Chemical X Forms

A schema-driven form library for Vue 3 and Nuxt. Bring a Zod schema (or your own validator); useForm returns typed reads, writes, errors, and a submit handler. Every path, value, and error is inferred from the schema — no any, no string keys.

Installation

npm install @chemical-x/forms zod

Nuxt 3 / 4 — install the module:

// nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  modules: ['@chemical-x/forms/nuxt'],
})

Bare Vue 3 — install the plugin and the Vite plugin:

// main.ts
import { createApp } from 'vue'
import { createChemicalXForms } from '@chemical-x/forms'

createApp(App).use(createChemicalXForms()).mount('#app')

// vite.config.ts
import vue from '@vitejs/plugin-vue'
import { chemicalXForms } from '@chemical-x/forms/vite'

export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [vue(), chemicalXForms()],
})

Quick start

<script setup lang="ts">
  import { z } from 'zod'
  import { useForm } from '@chemical-x/forms/zod' // zod v4; use /zod-v3 for v3

  const schema = z.object({
    email: z.email(),
    password: z.string().min(8),
  })

  const form = useForm({ schema, key: 'signup' })

  const onSubmit = form.handleSubmit(async (values) => {
    await $fetch('/api/signup', { method: 'POST', body: JSON.stringify(values) })
  })
</script>

<template>
  <form @submit.prevent="onSubmit">
    <input v-register="form.register('email')" placeholder="Email" />
    <small v-if="form.errors.email?.[0]">{{ form.errors.email[0].message }}</small>

    <input v-register="form.register('password')" type="password" placeholder="Password" />
    <small v-if="form.errors.password?.[0]">{{ form.errors.password[0].message }}</small>

    <button :disabled="form.state.isSubmitting">Sign up</button>
  </form>
</template>

useForm({ schema, key }) returns a Pinia-style reactive object — read leaves directly, no .value:

• form.values — current values. form.values.email, form.values.address.city.
• form.errors — per-field errors, keyed by dotted path. form.errors.email?.[0]?.message.
• form.fieldState — per-field flags (dirty, touched, errors, blank, …). form.fieldState.email.dirty.
• form.state — form-level flags (isSubmitting, isValid, canUndo, …).
• form.register(path) — typed two-way binding; pair with v-register on <input> / <textarea> / <select>.
• form.handleSubmit(onValid, onInvalid?) — runs validation, dispatches. The valid callback receives the strict zod-inferred type.
• form.setValue(path, value), form.reset(), field-array helpers, undo / redo, persistence — see the API reference.

Features

• Schema-driven types — every path, value, and error is inferred from the schema; no any.
• Live validation — debounced 'change' by default; 'blur' and 'none' available; async refinements await before submit dispatches.
• Field arrays — append / prepend / insert / remove / swap / move / replace, fully typed at the call site.
• Drafts + undo / redo — per-field opt-in persistence (localStorage / sessionStorage / IndexedDB / custom backend) and a bounded undo stack.
• Server errors — parseApiErrors(payload) normalises a { message, code }[] wire format; pair with form.setFieldErrors(...). User errors survive schema revalidation.
• Stable error codes — every ValidationError carries code: string. Library codes (cx:) live on the exported CxErrorCode enum; adapter codes use a zod: prefix; consumers pick their own (api:, auth:, …).
• Clearable required fields — the unset sentinel marks a field displayed-empty while storage holds the schema's slim default. Submit fails with 'No value supplied' for required schemas; .optional() / .nullable() / .default(N) opt out.
• SSR — Nuxt handles the payload round-trip automatically; bare Vue uses renderChemicalXState / hydrateChemicalXState (recipe).

Documentation

• API reference — every public export with signatures and return shapes
• Recipes — task-oriented walkthroughs for every feature above
• Troubleshooting — common gotchas and fixes
• Migration guides — per-release upgrade notes
• Performance — how it scales; when to worry
• Changelog — full release history

Status

Pre-1.0. SemVer applies from v1.0 onward; 0.x minor bumps may still include breaking changes, each documented under docs/migration/.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.