What Is nest-zod?

nest-zod is a small NestJS helper library that lets you use Zod schemas directly in controllers for:

• request body validation
• path parameter validation
• query parsing and coercion
• response serialization
• optional Swagger / OpenAPI metadata

The goal is to keep your request and response shapes close to the route that uses them, without forcing a separate DTO class model.

Recommended Mental Model

Use nest-zod when you want Zod to sit at the Nest boundary:

• parse inbound values before your handler logic runs
• optionally coerce string-based query input into typed values
• encode outbound values before they are returned to the client

If your app already uses @nestjs/swagger, use nest-zod/swagger so those same schemas also describe the route in Swagger.

The Two Entry Points

nest-zod

Use the root package when you only care about runtime behavior.

import { ZBody, ZParam, ZQuery, ZSerialize } from 'nest-zod';

nest-zod/swagger

Use the Swagger subpath when you want the same runtime behavior plus OpenAPI metadata.

import { ZBody, ZParam, ZQuery, ZSerialize } from 'nest-zod/swagger';

This is the recommended path for most Nest apps that already expose Swagger docs.

What the Decorators Do

• ZBody(schema) parses the request body with Zod
• ZParam(name, schema) parses a named path param
• ZQuery(schema) parses the query payload
• ZSerialize(schema) encodes the handler return value before it is sent

Continue to Getting Started for the shortest path to a working controller.