This article explores popular runtime validation and type-safety tools that have emerged to address the limitations of Typescripts lack of added runtime type safety, particularly when dealing with IO at the boundaries of your application. The article provides a performance analysis of zod, superstruct, yup, and typebox, and compares them with Light Type, an experimental runtime type-checker with feature parity in key areas to Zod. The author also discusses compile-time and editor performance pain associated with deeply typed libraries like tRPC, and explores how the alternatives integrate with tRPC fare. The article provides a valuable insight into the nuances of different type-checkers and runtime validators available in the market, helping developers to make informed choices based on their specific use cases.
