Zod v4 native implementation

[paulo-assoc]

Is Zod v4 a native npm package implementation?

[proggeramlug]

Short answer: zod v4 is not a native/built-in reimplementation in Perry — it's the real zod TypeScript source, compiled directly via perry.compilePackages: ["zod"] (plus the allow.compilePackages opt-in from #497). So you get the genuine package AOT-compiled to native, not a hand-written stub.

Status as of today:

Compiles + links ✅ — the long #836/#837 link saga (the $Zod* sanitize mismatch, namespace re-exports, anonymous export default function) is fully resolved.

Runtime parsing — was completely broken (every z.object(...).parse(...) threw TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading '_zod')), now largely working after a fix that just landed:

• Root cause was a general Object.defineProperty spec bug, not anything zod-specific. Redefining an existing own property must retain the attribute fields the descriptor omits (per OrdinaryDefineOwnProperty / ValidateAndApplyPropertyDescriptor); Perry was resetting them to the new-property false default. zod's $ZodObject swaps its enumerable shape property for a getter and back via defineProperty, expecting { ...def } to still spread it — pre-fix shape went non-enumerable, the spread dropped it, and the parser dereferenced undefined._zod. (Node sidesteps this by JIT-compiling the parser with new Function; Perry correctly refuses new Function as an AOT runtime, which exposed the latent bug.)
• Fixed in fix(object): retain existing-property attributes in Object.defineProperty #4697. With it, z.object() / nested objects / arrays / booleans / optionals all parse and match node --experimental-strip-types.

Two known gaps remain, both turned out to be cross-module compilePackages issues (faithful standalone repros of each pass in Perry, so the breakage is at the module boundary, not the primitive):

• zod v4: .string().min() (checks) crashes — ch._zod.onattach undefined under compilePackages #4698 — schemas with checks (.min/.max/.regex/.email/…) crash: a check instance built in core/checks.ts loses its non-enumerable _zod when read back through core/schemas.ts.
• zod v4: safeParse on invalid input throws error is not a function under compilePackages #4699 — safeParse on invalid input throws error is not a function on the error-reporting path.

So: compiles, links, and the core happy-path parsing works as of #4697; checks and error-reporting are the two remaining tracked gaps.