Request Validation with Pydantic

Why Pydantic?

FastAPI uses Pydantic models to define and validate request bodies automatically. When a request arrives, FastAPI:

1. Reads the JSON body
2. Validates it against your Pydantic model
3. Converts types automatically
4. Returns a 422 Unprocessable Entity with detailed error messages if validation fails

 Request JSON          Pydantic Model          Your Handler
 ─────────────         ───────────────         ────────────
 {"title": "A"}  ──►  title: str       ──►  def create(...)
 {"price": -5}   ──►  price: confloat(         raise ValueError
                       ge=0)            ──►
                       │                     422 + error details
                       ▼
                 ValidationError
                 (rich error response)

Using Field() for Constraints

The Field() function adds validation constraints, default values, and metadata to model fields:

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from typing import Optional


class Item(BaseModel):
    name: str = Field(
        ...,                    # ... means required
        min_length=3,
        max_length=50,
        description="Item name must be 3-50 characters",
    )
    price: float = Field(
        ...,
        ge=0,                   # greater than or equal to 0
        le=10000,               # less than or equal to 10000
    )
    quantity: int = Field(
        default=1,
        ge=1,
        le=1000,
    )
    code: str = Field(
        default=None,
        pattern=r"^[A-Z]{3}-\d{4}$",  # regex pattern
    )

Common Field Parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
default	any	Default value (use ... for required)
default_factory	callable	Callable that produces a default
alias	str	JSON field name (different from Python attr)
title	str	Human-readable title for OpenAPI
description	str	Field description for OpenAPI
min_length / max_length	int	String length constraints
gt / ge / lt / le	int/float	Numeric constraints
pattern	str	Regex pattern for strings
multiple_of	float	Number must be a multiple of this
examples	list	Example values for OpenAPI docs

class Product(BaseModel):
    sku: str = Field(
        ...,
        pattern=r"^SKU-\d{6}$",
        examples=["SKU-123456"],
    )
    rating: float = Field(
        default=0,
        ge=0,
        le=5,
        multiple_of=0.5,
    )

Custom Validators with @validator

For validation logic beyond simple constraints, use @validator:

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field, validator


class Reservation(BaseModel):
    check_in: str
    check_out: str
    guests: int = Field(..., ge=1, le=10)

    @validator("check_out")
    def check_out_after_check_in(cls, v, values):
        """Ensure check_out is after check_in."""
        if "check_in" in values and v <= values["check_in"]:
            raise ValueError("check_out must be after check_in")
        return v

    @validator("guests")
    def guests_within_limit(cls, v):
        if v > 10:
            raise ValueError("Maximum 10 guests per reservation")
        return v

Validator Parameters

@validator(
    "field_name",
    pre=True,        # Run before type coercion
    each_item=True,  # Validate each item in a list
    always=True,     # Run even if field has a default
)

Parameter	Effect
pre=True	Runs before Pydantic’s built-in type coercion
each_item=True	Applies validator to each element of a list
always=True	Runs even when the field value is the default

class Order(BaseModel):
    items: list[str]

    @validator("items", each_item=True)
    def item_not_empty(cls, v):
        if not v.strip():
            raise ValueError("Item name cannot be blank")
        return v.strip()

Multiple Fields on One Validator

class PasswordReset(BaseModel):
    password: str = Field(..., min_length=8)
    confirm_password: str

    @validator("confirm_password")
    def passwords_match(cls, v, values):
        if "password" in values and v != values["password"]:
            raise ValueError("Passwords do not match")
        return v

Pre-validators for Raw Data

Use pre=True when you need to clean or transform raw input before standard validation:

class TagInput(BaseModel):
    tags: list[str]

    @validator("tags", pre=True, each_item=True)
    def clean_tag(cls, v):
        if isinstance(v, str):
            return v.strip().lower()
        return v

Nested Model Validation

Pydantic handles nested models recursively - validation cascades through every level:

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from typing import Optional


class Address(BaseModel):
    street: str = Field(..., min_length=5)
    city: str = Field(..., min_length=2)
    zip_code: str = Field(..., pattern=r"^\d{5}(-\d{4})?$")
    country: str = Field(default="US", min_length=2, max_length=2)


class User(BaseModel):
    name: str = Field(..., min_length=2, max_length=100)
    email: str = Field(..., pattern=r"^[a-zA-Z0-9_.+-]+@[a-zA-Z0-9-]+\.[a-zA-Z0-9-.]+$")
    age: int = Field(..., ge=0, le=150)
    address: Optional[Address] = None
    tags: list[str] = Field(default_factory=list, max_length=10)

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()


@app.post("/users")
def create_user(user: User):
    # At this point, ALL nested validation has passed
    return {"message": f"User {user.name} created", "address": user.address}

Input JSON:
{
  "name": "Alice",
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "age": 30,
  "address": {
    "street": "123 Main St",
    "city": "Springfield",
    "zip_code": "12345"
  },
  "tags": ["admin", "power-user"]
}
           │
           ▼
  ┌─ User ──────────────────────────┐
  │  name: ✓ "Alice"                │
  │  email: ✓ "[email protected]"   │
  │  age: ✓ 30                      │
  │  address: ┌─ Address ────────┐  │
  │           │ street: ✓         │  │
  │           │ city: ✓           │  │
  │           │ zip_code: ✓       │  │
  │           │ country: "US" (df)│  │
  │           └───────────────────┘  │
  │  tags: ✓ ["admin", "power-user"]│
  └─────────────────────────────────┘

List of Nested Models

class LineItem(BaseModel):
    product_id: int
    quantity: int = Field(..., ge=1)
    unit_price: float = Field(..., gt=0)


class Invoice(BaseModel):
    invoice_id: str
    line_items: list[LineItem]  # Each item is validated

    @validator("line_items")
    def at_least_one_item(cls, v):
        if len(v) < 1:
            raise ValueError("At least one line item required")
        return v

Error Messages and Customization

When validation fails, FastAPI returns a 422 with structured errors:

{
  "detail": [
    {
      "loc": ["body", "name"],
      "msg": "ensure this value has at least 3 characters",
      "type": "value_error.any_str.min_length"
    },
    {
      "loc": ["body", "price"],
      "msg": "ensure this value is greater than or equal to 0",
      "type": "value_error.number.not_ge"
    }
  ]
}

Custom Error Messages

Raise ValueError or AssertionError inside validators to control messages:

class UserCreate(BaseModel):
    username: str = Field(..., min_length=3)

    @validator("username")
    def no_spaces(cls, v):
        if " " in v:
            raise ValueError("Username must not contain spaces")
        return v

Request-Level Validation

Complex cross-field validation can happen at the handler level, but prefer validators when possible:

@app.post("/orders")
def create_order(order: Order):
    # Model validators handle per-field and cross-field rules
    # Handler-level: business logic validation (e.g., check inventory)
    ...

Validation with constr, conint, confloat

Pydantic provides shorthand constrained types:

from pydantic import BaseModel, constr, conint, confloat, conlist


class Config(BaseModel):
    username: constr(min_length=3, max_length=20, pattern=r"^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$")
    port: conint(ge=1024, le=65535) = 8000
    threshold: confloat(gt=0, le=1.0) = 0.5
    allowed_ips: conlist(str, min_length=1, max_length=10)

These behave identically to Field() constrained fields but use a shorter syntax.

Key Takeaways

• Pydantic models define the schema and validation rules for request bodies - FastAPI validates automatically and returns 422 on failure
• Field() provides inline constraints: min_length, max_length, ge, le, gt, lt, pattern, multiple_of
• @validator runs custom logic - use pre=True for raw input, each_item=True for lists, always=True for defaults
• Validation cascades through nested models automatically: every field at every level is checked
• Custom error messages come from raise ValueError("message") inside validators
• FastAPI’s 422 error response includes loc (field path), msg (description), and type (error category)
• Use constrained type shorthands (constr, conint, confloat, conlist) for concise field definitions