fastify-zod

Why?

fastify is awesome and arguably the best Node http server around.

zod is awesome and arguably the best TypeScript modeling / validation library around.

Unfortunately, fastify and zod don't work together very well. fastify suggests using @sinclair/typebox, which is nice but is nowhere close to zod. This library allows you to use zod as your primary source of truth for models with nice integration with fastify, fastify-swagger and OpenAPI typescript-fetch generator.

Features

• Define your models using zod in a single place, without redundancy / conflicting sources of truth
• Use your models in busines logic code and get out of the box type-safety in fastify
• First-class support for fastify-swagger and openapitools-generator/typescrip-fetch
• Referential transparency, including for enums
• Deduplication of structurally equivalent models
• Internal generated JSON Schemas available for reuse

Setup

• Install fastify-zod

npm i fastify-zod

• Define your models using zod

1const TodoItemId = z.object({
2  id: z.string().uuid(),
3});
4
5enum TodoStateEnum {
6  Todo = `todo`,
7  InProgress = `in progress`,
8  Done = `done`,
9}
10
11const TodoState = z.nativeEnum(TodoStateEnum);
12
13const TodoItem = TodoItemId.extend({
14  label: z.string(),
15  dueDate: z.date().optional(),
16  state: TodoState,
17});
18
19const TodoItems = z.object({
20  todoItems: z.array(TodoItem),
21});
22
23const TodoItemsGroupedByStatus = z.object({
24  todo: z.array(TodoItem),
25  inProgress: z.array(TodoItem),
26  done: z.array(TodoItem),
27});
28
29const models = {
30  TodoItemId,
31  TodoItem,
32  TodoItems,
33  TodoItemsGroupedByStatus,
34};

• Register fastify types

1import type { FastifyZod } from "fastify-zod";
2
3// Global augmentation, as suggested by
4// https://www.fastify.io/docs/latest/Reference/TypeScript/#creating-a-typescript-fastify-plugin
5declare module "fastify" {
6  interface FastifyInstance {
7    readonly zod: FastifyZod<typeof models>;
8  }
9}
10
11// Local augmentation
12// See below for register()
13const f = await register(fastify(), { jsonSchemas });

• Register fastify-zod with optional config for fastify-swagger

1import { buildJsonSchemas, register } from "fastify-zod";
2
3const f = fastify();
4
5await register(f, {
6  jsonSchemas: buildJsonSchemas(models),
7  swaggerOptions: {
8    // See https://github.com/fastify/fastify-swagger
9  },
10  swaggerUiOptions: {
11    // See https://github.com/fastify/fastify-swagger-ui
12  },
13  transformSpec: {}, // optional, see below
14});

• Define fastify routes using simplified syntax and get automatic type inference

1f.zod.post(
2  `/item`,
3  {
4    operationId: `postTodoItem`,
5    body: `TodoItem`,
6    reply: `TodoItems`,
7  },
8  async ({ body: nextItem }) => {
9    /* body is correctly inferred as TodoItem */
10    if (state.todoItems.some((prevItem) => prevItem.id === nextItem.id)) {
11      throw new BadRequest(`item already exists`);
12    }
13    state.todoItems = [...state.todoItems, nextItem];
14    /* reply is typechecked against TodoItems */
15    return state;
16  }
17);

• Generate transformed spec with first-class support for downstream openapitools-generator

1const transformedSpecJson = await f
2  .inject({
3    method: `get`,
4    url: `/documentation_transformed/json`,
5  })
6  .then((res) => res.body);
7
8await writeFile(
9  join(__dirname, `..`, `..`, `openapi.transformed.json`),
10  transformedSpecJson,
11  { encoding: `utf-8` }
12);

• Generate OpenAPI Client with openapitools-generator

openapi-generator-cli generate

• For multiple response types / status codes, use response instead of reply:

1f.zod.get(
2  `/item/:id`,
3  {
4    operationId: `getTodoItem`,
5    params: `TodoItemId`,
6    response: {
7      200: `TodoItem`,
8      404: `TodoItemNotFoundError`,
9    },
10  },
11  async ({ params: { id } }, reply) => {
12    const item = state.todoItems.find((item) => item.id === id);
13    if (item) {
14      return item;
15    }
16    reply.code(404);
17    return {
18      id,
19      message: `item not found`,
20    };
21  }
22);

• For custom error messages, you must enable error messages when building the schemas, as well as configuring fastify to handle them:

1// Define custom messages
2const TodoItemId = z.object({
3  id: z.string().uuid("this is not a valid id!"),
4});
5
6// Then configure fastify
7const f = fastify({
8  ajv: {
9    customOptions: {
10      allErrors: true,
11    },
12  },
13  plugins: [require("ajv-errors")],
14});
15
16await register(f, {
17  jsonSchemas: buildJsonSchemas(models, { errorMessages: true }),
18});

API

buildJsonSchemas(models: Models, options: BuildJsonSchemasOptions = {}): BuildJonSchemaResult<typeof models>

Build JSON Schemas and $ref function from Zod models.

The result can be used either with register (recommended, see example in tests) or directly with fastify.addSchema using the $ref function (legacy, see example in tests).

Models

Record mapping model keys to Zod types. Keys will be used to reference models in routes definitions.

Example:

1const TodoItem = z.object({
2  /* ... */
3});
4const TodoList = z.object({
5  todoItems: z.array(TodoItem),
6});
7
8const models = {
9  TodoItem,
10  TodoList,
11};

BuildJsonSchemasOptions = {}

BuildJsonSchemasOptions.$id: string = "Schemas": $id of the generated schema (defaults to "Schemas")

BuildJsonSchemasOptions.target: jsonSchema7|openApi3 = "jsonSchema7": jsonSchema7 (default) or openApi3

Generates either jsonSchema7 or openApi3 schema. See zod-to-json-schema.

BuildJsonSchemasResult<typeof models> = { schemas: JsonSchema[], $ref: $ref<typeof models> }

The result of buildJsonSchemas has 2 components: an array of schemas that can be added directly to fastify using fastify.addSchema, and a $ref function that returns a { $ref: string } object that can be used directly.

If you simply pass the result to register, you won't have to care about this however.

1const { schemas, $ref } = buildJsonSchemas(models, { $id: "MySchema" });
2
3for (const schema of schemas) {
4  fastify.addSchema(schema);
5}
6
7equals($ref("TodoItem"), {
8  $ref: "MySchema#/properties/TodoItem",
9});

buildJsonSchema($id: string, Type: ZodType) (deprecated)

Shorthand to buildJsonSchema({ [$id]: Type }).schemas[0].

register(f: FastifyInstance, { jsonSchemas, swaggerOptions?: = {} }: RegisterOptions

Add schemas to fastify and decorate instance with zod property to add strongly-typed routes (see fastify.zod below).

RegisterOptions<typeof models>

RegisterOptions<typeof models>.jsonSchema

The result of buildJsonSchemas(models) (see above).

RegisterOptions<typeof models>.swaggerOptions = FastifyDynamicSwaggerOptions & { transformSpec: TransformSpecOptions }

If present, this options will automatically register fastify-swagger in addition to fastify.zod.

Any options will be passed directly to fastify-swagger so you may refer to their documentation.

In addition to fastify-swagger options, you can pass an additional property, transformSpec, to expose a transformed version of the original spec (see below).

1await register(f, {
2  jsonSchemas: buildJsonSchemas(models),
3  swaggerOptions: {
4    swagger: {
5      info: {
6        title: `Fastify Zod Test Server`,
7        description: `Test Server for Fastify Zod`,
8        version: `0.0.0`,
9      },
10    },
11  },
12  swaggerUiOptions: {
13    routePrefix: `/swagger`,
14    staticCSP: true,
15  },
16  transformSpec: {
17    /* see below */
18  },
19});

TransformSpecOptions = { cache: boolean = false, routePrefix?: string, options?: TransformOptions }

If this property is present on the swaggerOptions, then in addition to routes added to fastify by fastify-swagger, a transformed version of the spec is also exposed. The transformed version is semantically equivalent but benefits from several improvements, notably first-class support for openapitools-generator-cli (see below).

cache caches the transformed spec. As SpecTransformer can be computationally expensive, this may be useful if used in production. Defaults to false.

routePrefix is the route used to expose the transformed spec, similar to the routePrefix option of fastify-swagger. Defaults to ${swaggerOptions.routePrefix}_transformed. Since swaggerOptions.routePrefix defaults to /documentation, then the default if no routePrefix is provided in either options is /documentation_transformed. The exposed routes are /${routePrefix}/json and /${routePrefix}/yaml for JSON and YAML respectively versions of the transformed spec.

options are options passed to SpecTransformer.transform (see below). By default all transforms are applied.

fastify.zod.(delete|get|head|options|patch|post|put)(url: string, config: RouteConfig, handler)

Add route with strong typing.

Example:

1f.zod.put(
2  "/:id",
3  {
4    operationId: "putTodoItem",
5    params: "TodoItemId", // this is a key of "models" object above
6    body: "TodoItem",
7    reply: {
8      description: "The updated todo item",
9      key: "TodoItem",
10    },
11  },
12  async ({ params: { id }, body: item }) => {
13    /* ... */
14  }
15);

withRefResolver: (options: FastifyDynamicSwaggerOptions) => FastifyDynamicSwaggerOptions

Wraps fastify-swagger options providing a sensible default refResolver function compatible with using the $ref function returned by buildJsonSchemas`.

register automatically uses this under the hood so this is only required if you are using the result of buildJsonSchemas directly without using register.

SpecTransformer(spec: ApiSpec)

SpecTransformer takes an API spec (typically the output of /openapi/json when using fastify-swagger) and applies various transforms. This class is used under the hood by register when swaggerOptions.transformSpec is set so you probably don't need to use it directly.

The transforms should typically be semantically transparent (no semantic difference) but applies some spec-level optimization and most importantly works around the many quirks of the typescript-fetch generator of openapitools-generator-cli.

SpecTransformer is a stateful object that mutates itself internally, but the original spec object is not modified.

Available transforms:

• rewriteSchemasAbsoluteRefs transform

Transforms $refs relative to a schema to refs relative to the global spec.

Example input:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      "Schema": {
5        "type": "object",
6        "properties": {
7          "Item": {
8            /* ... */
9          },
10          "Items": {
11            "type": "array",
12            "items": {
13              // "#" refers to "Schema" scope
14              "$ref": "#/properties/Item"
15            }
16          }
17        }
18      }
19    }
20  }
21}

Output:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      "Schema": {
5        "type": "object",
6        "properties": {
7          "Item": {
8            /* ... */
9          },
10          "Items": {
11            "type": "array",
12            "items": {
13              // "#" refers to global scope
14              "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema/properties/Item"
15            }
16          }
17        }
18      }
19    }
20  }
21}

• extractSchemasProperties transform

Extract properties of schemas into new schemas and rewrite all $refs to point to the new schema.

Example input:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      "Schema": {
5        "type": "object",
6        "properties": {
7          "Item": {
8            /* ... */
9          },
10          "Items": {
11            "type": "array",
12            "items": {
13              "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema/properties/Item"
14            }
15          }
16        }
17      }
18    }
19  }
20}

Output:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      "Schema": {
5        "type": "object",
6        "properties": {
7          "Item": {
8            "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema_TodoItem"
9          },
10          "Items": {
11            "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema_TodoItems"
12          }
13        }
14      },
15      "Schema_TodoItem": {
16        /* ... */
17      },
18      "Schema_TodoItems": {
19        "type": "array",
20        "items": {
21          "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema_TodoItem"
22        }
23      }
24    }
25  }
26}

• mergeRefs transform

Finds deeply nested structures equivalent to existing schemas and replace them with $refs to this schema. In practice this means deduplication and more importantly, referential equivalence in addition to structrural equivalence. This is especially useful for enums since in TypeScript to equivalent enums are not assignable to each other.

Example input:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      "TodoItemState": {
5        "type": "string",
6        "enum": ["todo", "in progress", "done"]
7      },
8      "TodoItem": {
9        "type": "object",
10        "properties": {
11          "state": {
12            "type": "string",
13            "enum": ["todo", "in progress", "done"]
14          }
15        }
16      }
17    }
18  }
19}
20{
21  "mergeRefs": [{
22    "$ref": "TodoItemState#"
23  }]
24}

Output:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      "TodoItemState": {
5        "type": "string",
6        "enum": ["todo", "in progress", "done"]
7      },
8      "TodoItem": {
9        "type": "object",
10        "properties": {
11          "state": {
12            "$ref": "#/components/schemas/TodoItemState"
13          }
14        }
15      }
16    }
17  }
18}

In the typical case, you will not create each ref explicitly, but rather use the $ref function provided by buildJsonSchemas:

1{
2  mergeRefs: [$ref("TodoItemState")];
3}

• deleteUnusedSchemas transform

Delete all schemas that are not referenced anywhere, including in paths. This is useful to remove leftovers of the previous transforms.

Example input:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      // Schema_TodoItem has been extracted,
5      // there are no references to this anymore
6      "Schema": {
7        "type": "object",
8        "properties": {
9          "TodoItem": {
10            "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema_TodoItem"
11          }
12        }
13      },
14      "Schema_TodoItem": {
15        /* ... */
16      }
17    }
18  },
19  "paths": {
20    "/item": {
21      "get": {
22        "responses": {
23          "200": {
24            "content": {
25              "application/json": {
26                "schema": {
27                  // This used to be #/components/Schema/properties/TodoItem
28                  // but has been transformed by extractSchemasProperties
29                  "$ref": "#/components/schemas/Schema_TodoItem"
30                }
31              }
32            }
33          }
34        }
35      }
36    }
37  }
38}

Output:

1{
2  "components": {
3    "schemas": {
4      // "Schema" has been deleted
5      "Schema_TodoItem": {
6        /* ... */
7      }
8    }
9  },
10  "paths": {
11    /* ... */
12  }
13}

• schemaKeys option

This option controls the behavior of newly created schemas (e.g. during extractSchemasProperties transform).

Available configurations:

• schemaKeys.removeInitialSchemasPrefix: remove schemaKey prefix of initial schemas to create less verbose schema names, e.g. TodoState instead of MySchema_TodoState

• schemaKeys.changeCase: change case of generated schema keys. Defaults to preserve. In this case, original schema key and property key prefixes are preserved, and segments are underscore-separated.

In case of schema key conflict, an error will be thrown during transform.

SpecTransformer#transform(options: TransformOptions)

Applies the given transforms.

Default options:

1{
2  rewriteAbsoluteRefs?: boolean = true,
3  extractSchemasProperties?: boolean = true,
4  mergeRefs?: { $ref: string }[] = [],
5  deleteUnusedSchemas?: boolean = true,
6  schemaKeys?: {
7    removeInitialSchemasPrefix: boolean = false,
8    changeCase: "preserve" | "camelCase" | "PascalCase" | "snake_case" | "param-case" = "preserve"
9  } = {}
10}

All transforms default to true except mergeRefs that you must explicitly configure.

SpecTransformer#getSpec(): Spec

Return the current state of the spec. This is typically called after transform to use the transformed spec.

Usage with openapitools

Together with fastify-swagger, and SpecTransformer this library supports downstream client code generation using openapitools-generator-cli.

Recommended use is with register and fastify.inject.

For this you need to first generate the spec file, then run openapitools-generator:

1const jsonSchemas = buildJsonSchemas(models);
2
3await register(f, {
4  jsonSchemas,
5  swaggerOptions: {
6    openapi: {
7      /* ... */
8    },
9    exposeRoute: true,
10    transformSpec: {
11      routePrefix: "/openapi_transformed",
12      options: {
13        mergeRefs: [$ref("TodoItemState")],
14      },
15    },
16  },
17});
18
19const spec = await f
20  .inject({
21    method: "get",
22    url: "/openapi_transformed/json",
23  })
24  .then((spec) => spec.json());
25
26writeFileSync("openapi-spec.json", JSON.stringify(spec), { encoding: "utf-8" });

openapi-generator-cli generate

We recommend running this as part as the build step of your app, see package.json.

Caveats

Unfortunately and despite best efforts by SpecTransformer, the OpenAPI generator has many quirks and limited support for some features. Complex nested arrays are sometimes not validated / parsed correctly, discriminated unions have limited support, etc.

License

MIT License Copyright (c) Elie Rotenberg