Customizing Error Messages in Zod
From the Zod cheat sheet · Parsing & Error Handling · verified Jul 2026
Customizing Error Messages
Set custom error messages on schemas and validators
typescript
z.string({ message: "Name is required" });
z.string().min(3, "Too short");
z.email({ message: "Invalid email" });
// Per-validator
z.string()
.min(3, "At least 3 characters")
.max(20, "At most 20 characters")
.regex(/^[a-z]+$/, "Lowercase only");💡 In Zod 4, error messages use the { message: "..." } params object pattern
⚡ Use function-based messages to access the invalid value in your error string
📌 z.config() sets a global error handler — useful for i18n and consistent messaging
🟢 Per-validator messages are more specific than top-level — order matters
errorsmessagesvalidation