How to Build Type-Safe Next.js Server Actions Using Zod and Discriminated Unions

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A developer has shared a structured pattern for building type-safe Server Actions in Next.js App Router, addressing common pitfalls around validation and error handling. The approach uses Zod schemas to validate incoming data at runtime, catching issues that TypeScript's static typing alone cannot prevent. A discriminated union type called ActionResult ensures every action returns a consistent success or error shape, giving client-side code a reliable contract to work with. Custom React hooks wrap the server actions to manage pending states and surface errors cleanly in the UI. The pattern was developed while building the generation pipeline for an AI wallpaper tool and is presented as a scalable alternative to ad hoc validation across individual actions.

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