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Function: runGenerate()

runGenerate(options): Promise<&#123; actionCode?: string; actionPath?: string; code: string; outputPath: string; wroteFile: boolean; &#125;>

Defined in: packages/cli/src/index.ts:122

Executes the code generation pipeline for a single Zod schema export.

Loads the config and schema, resolves field overrides, walks the Zod type tree to produce an intermediate FormField[] representation, and writes a React form component (plus optional server action and schema-lite files) to disk. When options.dryRun is true the generated code is printed to stdout instead of being written.

Parameters​

options​

GenerateOptions

Generation options including paths for config, schema, and output.

Returns​

Promise<&#123; actionCode?: string; actionPath?: string; code: string; outputPath: string; wroteFile: boolean; &#125;>

Resolved output paths and the generated code string.

Use When​

  • You need programmatic codegen from a Node.js script or build tool (not just the CLI)
  • You are writing tests for the code generation pipeline end-to-end
  • You need dryRun output for preview/diffing without touching the filesystem

Avoid When​

  • Interactive use — run npx zod-to-form generate (via createProgram()) instead
  • Browser environments — this function uses Node.js fs and path APIs

Pitfalls​

  • NEVER call with a schema that already has a generated output file when defaults.overwrite is false — the function silently skips writing and returns wroteFile: false with no error; this is intentional but easy to miss in scripts
  • NEVER rely on generated file content after re-running runGenerate without checking wroteFile — if the file already exists and overwrite is disabled, the on-disk file is NOT updated even though code is returned
  • NEVER use --watch mode on schema files that have indirect imports — the watcher only tracks the top-level schema file, not its transitive dependencies