express-request-validation

name	express-request-validation
description	Conventions for validating PrairieLearn Express request parameters, query strings, bodies, and `__action` forms with Zod.

Request boundaries

• Define request schemas at module scope unless they genuinely depend on request-time values. Prefer a static structural schema followed by a semantic check over constructing a schema per request.
• Parse every request source a handler consumes before database queries or other work. After parsing, use only the parsed values; do not read the corresponding req.params, req.query, or req.body values again.
• Use IdSchema from @prairielearn/zod for PrairieLearn database IDs in params, query strings, and bodies. Do not validate them as arbitrary strings or numbers. External-system identifiers that are not PrairieLearn database IDs should use schemas appropriate to those systems.
• Treat parsed request objects as boundary data, not as parameter bags. Pass explicit fields to database queries, model functions, and other downstream APIs instead of passing params, query, or body wholesale; this keeps each callsite's contract visible and avoids unused-parameter failures when request schemas grow.
• Use parseRequest when validating multiple sources together. Use parseRequestParams, parseRequestQuery, or parseRequestBody when validating only one source.
• Express cannot verify that a params schema matches the router path. Check the parent mount path as well as the local route and ensure every ParamsSchema key matches an actual :parameter.

Schema naming

• Name schemas at the boundary where they are consumed: PostBodySchema for parseRequestBody and PostRequestSchemas for parseRequest in a POST handler.
• Inline a source schema inside PostRequestSchemas when it is used only there. Extract ParamsSchema, QuerySchema, or PostBodySchema when the same schema is reused by another handler, parser, inferred type, or composed schema.
• The combined request schema object is plural because it contains schemas keyed by source.
• If a file has multiple handlers that would make these names ambiguous, add a concise operation prefix, such as CreatePostBodySchema or ArchivePostRequestSchemas.
• For a discriminated union, action-specific branch schemas may use names such as InviteUidsBodySchema, while the complete union remains PostBodySchema.

__action forms

• Use __action only when one POST endpoint genuinely multiplexes multiple operations. A single-operation endpoint should use a plain body schema and a submit button without name="__action".
• Model a multi-operation body as a top-level z.discriminatedUnion('__action', ...), parse it before dispatch, and switch on the parsed body.__action.
• An unrecognized top-level __action discriminator is automatically reported as unknown __action: <value> by the request-validation helpers. Other body validation failures remain Invalid request body.

Example

const ParamsSchema = z.object({ course_id: IdSchema });
const PostRequestSchemas = {
  params: ParamsSchema,
  body: z.object({ name: z.string().min(1) }),
};

router.post(
  '/',
  typedAsyncHandler<'plain'>(async (req, res) => {
    const { params, body } = parseRequest(req, PostRequestSchemas);
    await updateCourse(params.course_id, body.name);
    res.redirect(req.originalUrl);
  }),
);