NAME
JSON::Schema::Validate - Lean, recursion-safe JSON Schema validator
(Draft 2020-12)
SYNOPSIS
use JSON::Schema::Validate;
use JSON ();
my $schema = {
'$schema' => 'https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema',
'$id' => 'https://example.org/s/root.json',
type => 'object',
required => [ 'name' ],
properties => {
name => { type => 'string', minLength => 1 },
next => { '$dynamicRef' => '#Node' },
},
'$dynamicAnchor' => 'Node',
additionalProperties => JSON::false,
};
my $js = JSON::Schema::Validate->new( $schema )
->register_builtin_formats;
my $ok = $js->validate({ name => 'head', next=>{ name => 'tail' } })
or die $js->error;
print "ok\n";
VERSION
v0.1.0_5
DESCRIPTION
"JSON::Schema::Validate" is a compact, dependency-light validator for
JSON Schema draft 2020-12. It focuses on:
* Correctness and recursion safety (supports $ref, $dynamicRef,
$anchor, $dynamicAnchor).
* Draft 2020-12 evaluation semantics, including "unevaluatedItems" and
"unevaluatedProperties" with annotation tracking.
* A practical Perl API (constructor takes the schema; call "validate"
with your data; inspect "error" / "errors" on failure).
* Builtin validators for common "format"s (date, time, email,
hostname, ip, uri, uuid, JSON Pointer, etc.), with the option to
register or override custom format handlers.
This module is intentionally minimal compared to large reference
implementations, but it implements the parts most people rely on in
production.
Supported Keywords (2020-12)
* Types
"type" (string or array of strings), including union types. Unions
may also include inline schemas (e.g. "type => [ 'integer', {
minimum => 0 } ]").
* Constant / Enumerations
"const", "enum".
* Numbers
"multipleOf", "minimum", "maximum", "exclusiveMinimum",
"exclusiveMaximum".
* Strings
"minLength", "maxLength", "pattern", "format".
* Arrays
"prefixItems", "items", "contains", "minContains", "maxContains",
"uniqueItems", "unevaluatedItems".
* Objects
"properties", "patternProperties", "additionalProperties",
"propertyNames", "required", "dependentRequired",
"dependentSchemas", "unevaluatedProperties".
* Combinators
"allOf", "anyOf", "oneOf", "not".
* Conditionals
"if", "then", "else".
* Referencing
$id, $anchor, $ref, $dynamicAnchor, $dynamicRef.
Formats
Call "register_builtin_formats" to install default validators for the
following "format" names:
* "date-time", "date", "time", "duration"
Leverages DateTime and DateTime::Format::ISO8601 when available
(falls back to strict regex checks). Duration uses
DateTime::Duration.
* "email", "idn-email"
Uses Regexp::Common with "Email::Address" if available.
* "hostname", "idn-hostname"
"idn-hostname" uses Net::IDN::Encode if available; otherwise,
applies a permissive Unicode label check and then "hostname" rules.
* "ipv4", "ipv6"
Strict regex-based validation.
* "uri", "uri-reference", "iri"
Reasonable regex checks for scheme and reference forms (not a full
RFC parser).
* "uuid"
Hyphenated 8-4-4-4-12 hex.
* "json-pointer", "relative-json-pointer"
Conformant to RFC 6901 and the relative variant used by JSON Schema.
* "regex"
Checks that the pattern compiles in Perl.
Custom formats can be registered or override builtins via
"register_format" or the "format => { ... }" constructor option (see
"METHODS").
METHODS
new
my $js = JSON::Schema::Validate->new( $schema, %opts );
Build a validator from a decoded JSON Schema (Perl hash/array
structure).
Options (all optional):
"format => \%callbacks"
Hash of "format_name => sub { ... }" validators. Each sub receives
the string to validate and must return true/false. Entries here take
precedence when you later call "register_builtin_formats" (i.e. your
callbacks remain in place).
register_builtin_formats
$js->register_builtin_formats;
Registers the built-in validators listed in "Formats". Existing
user-supplied format callbacks are preserved if they already exist under
the same name.
register_format
$js->register_format( $name, sub { ... } );
Register or override a "format" validator at runtime. The sub receives a
single scalar (the candidate string) and must return true/false.
set_resolver
$js->set_resolver( sub { my( $absolute_uri ) = @_; ...; return $schema_hashref } );
Install a resolver for external documents. It is called with an absolute
URI (formed from the current base $id and the $ref) and must return a
Perl hash reference representation of a JSON Schema. If the returned
hash contains '$id', it will become the new base for that document;
otherwise, the absolute URI is used as its base.
validate
my $ok = $js->validate( $data );
Validate a decoded JSON instance against the compiled schema. Returns a
boolean. On failure, inspect "$js->error" for a concise message (first
error), or "$js->errors" for an arrayref of hashes like:
{ path => '#/properties~1name', msg => 'string shorter than minLength 1' }
error
my $msg = $js->error;
Short, human-oriented message for the first failure.
errors
my $arrayref = $js->errors;
All collected errors (up to the internal "max_errors" cap).
BEHAVIOUR NOTES
* Recursion & Cycles
The validator guards on the pair "(schema_pointer,
instance_address)", so self-referential schemas and cyclic instance
graphs won’t infinite-loop.
* Union Types with Inline Schemas
"type" may be an array mixing string type names and inline schemas.
Any inline schema that validates the instance makes the "type" check
succeed.
* Booleans
For practicality in Perl, "type => 'boolean'" accepts JSON-like
booleans (e.g. true/false, 1/0 as strings) as well as Perl boolean
objects (if you use a boolean class). If you need stricter
behaviour, you can adapt "_match_type" or introduce a constructor
flag and branch there.
* Unevaluated*
Both "unevaluatedItems" and "unevaluatedProperties" are enforced
using annotation produced by earlier keyword evaluations within the
same schema object, matching draft 2020-12 semantics.
* Unsupported/Not Implemented
This module intentionally omits some rarely used 2020-12 control
keywords such as $vocabulary and $comment processing, and
media-related keywords like "contentEncoding"/"contentMediaType".
These can be added later if required.
CREDITS
Albert from OpenAI for his invaluable help.
AUTHOR
Jacques Deguest
SEE ALSO
perl, DateTime, DateTime::Format::ISO8601, DateTime::Duration,
Regexp::Common, Net::IDN::Encode, JSON::PP
COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
Copyright(c) 2025 DEGUEST Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the same terms as Perl itself.