JSON Format

zod-rs uses serde’s default externally-tagged format for enums. Here’s how each variant type maps to JSON.

Format table

Variant Type	Rust	JSON
Unit	Status::Active	{"Active": null}
Tuple (single)	Message::Text("hi")	{"Text": "hi"}
Tuple (multiple)	Message::Coords(1, 2)	{"Coords": [1, 2]}
Struct	Event::Click { x: 1, y: 2 }	{"Click": {"x": 1, "y": 2}}

Unit variants

Unit variants serialize as {"VariantName": null}:

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, ZodSchema)]
enum Status { Active, Inactive }

// JSON: {"Active": null}

Tuple variants (single)

Single-value tuple variants unwrap the value:

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, ZodSchema)]
enum Msg { Text(String) }

// JSON: {"Text": "hello"}

Tuple variants (multiple)

Multi-value tuple variants use an array:

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, ZodSchema)]
enum Msg { Coords(i32, i32) }

// JSON: {"Coords": [10, 20]}

Struct variants

Struct variants use a nested object:

#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, ZodSchema)]
enum Event { Click { x: i32, y: i32 } }

// JSON: {"Click": {"x": 1, "y": 2}}

Validation

Each variant is validated as a union. The value must be a single-key object where the key matches a variant name, and the value matches that variant’s expected format.