JSON Schema

💎

New — Zod 4 introduces a new feature: native JSON Schema conversion. JSON Schema is a standard for describing the structure of JSON (with JSON). It's widely used in OpenAPI definitions and defining structured outputs for AI.

To convert a Zod schema to JSON Schema, use the z.toJSONSchema() function.

import * as z from "zod";
 
const schema = z.interface({
  name: z.string(),
  age: z.number(),
});
 
z.toJSONSchema(schema)
// => {
//   type: 'object',
//   properties: { name: { type: 'string' }, age: { type: 'number' } },
//   required: [ 'name', 'age' ]
// }

All schema & checks are converted to their closest JSON Schema equivalent. Some types have no analog and cannot be reasonably represented. See the `unrepresentable' section below for more information on handling these cases.

z.bigint(); // ❌
z.int64(); // ❌
z.symbol(); // ❌
z.void(); // ❌
z.date(); // ❌
z.map(); // ❌
z.set(); // ❌
z.file(); // ❌
z.transform(); // ❌
z.nan(); // ❌
z.custom(); // ❌

String formats

Zod converts the following schema types to the equivalent JSON Schema format:

// Supported via `format`
z.email(); // => { type: "string", format: "email" }
z.iso.datetime(); // => { type: "string", format: "date-time" }
z.iso.date(); // => { type: "string", format: "date" }
z.iso.time(); // => { type: "string", format: "time" }
z.iso.duration(); // => { type: "string", format: "duration" }
z.ipv4(); // => { type: "string", format: "ipv4" }
z.ipv6(); // => { type: "string", format: "ipv6" }
z.uuid(); // => { type: "string", format: "uuid" }
z.guid(); // => { type: "string", format: "uuid" }
z.url(); // => { type: "string", format: "uri" }

These schemas are supported via contentEncoding:

z.base64(); // => { type: "string", contentEncoding: "base64" }

All other string formats are supported via pattern:

z.base64url();
z.cuid();
z.regex();
z.emoji();
z.nanoid();
z.cuid2();
z.ulid();
z.cidr();

Numeric types

Zod converts the following numeric types to JSON Schema:

// number
z.number(); // => { type: "number" }
z.float32(); // => { type: "number", exclusiveMinimum: ..., exclusiveMaximum: ... }
z.float64(); // => { type: "number", exclusiveMinimum: ..., exclusiveMaximum: ... }
 
// integer
z.int(); // => { type: "integer" }
z.int32(); // => { type: "integer", exclusiveMinimum: ..., exclusiveMaximum: ... }

Nullability

Zod converts both undefined/null to { type: "null" } in JSON Schema.

z.null(); 
// => { type: "null" }
 
z.undefined(); 
// => { type: "null" }

Similarly, optional and nullable are made nullable via oneOf:

z.optional(z.string());
// => { oneOf: [{ type: "string" }, { type: "null" }] }
 
z.nullable(z.string());
// => { oneOf: [{ type: "string" }, { type: "null" }] }

Configuration

A second argument can be used to customize the conversion logic.

z.toJSONSchema(schema, {
  // ...params
})

Below is a quick reference for each supported parameter. Each one is explained in more detail below.

interface ToJSONSchemaParams {
  /** The JSON Schema version to target.
   * - `"draft-2020-12"` — Default. JSON Schema Draft 2020-12
   * - `"draft-7"` — Default. JSON Schema Draft 7 */
  target?: "draft-7" | "draft-2020-12";
 
  /** A registry used to look up metadata for each schema. 
   * Any schema with an `id` property will be extracted as a $def. */
  metadata?: $ZodRegistry<Record<string, any>>;
 
  /** How to handle unrepresentable types.
   * - `"throw"` — Default. Unrepresentable types throw an error
   * - `"any"` — Unrepresentable types become `{}` */
  unrepresentable?: "throw" | "any";
 
  /** How to handle cycles.
   * - `"ref"` — Default. Cycles will be broken using $defs
   * - `"throw"` — Cycles will throw an error if encountered */
  cycles?: "ref" | "throw";
 
  /* How to handle reused schemas.
   * - `"inline"` — Default. Reused schemas will be inlined
   * - `"ref"` — Reused schemas will be extracted as $defs */
  reused?: "ref" | "inline";
 
  /** A function used to convert `id` values to URIs to be used in *external* $refs.
   *
   * Default is `(id) => id`.
   */
  uri?: (id: string) => string;
}

`target`

To set the target JSON Schema version, use the target parameter. By default, Zod will target Draft 2020-12.

z.toJSONSchema(schema, { target: "draft-7" });
z.toJSONSchema(schema, { target: "draft-2020-12" });

`metadata`

If you haven't already, read through the Metadata and registries page for context on storing metadata in Zod.

In Zod, metadata is stored in registries. Zod exports a global registry z.globalRegistry that can be used to store common metadata fields like id, title, description, and examples.

import * as z from "zod";
 
// `.meta()` is a convenience method for registering a schema in `z.globalRegistry`
const emailSchema = z.string().meta({ 
  title: "Email address",
  description: "Your email address",
});
 
z.toJSONSchema(emailSchema);
// => { type: "string", title: "Email address", description: "Your email address", ... }

`unrepresentable`

The following APIs are not representable in JSON Schema. By default, Zod will throw an error if they are encountered. It is unsound to attempt a conversion to JSON Schema; you should modify your schemas as they have no equivalent in JSON. An error will be thrown if any of these are encountered.

z.bigint(); // ❌
z.int64(); // ❌
z.symbol(); // ❌
z.void(); // ❌
z.date(); // ❌
z.map(); // ❌
z.set(); // ❌
z.file(); // ❌
z.transform(); // ❌
z.nan(); // ❌
z.custom(); // ❌

By default, Zod will throw an error if any of these are encountered.

z.toJSONSchema(z.bigint());
// => throws Error

You can change this behavior by setting the unrepresentable option to "any". This will convert any unrepresentable types to {} (the equivalent of unknown in JSON Schema).

z.toJSONSchema(z.bigint(), { unrepresentable: "any" });
// => {}

`cycles`

How to handle cycles. If a cycle is encountered as z.toJSONSchema() traverses the schema, it will be represented using $ref.

const User = z.interface({
  name: z.string(),
  get friend() {
    return User;
  },
});
 
toJSONSchema(User);
// => {
//   type: 'object',
//   properties: { name: { type: 'string' }, friend: { '$ref': '#' } },
//   required: [ 'name', 'friend' ]
// }

If instead you want to throw an error, set the cycles option to "throw".

z.toJSONSchema(User, { cycles: "throw" });
// => throws Error

`reused`

How to handle schemas that occur multiple times in the same schema. By default, Zod will inline these schemas.

const name = z.string();
const User = z.interface({
  firstName: name,
  lastName: name,
});
 
z.toJSONSchema(User);
// => {
//   type: 'object',
//   properties: { 
//     firstName: { type: 'string' }, 
//     lastName: { type: 'string' } 
//   },
//   required: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ]
// }

Instead you can set the reused option to "ref" to extract these schemas into $defs.

z.toJSONSchema(User, { reused: "ref" });
// => {
//   type: 'object',
//   properties: {
//     firstName: { '$ref': '#/$defs/__schema0' },
//     lastName: { '$ref': '#/$defs/__schema0' }
//   },
//   required: [ 'firstName', 'lastName' ],
//   '$defs': { __schema0: { type: 'string' } }
// }

`override`

To define some custom override logic, use override. The provided callback has access to the original Zod schema and the default JSON Schema. This function should dircectly modify ctx.jsonSchema.

const mySchema = /* ... */
z.toJSONSchema(mySchema, {
  override: (ctx)=>{
    ctx.zodSchema; // the original Zod schema
    ctx.jsonSchema; // the default JSON Schema
 
    // directly modify
    ctx.jsonSchema.whatever = "sup";
  }
});

`pipes`

Pipes contain an input and and output schema. By default, the result of z.toJSONSchema represents the output schema; use "pipe": "input" to extract the input type instead.

const mySchema = z.string().transform(val => val.length).pipe(z.number());
// ZodPipe
 
const jsonSchema = z.toJSONSchema(mySchema); 
// => { type: "number" }
 
const jsonSchema = z.toJSONSchema(mySchema, { pipe: "input" }); 
// => { type: "string" }

Registries

Passing a schema into z.toJSONSchema() will return a self-contained JSON Schema.

In other cases, you may have a set of Zod schemas you'd like to represent using multiple interlinked JSON Schemas, perhaps to write to .json files and serve from a web server. To achieve this, you can pass a registry into z.toJSONSchema().

import * as z from "zod";
 
const User = z.interface({
  name: z.string(),
  get posts(){
    return z.array(Post);
  }
});
 
const Post = z.interface({
  title: z.string(),
  content: z.string(),
  get author(){
    return User;
  }
});
 
z.globalRegistry.add(User, {id: "User"});
z.globalRegistry.add(Post, {id: "Post"});

The schemas above both have an id property registered in z.globalRegistry. To convert these to JSON Schema, pass the entire registry into z.toJSONSchema().

z.toJSONSchema(z.globalRegistry);
// => {
//   schemas: {
//     User: {
//       id: 'User',
//       type: 'object',
//       properties: {
//         name: { type: 'string' },
//         posts: { type: 'array', items: { '$ref': 'Post' } }
//       },
//       required: [ 'name', 'posts' ]
//     },
//     Post: {
//       id: 'Post',
//       type: 'object',
//       properties: {
//         title: { type: 'string' },
//         content: { type: 'string' },
//         author: { '$ref': 'User' }
//       },
//       required: [ 'title', 'content', 'author' ]
//     }
//   }
// }

Any schema with an id property in the registry will be extracted into schemas.

By default, the $ref URIs are relative paths like "User". To make these absolute URIs, use the uri option. This expects a function that converts an id to a fully-qualified URI.

z.toJSONSchema(z.globalRegistry, {
  uri: (id) => `https://example.com/${id}.json`
});
// => {
//   schemas: {
//     User: {
//       id: 'User',
//       type: 'object',
//       properties: {
//         name: { type: 'string' },
//         posts: {
//           type: 'array',
//           items: { '$ref': 'https://example.com/Post.json' }
//         }
//       },
//       required: [ 'name', 'posts' ]
//     },
//     Post: {
//       id: 'Post',
//       type: 'object',
//       properties: {
//         title: { type: 'string' },
//         content: { type: 'string' },
//         author: { '$ref': 'https://example.com/User.json' }
//       },
//       required: [ 'title', 'content', 'author' ]
//     }
//   }
// }

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