Skip to main content

Advanced Patterns

todo - Cover advanced schema techniques and edge cases. Include:

Wildcards​

  • Using '*' as a property name for fallback/default behavior
  • Wildcards in object schemas (unknown properties)
  • Wildcards in array schemas (member schemas)
  • Resolution precedence: named properties > wildcard

Tuples​

  • Explicit array indices as property names: '0', '1', '2'
  • Combining explicit indices with wildcard for overflow
  • Use cases for heterogeneous arrays

Value Constraints​

  • Schema.literal(value) for exact matches
  • values option for enums
  • min/max for numeric ranges
  • How value constraints accumulate through inheritance

Container Transformers​

  • Transformers on object/array schemas generate initial containers
  • They do NOT transform the final assembled result
  • Receive initial value (often true for resolution success)
  • Must return object/array that can have properties set incrementally
  • Use .lax() if transformer adds properties not in schema

Complex Conditions​

  • Conditional suppression patterns
  • Conditions that depend on multiple config values
  • Returning undefined for deferred evaluation
  • Using conditions to implement feature flags

Meta and Custom Options​

  • Using .meta(key, value) for documentation/tooling
  • Custom options for domain-specific behavior
  • How options are inherited and merged

Union Staging Area​

  • How discriminator functions receive values
  • Values accumulate in staging area until union resolves
  • Union members cannot see staging area values

Schema Composition Patterns​

  • Reusing schema definitions
  • Building schema libraries
  • Modular schema organization across files

Key point: These patterns enable sophisticated configuration structures while maintaining type safety and validation.