Complex type coercion

We have an issue where we are using Zod to apply strong typing practices to our API layer

Trouble we have is using complex object over GET, as everything becomes a string over the wire.

Are we able to attempt deep object coercion with Zod? Something like:

const schema = z.object({example: z.number()})

const data = {example: '100'}

const coersedData = scheme.coerce(data) // {example: 100}

const brokenData = {example: 'lemon'}

scheme.coerce(brokenData) // Error

[mildfuzz]

I guess for me, it’s less about the false positives, and more about the usefulness of type coercion. I know that the object I sent over the wire confirms to my type, because I tested it before I made the request, but I also know that all my values will become strings in transit, and I want a convenient way to re-use the schema I have already defined to coerce the data back into the state I wish it to be in, if that makes sense?

[nicholaschiang]

@mildfuzz I encountered something similar and just used what @scotttrinh mentioned. I found that if you simply reuse your complex refine and transform types, your definitions can stay pretty readable:

const date = z.string().refine((d) => !Number.isNaN(Date.parse(d))).transform((d) => new Date(d));
const Timeslot = z.object({
  id: z.string(),
  from: date,
  to: date,
  exdates: z.array(date).optional(),
  recur: z.string().optional(),
  last: date.optional(),
});