typescript 47 lines · 8 steps

Validating config with Zod schemas

A Zod schema validates untrusted config at runtime and produces a fully typed, guaranteed-valid object.

Explained by highlit
1import { z } from "zod";
2 
3const DatabaseSchema = z.object({
4 host: z.string().min(1),
5 port: z.number().int().min(1).max(65535),
6 ssl: z.boolean().default(false),
7 pool: z.object({
8 min: z.number().int().nonnegative(),
9 max: z.number().int().positive(),
10 }).refine((p) => p.max >= p.min, {
11 message: "max must be >= min",
12 path: ["max"],
13 }),
14});
15 
16const ConfigSchema = z.object({
17 env: z.enum(["development", "staging", "production"]),
18 database: DatabaseSchema,
19 features: z.record(z.string(), z.boolean()).default({}),
20 workers: z.array(z.object({
21 name: z.string(),
22 concurrency: z.number().int().positive(),
23 })).min(1),
24});
25 
26export type Config = z.infer<typeof ConfigSchema>;
27 
28export interface ConfigIssue {
29 path: string;
30 message: string;
31}
32 
33export function loadConfig(raw: unknown): Config {
34 const result = ConfigSchema.safeParse(raw);
35 if (result.success) return result.data;
36 
37 const issues: ConfigIssue[] = result.error.issues.map((issue) => ({
38 path: issue.path.length ? issue.path.join(".") : "<root>",
39 message: issue.message,
40 }));
41 
42 const report = issues
43 .map((i) => ` \u2022 ${i.path}: ${i.message}`)
44 .join("\n");
45 
46 throw new Error(`Invalid configuration:\n${report}`);
47}
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STEP 01

Walkthrough

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Three takeaways
  1. 1Zod schemas double as both runtime validators and the single source of truth for static types.
  2. 2refine lets you attach cross-field invariants that simple field types can't express.
  3. 3safeParse plus issue mapping turns raw validation failures into readable, actionable error reports.

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