (zodError) => new MyException(zodError)
) // returns typed value when succeed

Validation Exceptions

The default server response on validation error looks like that:

{
  "statusCode": 400,
  "message": "Validation failed",
  "errors": [
    {
      "code": "too_small",
      "minimum": 8,
      "type": "string",
      "inclusive": true,
      "message": "String must contain at least 8 character(s)",
      "path": ["password"]
    }
  ]
}

The reason of this structure is default ZodValidationException.

You can customize the exception by creating custom nestjs-zod entities using the factories:

• Validation Pipe
• Guard

You can create ZodValidationException manually by providing ZodError:

const exception = new ZodValidationException(error)

Also, ZodValidationException has an additional API for better usage in NestJS Exception Filters:

@Catch(ZodValidationException)
export class ZodValidationExceptionFilter implements ExceptionFilter {
  catch(exception: ZodValidationException) {
    exception.getZodError() // -> ZodError
  }
}

Using ZodSerializerInterceptor for output validation

To ensure that a response conforms to a certain shape, you may use the ZodSerializerInterceptor interceptor.

This would be especially useful in prevent accidental data leaks.

This is similar to NestJs' @ClassSerializerInterceptor feature here

Include @ZodSerializerInterceptor in application root

@Module({
  ...
  providers: [
    ...,
    { provide: APP_INTERCEPTOR, useClass: ZodSerializerInterceptor },
  ],
})
export class AppModule {}

Use @ZodSerializerDto to define the shape of the response for endpoint in controller

const UserSchema = z.object({ username: string() })

export class UserDto extends createZodDto(UserSchema) {}

@Controller('user')
export class UserController {
  constructor(private readonly userService: UserService) {}

  @ZodSerializerDto(UserDto)
  getUser(id: number) {
    return this.userService.findOne(id) // --> The native service method returns { username: string, password: string by default }
  }
}

In the above example, despite the userService.findOne method returns password, the password property will be stripped out thanks to the @ZodSerializerDto decorator.

Extended Zod

As you learned in Writing Zod Schemas section, nestjs-zod provides a special version of Zod. It helps you to validate the user input more accurately by using our custom schemas and methods.

ZodDateString

In HTTP, we always accept Dates as strings. But default Zod only has validations for full date-time strings. ZodDateString was created to address this issue.

// 1. Expect user input to be a "string" type
// 2. Expect user input to be a valid date (by using new Date)
z.dateString()

// Cast to Date instance
// (use it on end of the chain, but before "describe")
z.dateString().cast()

// Expect string in "full-date" format from RFC3339
z.dateString().format('date')

// [default format]
// Expect string in "date-time" format from RFC3339
z.dateString().format('date-time')

// Expect date to be the past
z.dateString().past()

// Expect date to be the future
z.dateString().future()

// Expect year to be greater or equal to 2000
z.dateString().minYear(2000)

// Expect year to be less or equal to 2025
z.dateString().maxYear(2025)

// Expect day to be a week day
z.dateString().weekDay()

// Expect year to be a weekend
z.dateString().weekend()

Valid date format examples:

• 2022-05-15

Valid date-time format examples:

• 2022-05-02:08:33Z
• 2022-05-02:08:33.000Z
• 2022-05-02:08:33+00:00
• 2022-05-02:08:33-00:00
• 2022-05-02:08:33.000+00:00

Errors:

• invalid_date_string - invalid date

• invalid_date_string_format - wrong format

  Payload:

  • expected - 'date' | 'date-time'

• invalid_date_string_direction - not past/future

  Payload:

  • expected - 'past' | 'future'

• invalid_date_string_day - not weekDay/weekend

  Payload:

  • expected - 'weekDay' | 'weekend'

• too_small with type === 'date_string_year'

• too_big with type === 'date_string_year'

ZodPassword

ZodPassword is a string-like type, just like the ZodDateString. As you might have guessed, it's intended to help you with password schemas definition.

Also, ZodPassword has a more accurate OpenAPI conversion, comparing to regular .string(): it has password format and generated RegExp string for pattern.

// Expect user input to be a "string" type
z.password()

// Expect password length to be greater or equal to 8
z.password().min(8)

// Expect password length to be less or equal to 100
z.password().max(100)

// Expect password to have at least one digit
z.password().atLeastOne('digit')

// Expect password to have at least one lowercase letter
z.password().atLeastOne('lowercase')

// Expect password to have at least one uppercase letter
z.password().atLeastOne('uppercase')

// Expect password to have at least one special symbol
z.password().atLeastOne('special')

Errors:

• invalid_password_no_digit
• invalid_password_no_lowercase
• invalid_password_no_uppercase
• invalid_password_no_special
• too_small with type === 'password'
• too_big with type === 'password'

Json Schema

Created for nestjs-zod-prisma

z.json()

"from" function

Created for custom schemas in nestjs-zod-prisma

Just returns the same Schema

z.from(MySchema)

Extended Zod Errors

Currently, we use custom error code due to some Zod limitations (errorMap priorities)

Therefore, the error details is located inside params property:

const error = {
  code: 'custom',
  message: 'Invalid date, expected it to be the past',
  params: {
    isNestJsZod: true,
    code: 'invalid_date_string_direction',

    // payload is always located here in a flat view
    expected: 'past',
  },
  path: ['date'],
}

Working with errors on the client side

Optionally, you can install nestjs-zod on the client side.

The library provides you a /frontend scope, that can be used to detect custom NestJS Zod issues and process them the way you want.

import { isNestJsZodIssue, NestJsZodIssue, ZodIssue } from 'nestjs-zod/frontend'

function mapToFormErrors(issues: ZodIssue[]) {
  for (const issue of issues) {
    if (isNestJsZodIssue(issue)) {
      // issue is NestJsZodIssue
    }
  }
}

⚠️ If you use zod in your client-side application, and you want to install nestjs-zod too, it may be better to completely switch to nestjs-zod to prevent issues caused by mismatch between zod versions. nestjs-zod/frontend doesn't use zod at the runtime, but it uses its types.

OpenAPI (Swagger) support

Setup

Prerequisites:

• @nestjs/swagger with version ^5.0.0 installed

Apply a patch:

import { patchNestJsSwagger } from 'nestjs-zod'

patchNestJsSwagger()

Then follow the Nest.js' Swagger Module Guide.

Writing more Swagger-compatible schemas

Use .describe() method to add Swagger description:

import { z } from 'nestjs-zod/z'

const CredentialsSchema = z.object({
  username: z.string().describe('This is an username'),
  password: z.string().describe('This is a password'),
})

Using zodToOpenAPI

You can convert any Zod schema to an OpenAPI JSON object:

import { zodToOpenAPI } from 'nestjs-zod'
import { z } from 'nestjs-zod/z'

const SignUpSchema = z.object({
  username: z.string().min(8).max(20),
  password: z.string().min(8).max(20),
  sex: z
    .enum(['male', 'female', 'nonbinary'])
    .describe('We respect your gender choice'),
  social: z.record(z.string().url()),
  birthDate: z.dateString().past(),
})

const openapi = zodToOpenAPI(SignUpSchema)

The output will be the following:

{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "username": {
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 8,
      "maxLength": 20
    },
    "password": {
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 8,
      "maxLength": 20
    },
    "sex": {
      "description": "We respect your gender choice",
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["male", "female", "nonbinary"]
    },
    "social": {
      "type": "object",
      "additionalProperties": {
        "type": "string",
        "format": "uri"
      }
    },
    "birthDate": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date-time"
    }
  },
  "required": ["username", "password", "sex", "social", "birthDate"]
}

Credits

• zod-dto
  nestjs-zod includes a lot of refactored code from zod-dto.

• zod-nestjs and zod-openapi
  These libraries bring some new features compared to zod-dto.
  nestjs-zod has used them too.