Last Updated: 3/12/2026

Enums

Use z.enum to validate inputs against a fixed set of allowable string values.

Basic Enums


import * as z from "zod";
 
const FishEnum = z.enum(["Salmon", "Tuna", "Trout"]);
 
FishEnum.parse("Salmon"); // => "Salmon"
FishEnum.parse("Swordfish"); // ❌ throws

Type Inference

Important: If you declare your string array as a variable, Zod won’t be able to properly infer the exact values of each element.


// ❌ Wrong - loses exact types
const fish = ["Salmon", "Tuna", "Trout"];
const FishEnum = z.enum(fish);
type FishEnum = z.infer<typeof FishEnum>; // string

To fix this, always pass the array directly into the z.enum() function, or use as const.


// ✅ Correct - preserves exact types
const fish = ["Salmon", "Tuna", "Trout"] as const;
const FishEnum = z.enum(fish);
type FishEnum = z.infer<typeof FishEnum>; // "Salmon" | "Tuna" | "Trout"

TypeScript Enums

You can also pass in an externally-declared TypeScript enum.


enum Fish {
  Salmon = 0,
  Tuna = 1
}
 
const FishEnum = z.enum(Fish);
FishEnum.parse(Fish.Salmon); // ✅
FishEnum.parse(0); // ✅
FishEnum.parse(2); // ❌ throws

Zod 4 — This replaces the z.nativeEnum() API in Zod 3.

Note: Using TypeScript’s enum keyword is not recommended . Prefer string literal unions instead.

Enum-like Objects

Enum-like object literals ({ [key: string]: string | number }) are also supported.


const Fish = {
  Salmon: 0,
  Tuna: 1
} as const;
 
const FishEnum = z.enum(Fish);
FishEnum.parse(Fish.Salmon); // ✅
FishEnum.parse(0); // ✅
FishEnum.parse(2); // ❌ throws

Enum Utilities

Accessing Enum Values

To extract the schema’s values as an enum-like object:


const FishEnum = z.enum(["Salmon", "Tuna", "Trout"]);
 
FishEnum.enum;
// => { Salmon: "Salmon", Tuna: "Tuna", Trout: "Trout" }

Excluding Values

To create a new enum schema, excluding certain values:


const FishEnum = z.enum(["Salmon", "Tuna", "Trout"]);
const TunaOnly = FishEnum.exclude(["Salmon", "Trout"]);
// => z.enum(["Tuna"])

Extracting Values

To create a new enum schema, extracting certain values:


const FishEnum = z.enum(["Salmon", "Tuna", "Trout"]);
const SalmonAndTroutOnly = FishEnum.extract(["Salmon", "Trout"]);
// => z.enum(["Salmon", "Trout"])

Common Use Cases

Status Codes


const StatusEnum = z.enum(["pending", "approved", "rejected"]);
type Status = z.infer<typeof StatusEnum>;

Configuration Options


const LogLevel = z.enum(["debug", "info", "warn", "error"]);

API Endpoints


const HttpMethod = z.enum(["GET", "POST", "PUT", "DELETE", "PATCH"]);

Best Practices

Use as const when defining enum arrays in variables
Prefer string literals over TypeScript enums
Use discriminated unions when you need enums with associated data
Extract/exclude to create subsets of existing enums