---
id: wiki-2026-0508-zod
title: Zod
category: 10_Wiki/Topics
status: verified
canonical_id: self
aliases: [Zod Schema, Zod 4, ts-schema-validation]
duplicate_of: none
source_trust_level: A
confidence_score: 0.9
verification_status: applied
tags: [typescript, validation, schema, runtime-types]
raw_sources: []
last_reinforced: 2026-05-10
github_commit: pending
tech_stack:
  language: typescript
  framework: zod
---

# Zod

## 매 한 줄
> **"매 schema 한 번 정의 매 runtime validation + static type 매 동시"**. 매 Colin McDonnell 매 2020 출시 매 TypeScript-first schema validator — 매 2026 매 Zod 4 매 stable, tRPC / OpenAI SDK / Vercel AI SDK / Next.js Server Actions 매 사실상 standard. 매 대안: Valibot (smaller bundle), ArkType (faster).

## 매 핵심

### 매 핵심 idea
- 매 single source of truth: schema 의 의 매 type 도 (`z.infer<>`) 도 의 의.
- 매 parse → validated value (typed); failure → `ZodError` (or `safeParse` returns Result-like).
- Tree-shakeable, zero deps.

### 매 주요 method
- `z.object`, `z.array`, `z.union`, `z.discriminatedUnion`, `z.record`, `z.tuple`.
- `.refine`, `.transform`, `.pipe`, `.brand`.
- `.optional`, `.nullable`, `.nullish`, `.default`, `.catch`.
- `z.infer<typeof schema>`, `z.input`, `z.output`.

### 매 응용
1. tRPC: input/output schema → end-to-end type safety.
2. React Hook Form + `zodResolver`.
3. OpenAI structured outputs / function calling: schema → JSON Schema.
4. Server Actions / API route input validation.
5. Env variable validation (zod-env, t3-env).

## 💻 패턴

### Basic schema + infer
```ts
import { z } from "zod";

const User = z.object({
  id: z.string().uuid(),
  email: z.string().email(),
  age: z.number().int().min(0).max(150),
  role: z.enum(["admin", "user", "guest"]),
});
type User = z.infer<typeof User>;

const result = User.safeParse(input);
if (!result.success) console.error(result.error.flatten());
else console.log(result.data); // typed
```

### Discriminated union
```ts
const Event = z.discriminatedUnion("type", [
  z.object({ type: z.literal("click"), x: z.number(), y: z.number() }),
  z.object({ type: z.literal("keydown"), key: z.string() }),
  z.object({ type: z.literal("scroll"), delta: z.number() }),
]);
type Event = z.infer<typeof Event>; // narrow 매 자동
```

### Refine + transform + pipe
```ts
const Password = z.string()
  .min(8)
  .refine((s) => /[A-Z]/.test(s) && /\d/.test(s), "Need uppercase + digit");

const TrimmedEmail = z.string()
  .transform((s) => s.trim().toLowerCase())
  .pipe(z.string().email());
```

### Recursive schema (Zod 4)
```ts
type Comment = { text: string; replies: Comment[] };
const Comment: z.ZodType<Comment> = z.lazy(() =>
  z.object({ text: z.string(), replies: z.array(Comment) }),
);
```

### Branded types (nominal)
```ts
const UserId = z.string().uuid().brand<"UserId">();
type UserId = z.infer<typeof UserId>;
function loadUser(id: UserId) { /* … */ }
loadUser(crypto.randomUUID() as any); // 매 must parse 먼저
```

### Form integration (React Hook Form)
```tsx
import { useForm } from "react-hook-form";
import { zodResolver } from "@hookform/resolvers/zod";

const Schema = z.object({ email: z.string().email(), age: z.coerce.number().min(18) });
type Form = z.infer<typeof Schema>;

function SignUp() {
  const { register, handleSubmit, formState: { errors } } = useForm<Form>({
    resolver: zodResolver(Schema),
  });
  return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit((d) => console.log(d))}>
      <input {...register("email")} />
      {errors.email && <span>{errors.email.message}</span>}
    </form>
  );
}
```

### Env validation
```ts
// env.ts — process.env 매 typed
import { z } from "zod";

export const env = z.object({
  NODE_ENV: z.enum(["development", "production", "test"]),
  DATABASE_URL: z.string().url(),
  OPENAI_API_KEY: z.string().startsWith("sk-"),
  PORT: z.coerce.number().default(3000),
}).parse(process.env);
```

### LLM structured output
```ts
import OpenAI from "openai";
import { zodResponseFormat } from "openai/helpers/zod";

const Recipe = z.object({
  name: z.string(),
  ingredients: z.array(z.object({ item: z.string(), qty: z.string() })),
  steps: z.array(z.string()),
});
const openai = new OpenAI();
const r = await openai.chat.completions.parse({
  model: "gpt-5",
  messages: [{ role: "user", content: "Recipe for cacio e pepe" }],
  response_format: zodResponseFormat(Recipe, "recipe"),
});
const recipe = r.choices[0].message.parsed!; // typed
```

## 매 결정 기준
| 상황 | Approach |
|---|---|
| TS-only project | Zod (default) |
| Bundle size critical (<5KB) | Valibot |
| Performance critical (10M validations/s) | ArkType |
| JSON Schema 의 매 first-class | TypeBox |
| Java / Python interop schema | JSON Schema + ajv / pydantic |

**기본값**: Zod 4. 매 모든 boundary (network, env, storage) 매 parse.

## 🔗 Graph
- 부모: [[Schema Validation]]
- 변형: [[Valibot]] · [[ArkType]] · [[Yup]]
- 응용: [[React Hook Form]] · [[Server Actions]]
- Adjacent: [[TypeScript]] · [[Branded Types]] · [[JSON Schema]]

## 🤖 LLM 활용
**언제**: API boundary parsing, env validation, LLM output parsing, form schema.
**언제 X**: Hot path (>1M ops/s) 매 ArkType 고려, embedded / no TS.

## ❌ 안티패턴
- **Inferring on `.parse` not on schema**: `z.infer<typeof S>` 매 사용.
- **`any` cast 후 parse skip**: 매 boundary 매 항상 parse.
- **Massive nested `.refine` chains**: 매 readability — `.pipe` 분리.
- **Re-parsing same data multiple times**: 매 once at boundary, 매 그 후 typed.
- **Throwing in nested transforms**: `z.NEVER` + ctx.addIssue 사용.
- **Optional vs nullable 혼동**: optional = `| undefined`, nullable = `| null`.

## 🧪 검증 / 중복
- Verified (Zod 4 official docs, colinhacks/zod GitHub, tRPC/Vercel AI SDK integration).
- 신뢰도 A.

## 🕓 Changelog
| 날짜 | 변경 |
|---|---|
| 2026-05-08 | Phase 1 |
| 2026-05-10 | Manual cleanup — Zod 4, schema patterns, LLM structured output integration |