Where in the route should I call schema.parse?

Either at the top of the handler (schema.parse(req.body) and let it throw, then a global error middleware translates ZodError → 400) or in a per-route validation middleware (zod-express-middleware, or a small handwritten one). Both shapes give you a typed req.body downstream.

How does this play with zod-express-middleware?

Drop the generated schema into validateRequest({ body: schema }) and the middleware runs .parse for you, attaching the parsed value to req.body and short-circuiting with a 400 on invalid input. The schema this page generates plugs in directly — no transformation needed.

What about multipart/form-data and file uploads?

Zod is JSON-shaped — for multipart bodies, parse the JSON parts (text fields) with the generated schema and handle file fields separately via multer or busboy. The schema covers the parsable JSON portion; the file objects have their own shape (fieldname, originalname, mimetype, buffer) that lives outside Zod.

JSON→TypeScript

Express Request Body to Zod

Paste the JSON body your Express endpoint receives and get a Zod schema you can call at the top of the route — directly, in an error-translating middleware, or via zod-express-middleware. Validates req.body before any handler logic runs.

JSON input valid

Zod output

About this conversion

Express routes consume JSON via express.json() — the body parser turns bytes into a JavaScript object, but it can't enforce shape. Whatever the client posts ends up on req.body, regardless of whether your handler can deal with it. A Zod schema run at the top of the route (or in a small validation middleware) turns that into a single named ZodError at one named place, before any business logic touches the values. The generated schema here matches the JSON sample you paste, so the validation is tight to the shape your handler actually expects.

Drop the schema into your route as `const body = OrderBody.parse(req.body);` — the parsed value is then a strongly typed local with optional fields exactly as the schema declared. For middleware-style validation, zod-express-middleware's validateRequest({ body: schema }) accepts the generated schema directly. The same schema doubles as a fixture validator for tests and a contract reference for clients building requests against your endpoint. For multipart bodies, run the schema against the JSON portion only — file fields (multer, busboy) live outside the JSON shape and need their own typing.

Same shape, other validators

Express Request Body to TypeScriptTypeScript

Express Request Body to Zod

About this conversion

Same shape, other validators

Other JSON shapes