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Configuration Precedence

Final config is assembled in stages:

  1. Generator block options (Prisma schema.prisma) – highest priority.
  2. JSON config file – either the explicit config path or an auto-discovered file (see Auto-Discovery).
  3. Internal defaults (processConfiguration).

Config File Path Resolution​

Config file paths are resolved relative to the Prisma schema file directory, not the project root:

prisma/schema.prisma
generator zod {
  provider = "prisma-zod-generator"
  config   = "./my-config.json"  // → prisma/my-config.json
}
apps/api/schema.prisma
generator zod {
  provider = "prisma-zod-generator"
  config   = "../../shared/zod.config.json"  // → shared/zod.config.json
}

This allows flexible config placement in monorepos and projects with custom schema locations.

Auto-Discovery​

When the generator block omits config, the generator looks for a config file in the directory containing your schema.prisma — the same base directory used for explicit config paths. For the usual prisma/schema.prisma layout that means every candidate below lives inside prisma/.

Candidates are tried in this order:

  1. zod-generator.config.json
  2. .zod-generator.json
  3. prisma/config.json (i.e. prisma/prisma/config.json for the standard layout)
  4. config.json
caution

A config file at the project root is not auto-discovered, because discovery starts from the schema directory. Point at it explicitly instead:

prisma/schema.prisma
generator zod {
  provider = "prisma-zod-generator"
  config   = "../zod-generator.config.json"  // → project-root config
}

Only JSON is supported. The lookup also probes zod-generator.config.js and .zod-generator.js, but every candidate is read with JSON.parse, so an actual JavaScript module fails to load rather than being evaluated.

Unknown Keys Are Silently Ignored​

The generator does not validate your config against the JSON Schema. Generation runs parseConfiguration → mergeConfigurationWithPrecedence → processConfiguration; the only check applied to the file is that it parses as JSON and is an object. A misspelled key such as pureModel (instead of pureModels) or strictmode (instead of strictMode) is therefore accepted, dropped during merging, and never reported — which usually surfaces as "my setting did nothing".

To catch typos, opt into schema validation: wire up $schema for editor squiggles and run ConfigurationValidator in CI. See JSON Schema IntelliSense.

Output Path Resolution​

Output path resolution is deferred until after merging so a JSON output applies when the generator block omits output. Like config paths, output paths are also resolved relative to the schema file location.

Conflict warnings are logged (file layout options) via warnOnFileLayoutConflicts—generator block wins.

Legacy flags (e.g. isGenerateSelect, isGenerateInclude) are folded into the unified config; minimal mode forcibly disables select/include even if legacy flags true.