Fastify uses a schema-based approach. We recommend using JSON Schema to validate routes and serialize outputs. Fastify compiles the schema into a highly performant function.
Validation is only attempted if the content type is application/json
.
All examples use the JSON Schema Draft 7 specification.
Core concepts⚠ Warning: Treat schema definitions as application code. Validation and serialization features use
new Function()
, which is unsafe with user-provided schemas. See Ajv and fast-json-stringify for details.Whilst Fastify supports the
$async
Ajv feature, it should not be used for initial validation. Accessing databases during validation may lead to Denial of Service attacks. Use Fastify's hooks likepreHandler
forasync
tasks after validation.When using custom validators with async
preValidation
hooks, validators must return{error}
objects instead of throwing errors. Throwing errors from custom validators will cause unhandled promise rejections that crash the application when combined with async hooks. See the custom validator examples below for the correct pattern.
Validation and serialization are handled by two customizable dependencies:
These dependencies share only the JSON schemas added to Fastify's instance via .addSchema(schema)
.
The addSchema
API allows adding multiple schemas to the Fastify instance for reuse throughout the application. This API is encapsulated.
Shared schemas can be reused with the JSON Schema $ref
keyword. Here is an overview of how references work:
myField: { $ref: '#foo' }
searches for $id: '#foo'
in the current schemamyField: { $ref: '#/definitions/foo' }
searches for definitions.foo
in the current schemamyField: { $ref: 'http://url.com/sh.json#' }
searches for a shared schema with $id: 'http://url.com/sh.json'
myField: { $ref: 'http://url.com/sh.json#/definitions/foo' }
searches for a shared schema with $id: 'http://url.com/sh.json'
and uses definitions.foo
myField: { $ref: 'http://url.com/sh.json#foo' }
searches for a shared schema with $id: 'http://url.com/sh.json'
and looks for $id: '#foo'
within itSimple usage:
fastify.addSchema({
$id: 'http://example.com/',
type: 'object',
properties: {
hello: { type: 'string' }
}
})
fastify.post('/', {
handler () {},
schema: {
body: {
type: 'array',
items: { $ref: 'http://example.com#/properties/hello' }
}
}
})
$ref
as root reference:
fastify.addSchema({
$id: 'commonSchema',
type: 'object',
properties: {
hello: { type: 'string' }
}
})
fastify.post('/', {
handler () {},
schema: {
body: { $ref: 'commonSchema#' },
headers: { $ref: 'commonSchema#' }
}
})
If the validator and serializer are customized, .addSchema
is not useful since Fastify no longer controls them. To access schemas added to the Fastify instance, use .getSchemas()
:
fastify.addSchema({
$id: 'schemaId',
type: 'object',
properties: {
hello: { type: 'string' }
}
})
const mySchemas = fastify.getSchemas()
const mySchema = fastify.getSchema('schemaId')
The getSchemas
function is encapsulated and returns shared schemas available in the selected scope:
fastify.addSchema({ $id: 'one', my: 'hello' })
fastify.get('/', (request, reply) => { reply.send(fastify.getSchemas()) })
fastify.register((instance, opts, done) => {
instance.addSchema({ $id: 'two', my: 'ciao' })
instance.get('/sub', (request, reply) => { reply.send(instance.getSchemas()) })
instance.register((subinstance, opts, done) => {
subinstance.addSchema({ $id: 'three', my: 'hola' })
subinstance.get('/deep', (request, reply) => { reply.send(subinstance.getSchemas()) })
done()
})
done()
})
Validation
Route validation relies on Ajv v8, a high-performance JSON Schema validator. To validate input, add the required fields to the route schema.
Supported validations include:
body
: validates the request body for POST, PUT, or PATCH methods.querystring
or query
: validates the query string.params
: validates the route parameters.headers
: validates the request headers.Validations can be a complete JSON Schema object with a type
of 'object'
and a 'properties'
object containing parameters, or a simpler variation listing parameters at the top level.
ℹ For using the latest Ajv (v8), refer to the
schemaController
section.
Example:
const bodyJsonSchema = {
type: 'object',
required: ['requiredKey'],
properties: {
someKey: { type: 'string' },
someOtherKey: { type: 'number' },
requiredKey: {
type: 'array',
maxItems: 3,
items: { type: 'integer' }
},
nullableKey: { type: ['number', 'null'] },
multipleTypesKey: { type: ['boolean', 'number'] },
multipleRestrictedTypesKey: {
oneOf: [
{ type: 'string', maxLength: 5 },
{ type: 'number', minimum: 10 }
]
},
enumKey: {
type: 'string',
enum: ['John', 'Foo']
},
notTypeKey: {
not: { type: 'array' }
}
}
}
const queryStringJsonSchema = {
type: 'object',
properties: {
name: { type: 'string' },
excitement: { type: 'integer' }
}
}
const paramsJsonSchema = {
type: 'object',
properties: {
par1: { type: 'string' },
par2: { type: 'number' }
}
}
const headersJsonSchema = {
type: 'object',
properties: {
'x-foo': { type: 'string' }
},
required: ['x-foo']
}
const schema = {
body: bodyJsonSchema,
querystring: queryStringJsonSchema,
params: paramsJsonSchema,
headers: headersJsonSchema
}
fastify.post('/the/url', { schema }, handler)
For body
schema, it is further possible to differentiate the schema per content type by nesting the schemas inside content
property. The schema validation will be applied based on the Content-Type
header in the request.
fastify.post('/the/url', {
schema: {
body: {
content: {
'application/json': {
schema: { type: 'object' }
},
'text/plain': {
schema: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
}
}, handler)
Note that Ajv will try to coerce values to the types specified in the schema type
keywords, both to pass validation and to use the correctly typed data afterwards.
The Ajv default configuration in Fastify supports coercing array parameters in querystring
. Example:
const opts = {
schema: {
querystring: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
ids: {
type: 'array',
default: []
},
},
}
}
}
fastify.get('/', opts, (request, reply) => {
reply.send({ params: request.query })
})
fastify.listen({ port: 3000 }, (err) => {
if (err) throw err
})
curl -X GET "http://localhost:3000/?ids=1
{"params":{"ids":["1"]}}
A custom schema validator can be specified for each parameter type (body, querystring, params, headers).
For example, the following code disables type coercion only for the body
parameters, changing the Ajv default options:
const schemaCompilers = {
body: new Ajv({
removeAdditional: false,
coerceTypes: false,
allErrors: true
}),
params: new Ajv({
removeAdditional: false,
coerceTypes: true,
allErrors: true
}),
querystring: new Ajv({
removeAdditional: false,
coerceTypes: true,
allErrors: true
}),
headers: new Ajv({
removeAdditional: false,
coerceTypes: true,
allErrors: true
})
}
server.setValidatorCompiler(req => {
if (!req.httpPart) {
throw new Error('Missing httpPart')
}
const compiler = schemaCompilers[req.httpPart]
if (!compiler) {
throw new Error(`Missing compiler for ${req.httpPart}`)
}
return compiler.compile(req.schema)
})
For more information, see Ajv Coercion.
Ajv PluginsA list of plugins can be provided for use with the default ajv
instance. Ensure the plugin is compatible with the Ajv version shipped within Fastify.
Refer to
ajv options
to check plugins format.
const fastify = require('fastify')({
ajv: {
plugins: [
require('ajv-merge-patch')
]
}
})
fastify.post('/', {
handler (req, reply) { reply.send({ ok: 1 }) },
schema: {
body: {
$patch: {
source: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
q: {
type: 'string'
}
}
},
with: [
{
op: 'add',
path: '/properties/q',
value: { type: 'number' }
}
]
}
}
}
})
fastify.post('/foo', {
handler (req, reply) { reply.send({ ok: 1 }) },
schema: {
body: {
$merge: {
source: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
q: {
type: 'string'
}
}
},
with: {
required: ['q']
}
}
}
}
})
Validator Compiler
The validatorCompiler
is a function that returns a function to validate the body, URL parameters, headers, and query string. The default validatorCompiler
returns a function that implements the ajv validation interface. Fastify uses it internally to speed up validation.
Fastify's baseline ajv configuration is:
{
coerceTypes: 'array',
useDefaults: true,
removeAdditional: true,
uriResolver: require('fast-uri'),
addUsedSchema: false,
allErrors: false
}
Modify the baseline configuration by providing ajv.customOptions
to the Fastify factory.
To change or set additional config options, create a custom instance and override the existing one:
const fastify = require('fastify')()
const Ajv = require('ajv')
const ajv = new Ajv({
removeAdditional: 'all',
useDefaults: true,
coerceTypes: 'array',
})
fastify.setValidatorCompiler(({ schema, method, url, httpPart }) => {
return ajv.compile(schema)
})
Using other validation librariesℹ️ Note: When using a custom validator instance, add schemas to the validator instead of Fastify. Fastify's
addSchema
method will not recognize the custom validator.
The setValidatorCompiler
function allows substituting ajv
with other JavaScript validation libraries like joi or yup, or a custom one:
const Joi = require('joi')
fastify.setValidatorCompiler(({ schema }) => {
return (data) => {
try {
const { error, value } = schema.validate(data)
if (error) {
return { error }
}
return { value }
} catch (e) {
return { error: e }
}
}
})
fastify.post('/the/url', {
schema: {
body: Joi.object().keys({
hello: Joi.string().required()
}).required()
}
}, handler)
const yup = require('yup')
const yupOptions = {
strict: false,
abortEarly: false,
stripUnknown: true,
recursive: true
}
fastify.post('/the/url', {
schema: {
body: yup.object({
age: yup.number().integer().required(),
sub: yup.object().shape({
name: yup.string().required()
}).required()
})
},
validatorCompiler: ({ schema, method, url, httpPart }) => {
return function (data) {
try {
const result = schema.validateSync(data, yupOptions)
return { value: result }
} catch (e) {
return { error: e }
}
}
}
}, handler)
Custom Validator Best Practices
When implementing custom validators, follow these patterns to ensure compatibility with all Fastify features:
** Always return objects, never throw:**
return { value: validatedData }
return { error: validationError }
** Use try-catch for safety:**
fastify.setValidatorCompiler(({ schema }) => {
return (data) => {
try {
const result = schema.validate(data)
if (result.error) {
return { error: result.error }
}
return { value: result.value }
} catch (e) {
return { error: e }
}
}
})
This pattern ensures validators work correctly with both sync and async preValidation
hooks, preventing unhandled promise rejections that can crash an application.
All validation errors have a .statusCode
property set to 400
, ensuring the default error handler sets the response status code to 400
.
fastify.setErrorHandler(function (error, request, reply) {
request.log.error(error, `This error has status code ${error.statusCode}`)
reply.status(error.statusCode).send(error)
})
Validation messages with other validation libraries
Fastify's validation error messages are tightly coupled to the default validation engine: errors returned from ajv
are eventually run through the schemaErrorFormatter
function which builds human-friendly error messages. However, the schemaErrorFormatter
function is written with ajv
in mind. This may result in odd or incomplete error messages when using other validation libraries.
To circumvent this issue, there are two main options:
schemaCompiler
) returns errors in the same structure and format as ajv
.errorHandler
to intercept and format custom validation errors.Fastify adds two properties to all validation errors to help write a custom errorHandler
:
validation
: the content of the error
property of the object returned by the validation function (returned by the custom schemaCompiler
)validationContext
: the context (body, params, query, headers) where the validation error occurredA contrived example of such a custom errorHandler
handling validation errors is shown below:
const errorHandler = (error, request, reply) => {
const statusCode = error.statusCode
let response
const { validation, validationContext } = error
if (validation) {
response = {
message: `A validation error occurred when validating the ${validationContext}...`,
errors: validation
}
} else {
response = {
message: 'An error occurred...'
}
}
reply.status(statusCode).send(response)
}
Serialization
Fastify uses fast-json-stringify to send data as JSON if an output schema is provided in the route options. Using an output schema can drastically increase throughput and help prevent accidental disclosure of sensitive information.
Example:
const schema = {
response: {
200: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
value: { type: 'string' },
otherValue: { type: 'boolean' }
}
}
}
}
fastify.post('/the/url', { schema }, handler)
The response schema is based on the status code. To use the same schema for multiple status codes, use '2xx'
or default
, for example:
const schema = {
response: {
default: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
error: {
type: 'boolean',
default: true
}
}
},
'2xx': {
type: 'object',
properties: {
value: { type: 'string' },
otherValue: { type: 'boolean' }
}
},
201: {
value: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
fastify.post('/the/url', { schema }, handler)
A specific response schema can be defined for different content types. For example:
const schema = {
response: {
200: {
description: 'Response schema that support different content types'
content: {
'application/json': {
schema: {
name: { type: 'string' },
image: { type: 'string' },
address: { type: 'string' }
}
},
'application/vnd.v1+json': {
schema: {
type: 'array',
items: { $ref: 'test' }
}
}
}
},
'3xx': {
content: {
'application/vnd.v2+json': {
schema: {
fullName: { type: 'string' },
phone: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
},
default: {
content: {
'*/*': {
schema: {
desc: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
}
}
}
fastify.post('/url', { schema }, handler)
Serializer Compiler
The serializerCompiler
returns a function that must return a string from an input object. When defining a response JSON Schema, change the default serialization method by providing a function to serialize each route.
fastify.setSerializerCompiler(({ schema, method, url, httpStatus, contentType }) => {
return data => JSON.stringify(data)
})
fastify.get('/user', {
handler (req, reply) {
reply.send({ id: 1, name: 'Foo', image: 'BIG IMAGE' })
},
schema: {
response: {
'2xx': {
type: 'object',
properties: {
id: { type: 'number' },
name: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
}
})
To set a custom serializer in a specific part of the code, use reply.serializer(...)
.
When schema validation fails for a request, Fastify will automatically return a status 400 response including the result from the validator in the payload. For example, if the following schema is used for a route:
const schema = {
body: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
name: { type: 'string' }
},
required: ['name']
}
}
If the request fails to satisfy the schema, the route will return a response with the following payload:
{
"statusCode": 400,
"error": "Bad Request",
"message": "body should have required property 'name'"
}
To handle errors inside the route, specify the attachValidation
option. If there is a validation error, the validationError
property of the request will contain the Error
object with the raw validation result as shown below:
const fastify = Fastify()
fastify.post('/', { schema, attachValidation: true }, function (req, reply) {
if (req.validationError) {
reply.code(400).send(req.validationError)
}
})
schemaErrorFormatter
To format errors, provide a sync function that returns an error as the schemaErrorFormatter
option when instantiating Fastify. The context function will be the Fastify server instance.
errors
is an array of Fastify schema errors FastifySchemaValidationError
. dataVar
is the currently validated part of the schema (params, body, querystring, headers).
const fastify = Fastify({
schemaErrorFormatter: (errors, dataVar) => {
return new Error(myErrorMessage)
}
})
fastify.setSchemaErrorFormatter(function (errors, dataVar) {
this.log.error({ err: errors }, 'Validation failed')
return new Error(myErrorMessage)
})
Use setErrorHandler to define a custom response for validation errors such as:
fastify.setErrorHandler(function (error, request, reply) {
if (error.validation) {
reply.status(422).send(new Error('validation failed'))
}
})
For custom error responses in the schema, see ajv-errors
. Check out the example usage.
Install version 1.0.1 of
ajv-errors
, as later versions are not compatible with AJV v6 (the version shipped by Fastify v3).
Below is an example showing how to add custom error messages for each property of a schema by supplying custom AJV options. Inline comments in the schema describe how to configure it to show a different error message for each case:
const fastify = Fastify({
ajv: {
customOptions: {
jsonPointers: true,
allErrors: true
},
plugins: [
require('ajv-errors')
]
}
})
const schema = {
body: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
name: {
type: 'string',
errorMessage: {
type: 'Bad name'
}
},
age: {
type: 'number',
errorMessage: {
type: 'Bad age',
min: 'Too young'
}
}
},
required: ['name', 'age'],
errorMessage: {
required: {
name: 'Why no name!',
age: 'Why no age!'
}
}
}
}
fastify.post('/', { schema, }, (request, reply) => {
reply.send({
hello: 'world'
})
})
To return localized error messages, see ajv-i18n.
const localize = require('ajv-i18n')
const fastify = Fastify()
const schema = {
body: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
name: {
type: 'string',
},
age: {
type: 'number',
}
},
required: ['name', 'age'],
}
}
fastify.setErrorHandler(function (error, request, reply) {
if (error.validation) {
localize.ru(error.validation)
reply.status(400).send(error.validation)
return
}
reply.send(error)
})
JSON Schema support
JSON Schema provides utilities to optimize schemas. Combined with Fastify's shared schema, all schemas can be easily reused.
Use Case Validator Serializer$ref
to $id
️️✔️ ✔️ $ref
to /definitions
✔️ ✔️ $ref
to shared schema $id
✔️ ✔️ $ref
to shared schema /definitions
✔️ ✔️ Examples Usage of $ref
to $id
in same JSON Schema
const refToId = {
type: 'object',
definitions: {
foo: {
$id: '#address',
type: 'object',
properties: {
city: { type: 'string' }
}
}
},
properties: {
home: { $ref: '#address' },
work: { $ref: '#address' }
}
}
Usage of $ref
to /definitions
in same JSON Schema
const refToDefinitions = {
type: 'object',
definitions: {
foo: {
$id: '#address',
type: 'object',
properties: {
city: { type: 'string' }
}
}
},
properties: {
home: { $ref: '#/definitions/foo' },
work: { $ref: '#/definitions/foo' }
}
}
fastify.addSchema({
$id: 'http://foo/common.json',
type: 'object',
definitions: {
foo: {
$id: '#address',
type: 'object',
properties: {
city: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
})
const refToSharedSchemaId = {
type: 'object',
properties: {
home: { $ref: 'http://foo/common.json#address' },
work: { $ref: 'http://foo/common.json#address' }
}
}
fastify.addSchema({
$id: 'http://foo/shared.json',
type: 'object',
definitions: {
foo: {
type: 'object',
properties: {
city: { type: 'string' }
}
}
}
})
const refToSharedSchemaDefinitions = {
type: 'object',
properties: {
home: { $ref: 'http://foo/shared.json#/definitions/foo' },
work: { $ref: 'http://foo/shared.json#/definitions/foo' }
}
}
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