zod-to-form-cli

name	zod-to-form-cli
description	Build-time code generator for Zod v4 form components Use when: You need programmatic codegen from a Node.js script or build tool (not just.... Also: zod, zod-v4, codegen, forms, form-generation, react-hook-form, schema-driven, cli, generator, component-codegen, schema-to-tsx.
license	MIT

@zod-to-form/cli

Build-time code generator for Zod v4 form components

Before using the CLI, decide: are you scripting (use runGenerate) or interacting (use npx zod-to-form)? For config authoring, always use defineConfig for type inference.

Quick Start

zod-to-form generate --config ./z2f.config.ts --schema ./src/schema.ts --export userSchema

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• You need programmatic codegen from a Node.js script or build tool (not just the CLI) → use runGenerate
• You are writing tests for the code generation pipeline end-to-end → use runGenerate
• You need dryRun output for preview/diffing without touching the filesystem → use runGenerate
• Testing CLI commands programmatically without spawning a child process → use createProgram
• Extending the CLI with custom sub-commands in a wrapper tool → use createProgram
• You want TypeScript inference and IDE autocompletion for config → use defineConfig — defineConfig is the typed entry point; bare object literals lose generic inference on components.overrides
• Loading config from JSON files or dynamic import() where the type is unknown → use validateConfig — validates and narrows to ZodFormsConfig

Do NOT use when:

• Interactive use — run npx zod-to-form generate (via createProgram()) instead (runGenerate)
• Browser environments — this function uses Node.js fs and path APIs (runGenerate)
• You just want to generate a form from a script — use runGenerate() directly (createProgram)
• End-user invocation — use npx zod-to-form (the binary entry point) instead (createProgram)
• Runtime-only usage where you pass config inline to walkSchema — defineConfig is a no-op at runtime without a preset; skip it when config comes from JSON or dynamic import (defineConfig)
• Using TypeScript with defineConfig() — type errors catch most issues at dev time; validateConfig is only needed when the config source is not type-checkable (validateConfig)

API surface: 4 functions, 1 types

NEVER

• NEVER treat result.code as the on-disk file content when overwrite is false — if the output file already exists, runGenerate returns wroteFile: false and the existing file is unchanged without throwing; FIX: check result.wroteFile before assuming the file was updated, or set defaults.overwrite: true explicitly
• NEVER use --watch mode on schemas that re-export types from other modules — the watcher tracks only the top-level file, so a change in an imported schema file does not trigger regeneration; FIX: run runGenerate manually from a parent file watcher (e.g. chokidar) that covers the full import tree
• NEVER call program.parse() (synchronous) in ESM environments — Commander's synchronous parse returns before async action handlers complete in ESM because it cannot await top-level async actions; FIX: always use .parseAsync(process.argv)
• NEVER assume preset props merge with your props — the entire props dict is replaced. If you set component props, you must include ALL props including the ones from the preset
• NEVER use as a type guard — it throws on invalid input, doesn't narrow; FIX: wrap in try/catch and branch on success, or check keys manually before calling
• NEVER assume extra keys cause failures — the schema uses z.object().loose(), so unrecognized keys are silently dropped not rejected; FIX: if you need strict key validation, inspect the returned config for unexpected fields manually

Configuration

2 configuration interfaces — see references/config.md for details.

Quick Reference

CLI: runGenerate (Executes the code generation pipeline for a single Zod schema export), createProgram (Creates the Commander) Configuration: defineConfig (Identity helper that returns its argument typed as ZodFormsConfig), validateConfig (Validates an unknown value as a ZodFormsConfig at runtime) config.d: ComponentOverride (Per-component metadata override)

References

Load these on demand — do NOT read all at once:

• When calling any function → read references/functions.md for full signatures, parameters, and return types
• When defining typed variables or function parameters → read references/types.md
• When configuring options → read references/config.md for all settings and defaults

Links

• Repository
• Author: Pradeep Mouli [e-mail] (https://github.com/pradeepmouli)