JSON Schema to Zod v3 Converter

A production-ready TypeScript library for converting JSON Schema (Draft 7+) to Zod v3 validation schemas with full type safety and comprehensive feature support.

Features

✅ Full Zod v3 Support - Works seamlessly with Zod 3.x
✅ Comprehensive JSON Schema Support - All major features from Draft 7+
✅ Type Safe - Full TypeScript support with proper type inference
✅ Built-in Security - ReDoS protection for regex patterns (enabled by default)
✅ Well Documented - Every function and handler has detailed JSDoc comments
✅ Production Ready - Clean architecture, proper error handling, and edge case coverage
✅ Zero Dependencies - Only peer dependency is Zod v3

Installation

Install the package from npm along with Zod v3:

npm install json-schema-to-zod-v3 zod@^3.23.8

Or using yarn:

yarn add json-schema-to-zod-v3 zod@^3.23.8

Or using pnpm:

pnpm add json-schema-to-zod-v3 zod@^3.23.8

Quick Start

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';
import { z } from 'zod';

// Define a JSON Schema
const jsonSchema = {
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    name: { type: 'string', minLength: 1 },
    age: { type: 'number', minimum: 0, maximum: 120 },
    email: { type: 'string', pattern: '^[^@]+@[^@]+.[^@]+$' },
  },
  required: ['name', 'email'],
};

// Convert to Zod schema
const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(jsonSchema);

// Use for validation
const result = zodSchema.safeParse({
  name: 'John Doe',
  email: '[email protected]',
  age: 30,
});

console.log(result.success); // true

🔒 Security

ReDoS Protection

This library includes built-in protection against ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) attacks when processing JSON Schema pattern constraints.

Why This Matters

Malicious regex patterns can cause exponential backtracking, leading to:

• Application hangs
• Performance degradation
• Denial of service

Example of a dangerous pattern:

{
  type: 'string',
  pattern: '(a+)+', // ⚠️ ReDoS vulnerability
}

Protection is Automatic

ReDoS protection is enabled by default:

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const schema = {
  type: 'string',
  pattern: '(a+)+', // Dangerous pattern
};

const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(schema);
// ✅ Pattern automatically validated and rejected
// ⚠️ Warning logged to console
// Validation will safely fail for this pattern

What's Protected

• ✅ Nested quantifiers: (a+)+, (a*)*
• ✅ Excessive pattern length (>1,000 chars)
• ✅ Large quantifiers (>{100})
• ✅ Invalid regex syntax
• ✅ Runtime timeout protection (100 ms)

Configuration

Customize protection behavior if needed:

import { setSecurityConfig } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

setSecurityConfig({
  enableProtection: true, // Enable/disable protection
  warnOnUnsafe: true, // Log warnings
  throwOnUnsafe: false, // Throw errors instead
  maxPatternLength: 1000, // Max pattern length
  maxQuantifier: 100, // Max quantifier value
  timeoutMs: 100, // Timeout for regex ops
});

Manual Validation

For more control, use security utilities directly:

import { validatePattern, createSafeRegExp } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

// Validate a pattern before use
const result = validatePattern('^[a-z]+$');
if (result.safe) {
  console.log('Pattern is safe');
} else {
  console.error('Unsafe:', result.reason);
}

// Create safe regex with timeout
const regex = createSafeRegExp('^[a-z]+$');
if (regex) {
  const isValid = regex.test(input);
}

Trusted vs Untrusted Input

| Input Source | Recommendation | | ------------ | ---------------------------------- | | Your schemas | ✅ Safe with defaults | | Known APIs | ✅ Safe with defaults | | User uploads | ⚠️ Keep protection enabled | | Public APIs | ⚠️ Keep protection + rate limiting |

📖 For comprehensive security guidance, see SECURITY.md

TL;DR: ReDoS protection is enabled by default. Safe for production use. Keep enabled for untrusted input.

API Reference

convertJsonSchemaToZod(schema)

Main conversion function that transforms any JSON Schema to a Zod schema.

Parameters:

• schema: JSONSchema - JSON Schema object or boolean

Returns: z.ZodTypeAny - Zod schema equivalent

Example:

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod({
  type: 'string',
  minLength: 5,
  maxLength: 100,
  pattern: '^[A-Z]',
});

jsonSchemaObjectToZodRawShape(schema)

Convenience function for converting object schemas to Zod object shapes.

Parameters:

• schema: JSONSchemaObject - JSON Schema object with properties

Returns: Record<string, z.ZodTypeAny> - Object shape for z.object()

Example:

import { jsonSchemaObjectToZodRawShape } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';
import { z } from 'zod';

const shape = jsonSchemaObjectToZodRawShape({
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    username: { type: 'string' },
    age: { type: 'number' },
  },
  required: ['username'],
});

const schema = z.object(shape);

Utility Functions

isValidWithSchema(schema, value)

Validates a value against a Zod schema.

import { isValidWithSchema } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';
import { z } from 'zod';

const schema = z.string();
isValidWithSchema(schema, 'hello'); // true
isValidWithSchema(schema, 123); // false

createUniqueItemsValidator()

Creates a validator for unique array items with deep equality.

import { createUniqueItemsValidator } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const validator = createUniqueItemsValidator();
validator([1, 2, 3]); // true
validator([1, 2, 1]); // false

deepEqual(a, b)

Performs deep equality comparison.

import { deepEqual } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

deepEqual({ a: 1, b: [2, 3] }, { a: 1, b: [2, 3] }); // true

Supported JSON Schema Features

Type Keywords

| Feature | Support | Example | | ----------------- | ------- | ---------------------------------- | | type | ✅ | { "type": "string" } | | type (multiple) | ✅ | { "type": ["string", "number"] } | | const | ✅ | { "const": "fixed-value" } | | enum | ✅ | { "enum": ["a", "b", "c"] } |

String Constraints

{
  type: 'string',
  minLength: 5, // ✅ Minimum length
  maxLength: 100, // ✅ Maximum length
  pattern: '^[A-Z]', // ✅ Regular expression
}

Number Constraints

{
  type: 'number',
  minimum: 0, // ✅ Minimum value (inclusive)
  maximum: 100, // ✅ Maximum value (inclusive)
  exclusiveMinimum: 0, // ✅ Exclusive minimum
  exclusiveMaximum: 100, // ✅ Exclusive maximum
  multipleOf: 5, // ✅ Must be multiple of
}

Array Constraints

{
  type: 'array',
  items: { type: 'string' }, // ✅ All items schema
  minItems: 1, // ✅ Minimum length
  maxItems: 10, // ✅ Maximum length
  uniqueItems: true, // ✅ All items unique
  contains: { type: 'number' }, // ✅ Must contain matching items
  prefixItems: [
    // ✅ Tuple prefix
    { type: 'string' },
    { type: 'number' },
  ],
}

Tuple Support

{
  type: 'array',
  items: [{ type: 'string' }, { type: 'number' }, { type: 'boolean' }],
}
// Converts to: z.tuple([z.string(), z.number(), z.boolean()])

Object Constraints

{
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    // ✅ Property schemas
    name: { type: 'string' },
  },
  required: ['name'], // ✅ Required fields
  additionalProperties: false, // ✅ No extra properties
  minProperties: 1, // ✅ Minimum property count
  maxProperties: 10, // ✅ Maximum property count
}

Composition Keywords

allOf (Intersection)

{
  allOf: [
    { type: 'object', properties: { name: { type: 'string' } } },
    { type: 'object', properties: { age: { type: 'number' } } },
  ];
}
// Must match ALL schemas

anyOf (Union)

{
  anyOf: [{ type: 'string' }, { type: 'number' }];
}
// Must match AT LEAST ONE schema

oneOf (Exclusive)

{
  oneOf: [
    { type: 'string', minLength: 5 },
    { type: 'number', minimum: 100 },
  ];
}
// Must match EXACTLY ONE schema

not (Negation)

{
  not: {
    type: 'null';
  }
}
// Must NOT match the schema

Other Features

• ✅ default - Default values
• ✅ description - Schema descriptions
• ✅ Complex const and enum (objects/arrays)
• ✅ Boolean schemas (true/false)
• ✅ Implicit type detection

Examples

User Registration Schema

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const registrationSchema = {
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    username: {
      type: 'string',
      minLength: 3,
      maxLength: 20,
      pattern: '^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$',
    },
    email: {
      type: 'string',
      pattern: '^[^@]+@[^@]+.[^@]+$',
    },
    password: {
      type: 'string',
      minLength: 8,
    },
    age: {
      type: 'number',
      minimum: 13,
      maximum: 120,
    },
    terms: {
      type: 'boolean',
      const: true,
    },
  },
  required: ['username', 'email', 'password', 'terms'],
};

const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(registrationSchema);

// Use it
const result = zodSchema.safeParse({
  username: 'john_doe',
  email: '[email protected]',
  password: 'secure123',
  age: 25,
  terms: true,
});

API Response Schema

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const responseSchema = {
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    status: {
      type: 'string',
      enum: ['success', 'error'],
    },
    data: {
      anyOf: [{ type: 'object' }, { type: 'array' }, { type: 'null' }],
    },
    error: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        code: { type: 'string' },
        message: { type: 'string' },
      },
    },
  },
  required: ['status'],
};

const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(responseSchema);

Product Catalog Schema

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const productSchema = {
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    id: { type: 'string' },
    name: { type: 'string', minLength: 1 },
    price: {
      type: 'number',
      minimum: 0,
      multipleOf: 0.01,
    },
    category: {
      type: 'string',
      enum: ['electronics', 'clothing', 'books'],
    },
    tags: {
      type: 'array',
      items: { type: 'string' },
      uniqueItems: true,
      minItems: 1,
    },
    metadata: {
      type: 'object',
      properties: {
        createdAt: { type: 'string' },
        updatedAt: { type: 'string' },
      },
      required: ['createdAt'],
    },
  },
  required: ['id', 'name', 'price', 'category'],
};

const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(productSchema);

Working with OpenAPI Specs

If you have an OpenAPI specification, you can extract JSON Schemas and convert them:

import { convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

// Example: Extract schema from OpenAPI
const openApiSpec = {
  components: {
    schemas: {
      User: {
        type: 'object',
        properties: {
          id: { type: 'string' },
          name: { type: 'string' },
        },
        required: ['id', 'name'],
      },
    },
  },
};

// Convert the User schema
const userZodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(openApiSpec.components.schemas.User);

Architecture

The library uses a clean, modular architecture:

src/
├── index.ts                    # Public API
├── types.ts                    # TypeScript type definitions
├── utils.ts                    # Utility functions
├── converter.ts                # Main conversion orchestrator
└── handlers/
    ├── primitive/              # Primitive type handlers
    │   ├── basic.ts           # Type, const, enum
    │   ├── string.ts          # String constraints
    │   ├── number.ts          # Number constraints
    │   ├── array.ts           # Array constraints
    │   └── object.ts          # Object constraints
    └── refinement/            # Refinement handlers
        ├── composition.ts     # allOf, anyOf, oneOf, not
        ├── complex.ts         # Advanced array/object features
        └── special.ts         # Edge cases and metadata

Conversion Process

1. Primitive Phase: Handlers build base type schemas
2. Collection Phase: Gather all allowed type schemas
3. Combination Phase: Create union if multiple types
4. Refinement Phase: Apply constraints and validations

TypeScript Support

The library is fully typed with TypeScript:

import { JSONSchemaObject, convertJsonSchemaToZod } from 'json-schema-to-zod-v3';

const schema: JSONSchemaObject = {
  type: 'object',
  properties: {
    name: { type: 'string' },
  },
};

// Type-safe conversion
const zodSchema = convertJsonSchemaToZod(schema);
// Type is inferred as z.ZodTypeAny

Edge Cases Handled

• ✅ Empty enum arrays
• ✅ Boolean schemas (true/false)
• ✅ __proto__ in required fields
• ✅ Conflicting constraints
• ✅ Unicode/emoji in string length
• ✅ Floating-point precision in multipleOf
• ✅ Deep equality for complex types

Limitations

• $ref references must be resolved before conversion
• Some very advanced JSON Schema features may not be supported
• Maximum recursion depth applies to nested schemas

Performance

The library is optimized for production use:

• Handlers execute in optimal order
• Minimal object allocation
• No unnecessary schema wrapping

Migration from Zod v4

If you're coming from a Zod v4 library, the main difference is the import:

// Old (Zod v4)
import { z } from 'zod/v4';

// New (Zod v3)
import { z } from 'zod';

All other functionality remains the same.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the examples in this README
2. Open an issue on GitHub
3. Refer to the Zod documentation for Zod-specific questions

License

MIT

Related Projects

• Zod - TypeScript-first schema validation
• JSON Schema—JSON Schema specification

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Full Zod v3 support
• Comprehensive JSON Schema Draft 7+ support
• Production-ready with full documentation