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<img alt="Standard Schema fire logo" loading="lazy" width="50" height="50" decoding="async" data-nimg="1" style="color:transparent" src="https://standardschema.dev/favicon.svg">
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Standard Schema</h1>
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A common interface for TypeScript validation libraries
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<a href="https://standardschema.dev">standardschema.dev</a>
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Standard Schema is a common interface designed to be implemented by JavaScript and TypeScript schema libraries.
The goal is to make it easier for ecosystem tools to accept user-defined type validators, without needing to write custom logic or adapters for each supported library. And since Standard Schema is a specification, they can do so with no additional runtime dependencies. Integrate once, validate anywhere.
## Who designed it?
The spec was designed by the creators of Zod, Valibot, and ArkType. Recent versions of these libraries already implement the spec (see the [full list of compatible libraries](#what-schema-libraries-implement-the-spec) below).
## The interface
The specification consists of a single TypeScript interface `StandardSchemaV1` to be implemented by any schema library wishing to be spec-compliant.
This interface can be found below in its entirety. Libraries wishing to implement the spec can copy/paste the code block below into their codebase. It's also available at `@standard-schema/spec` on [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@standard-schema/spec) and [JSR](https://jsr.io/@standard-schema/spec). There will be zero changes without a major version bump.
```ts
/** The Standard Schema interface. */
export interface StandardSchemaV1<Input = unknown, Output = Input> {
/** The Standard Schema properties. */
readonly '~standard': StandardSchemaV1.Props<Input, Output>;
}
export declare namespace StandardSchemaV1 {
/** The Standard Schema properties interface. */
export interface Props<Input = unknown, Output = Input> {
/** The version number of the standard. */
readonly version: 1;
/** The vendor name of the schema library. */
readonly vendor: string;
/** Validates unknown input values. */
readonly validate: (
value: unknown
) => Result<Output> | Promise<Result<Output>>;
/** Inferred types associated with the schema. */
readonly types?: Types<Input, Output> | undefined;
}
/** The result interface of the validate function. */
export type Result<Output> = SuccessResult<Output> | FailureResult;
/** The result interface if validation succeeds. */
export interface SuccessResult<Output> {
/** The typed output value. */
readonly value: Output;
/** The non-existent issues. */
readonly issues?: undefined;
}
/** The result interface if validation fails. */
export interface FailureResult {
/** The issues of failed validation. */
readonly issues: ReadonlyArray<Issue>;
}
/** The issue interface of the failure output. */
export interface Issue {
/** The error message of the issue. */
readonly message: string;
/** The path of the issue, if any. */
readonly path?: ReadonlyArray<PropertyKey | PathSegment> | undefined;
}
/** The path segment interface of the issue. */
export interface PathSegment {
/** The key representing a path segment. */
readonly key: PropertyKey;
}
/** The Standard Schema types interface. */
export interface Types<Input = unknown, Output = Input> {
/** The input type of the schema. */
readonly input: Input;
/** The output type of the schema. */
readonly output: Output;
}
/** Infers the input type of a Standard Schema. */
export type InferInput<Schema extends StandardSchemaV1> = NonNullable<
Schema['~standard']['types']
>['input'];
/** Infers the output type of a Standard Schema. */
export type InferOutput<Schema extends StandardSchemaV1> = NonNullable<
Schema['~standard']['types']
>['output'];
}
```
## Design goals
The specification meets a few primary design objectives:
- **Support runtime validation.** Given a Standard Schema compatible validator, you should be able to validate data with it (duh). Any validation errors should be presented in a standardized format.
- **Support static type inference.** For TypeScript libraries that do type inference, the specification provides a standard way for them to "advertise" their inferred type, so it can be extracted and used by external tools.
- **Minimal.** It should be easy for libraries to implement this spec in a few lines of code that call their existing functions/methods.
- **Avoid API conflicts.** The entire spec is tucked inside a single object property called `~standard`, which avoids potential naming conflicts with the API surface of existing libraries.
- **Do no harm to DX.** The `~standard` property is tilde-prefixed to [de-prioritize it in autocompletion](https://x.com/colinhacks/status/1816860780459073933). By contrast, an underscore-prefixed property would show up before properties/methods with alphanumeric names.
## What schema libraries implement the spec?
These are the libraries that have already implemented the Standard Schema interface. (If you maintain a library that implements the spec, [create a PR](https://github.com/standard-schema/standard-schema/compare) to add yourself!)
| Implementer | Version(s) | Docs |
| ----------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Zod | 3.24.0+ | [zod.dev](https://zod.dev/) |
| Valibot | v1.0+ | [valibot.dev](https://valibot.dev/) |
| ArkType | v2.0+ | [arktype.io](https://arktype.io/) |
| Arri Schema | v0.71.0+ | [github.com/modiimedia/arri](https://github.com/modiimedia/arri) |
| TypeMap | v0.8.0+ | [github.com/sinclairzx81/typemap](https://github.com/sinclairzx81/typemap) |
## What tools / frameworks accept spec-compliant schemas?
The following tools accept user-defined schemas conforming to the Standard Schema spec. (If you maintain a tool that supports Standard Schemas, [create a PR](https://github.com/standard-schema/standard-schema/compare) to add yourself!)
| Integrator | Description | Link |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| [tRPC](https://trpc.io) | 🧙♀️ Move fast and break nothing. End-to-end typesafe APIs made easy | [PR](https://github.com/trpc/trpc/pull/6079) |
| [TanStack Form](https://github.com/TanStack/form) | 🤖 Headless, performant, and type-safe form state management for TS/JS, React, Vue, Angular, Solid, and Lit | [PR](https://github.com/TanStack/form/issues/1015) |
| [TanStack Router](https://github.com/tanstack/router) | A fully type-safe React router with built-in data fetching, stale-while revalidate caching and first-class search-param APIs | [PR](https://github.com/TanStack/router/pull/2602) |
| [Hono Middleware 🚧](https://hono.dev) | Fast, lightweight server, built on Web Standards | [PR](https://github.com/honojs/middleware/pull/887) |
| [Qwik 🚧](https://github.com/QwikDev/qwik) | Instant-loading web apps, without effort | [PR](https://github.com/QwikDev/qwik/pull/7281) |
| [UploadThing](https://github.com/pingdotgg/uploadthing) | File uploads for modern web devs | [Docs](https://docs.uploadthing.com/file-routes#input) |
| [T3 Env](https://github.com/t3-oss/t3-env) | Framework agnostic validation for type-safe environment variables | [PR](https://github.com/t3-oss/t3-env/pull/299) |
| [OpenAuth](https://github.com/openauthjs/openauth) | Universal, standards-based auth provider | [Docs](https://openauth.js.org/docs/#server) |
| [renoun](https://www.renoun.dev/) | The Documentation Toolkit for React | [Docs](https://www.renoun.dev/utilities/file-system#schema-validation) |
| [Formwerk](https://github.com/formwerkjs/formwerk) | A Vue.js Framework for building high-quality, accessible, delightful forms. | [PR](https://github.com/formwerkjs/formwerk/pull/68) |
| [GQLoom](https://github.com/modevol-com/gqloom) | Weave GraphQL schema and resolvers using Standard Schema | [PR](https://github.com/modevol-com/gqloom/pull/7) |
| [Nuxt UI (v3)](https://github.com/nuxt/ui) | A UI Library for modern web apps, powered by Vue & Tailwind CSS | [PR](https://github.com/nuxt/ui/pull/2303) |
| [oRPC](https://github.com/unnoq/orpc) | Typesafe APIs made simple 🪄 | [PR](https://github.com/unnoq/orpc/pull/50) |
| [Regle](https://github.com/victorgarciaesgi/regle) | Type-safe model-based form validation library for Vue.js | [PR](https://github.com/victorgarciaesgi/regle/pull/46) |
## How can my schema library implement the spec?
Schemas libraries that want to support Standard Schema must implement the `StandardSchemaV1` interface. Start by copying the specification file above into your library. It consists of types only.
Then implement the spec by adding the `~standard` property to your validator objects/instances. We recommend using `extends` / `implements` to ensure static agreement with the interface. It doesn't matter whether your schema library returns plain objects, functions, or class instances. The only thing that matters is that the `~standard` property is defined somehow.
Here's a simple worked example of a string validator that implements the spec.
```ts
import type {StandardSchemaV1} from '@standard-schema/spec';
// Step 1: Define the schema interface
interface StringSchema extends StandardSchemaV1<string> {
type: 'string';
message: string;
}
// Step 2: Implement the schema interface
function string(message: string = 'Invalid type'): StringSchema {
return {
type: 'string',
message,
'~standard': {
version: 1,
vendor: 'valizod',
validate(value) {
return typeof value === 'string' ? {value} : {issues: [{message}]};
},
},
};
}
```
We recommend defining the `~standard.validate()` function in terms of your library's existing validation functions/methods. Ideally implementing the spec only requires a handful of lines of code.
Avoid returning `Promise` from `~standard.validate()` unless absolutely necessary. Some third-party libraries may not support async validation.
## How do I accept Standard Schemas in my library?
Third-party libraries and frameworks can leverage the Standard Schema spec to accept user-defined schemas in a type-safe way.
To get started, copy and paste the specification file into your project. Alternatively (if you are okay with the extra dependency), you can install the `@standard-schema/spec` package from [npm](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@standard-schema/spec) or [JSR](https://jsr.io/@standard-schema/spec) as a dependency. _It is not recommended to install as a dev dependency, see the [associated FAQ](#can-i-add-it-as-a-dev-dependency) for details_.
```sh
npm install @standard-schema/spec # npm
yarn add @standard-schema/spec # yarn
pnpm add @standard-schema/spec # pnpm
bun add @standard-schema/spec # bun
deno add jsr:@standard-schema/spec # deno
```
Here's is an simple example of a generic function that accepts an arbitrary spec-compliant validator and uses it to parse some data.
```ts
import type {StandardSchemaV1} from '@standard-schema/spec';
export async function standardValidate<T extends StandardSchemaV1>(
schema: T,
input: StandardSchemaV1.InferInput<T>
): Promise<StandardSchemaV1.InferOutput<T>> {
let result = schema['~standard'].validate(input);
if (result instanceof Promise) result = await result;
// if the `issues` field exists, the validation failed
if (result.issues) {
throw new Error(JSON.stringify(result.issues, null, 2));
}
return result.value;
}
```
This concise function can accept inputs from any spec-compliant schema library.
```ts
import * as z from 'zod';
import * as v from 'valibot';
import {type} from 'arktype';
const zodResult = await standardValidate(z.string(), 'hello');
const valibotResult = await standardValidate(v.string(), 'hello');
const arktypeResult = await standardValidate(type('string'), 'hello');
```
## FAQ
These are the most frequently asked questions about Standard Schema. If your question is not listed, feel free to create an issue.
### Do I need to add `@standard-schema/spec` as a dependency?
No. The `@standard-schema/spec` package is completely optional. You can just copy and paste the types into your project. We guarantee no breaking changes without a major version bump.
If you don't mind additional dependencies, you can add `@standard-schema/spec` as a dependency and consume it with `import type`. The `@standard-schema/spec` package contains no runtime code and only exports types.
### Can I add it as a dev dependency?
Despite being types-only, you should _not_ install `@standard-schema/spec` as a dev dependency. By accepting Standard Schemas as part of your public API, the Standard Schema interface becomes a part of your library's public API. As such, it _must_ be available whenever/wherever your library gets installed, even in production installs. For this to happen, it must be installed as a regular dependency.
### Why did you prefix the `~standard` property with `~`?
The goal of prefixing the key with `~` is to both avoid conflicts with existing API surfaces and to de-prioritize these keys in auto-complete. The `~` character is one of the few ASCII characters that occurs after `A-Za-z0-9` lexicographically, so VS Code puts these suggestions at the bottom of the list.
### Why not use a symbol key?
In TypeScript, using a plain `Symbol` inline as a key always collapses to a simple `symbol` type. This would cause conflicts with other schema properties that use symbols.
```ts
const object = {
[Symbol.for('~output')]: 'some data',
};
// { [k: symbol]: string }
```
Unique symbols can also be declared in a "nominal" way that won't collapse. In this case the symbol key is sorted alphabetically in autocomplete according to the symbol's variable name.
Thus, these symbol keys don't get sorted to the bottom of the autocomplete list, unlike tilde-prefixed string keys.
### How to only allow synchronous validation?
The `~validate` function might return a synchronous value _or_ a `Promise`. If you only accept synchronous validation, you can simply throw an error if the returned value is an instance of `Promise`. Libraries are encouraged to preferentially use synchronous validation whenever possible.
```ts
import type {StandardSchemaV1} from '@standard-schema/spec';
function validateInput(schema: StandardSchemaV1, data: unknown) {
const result = schema['~standard'].validate(data);
if (result instanceof Promise) {
throw new TypeError('Schema validation must be synchronous');
}
// ...
}
```
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