Investigate Zod 4 API integration opportunities

[brainkim]

Summary

Survey Zod 4 APIs for potential integration or documentation with zen.

APIs to Investigate

Potentially Useful

• z.codec() - Bidirectional transforms. Works with .db.type() but requires manual null handling. May be worth documenting as advanced pattern.

• z.instanceof() - For class instances (e.g., z.instanceof(Date)). Could be relevant for custom types.

• z.json() - Explicit JSON schema type. Currently we infer JSON from z.object()/z.array().

• .brand() - Typed IDs (UserId vs PostId). Already works, just undocumented.

• .readonly() - Freeze objects. Could auto-apply to query results.

• z.stringbool() - String to boolean coercion. Relevant for form inputs.

• z.file() - File/Blob handling. Could map to BLOB columns.

• z.iso.datetime() - ISO string dates. Works already (it's just a string with validation).

Already Evaluated

• .default() - Banned intentionally. Applies at parse-time, not write-time. Use .db.inserted() instead.

Current Conclusions

• .db.encode()/.db.decode() is simpler than codecs for database use cases (auto-handles null)
• No breaking changes needed
• Some features may warrant documentation

Questions

1. Should we document codec usage as an advanced pattern?
2. Any utility in explicit z.json() support vs inference?
3. Worth documenting .brand() for typed IDs?

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