Validation Rules Reference

The request node uses validation rules to verify incoming data. Rules are specified as pipe-separated strings.

Syntax

"field": "rule1|rule2|rule3"
"field": "rule1|rule2:param|rule3:param1,param2"

Presence Rules

Control when fields are required.

required

Field must be present and not empty.

{
  "name": "required"
}

nullable

Field can be null. If present and not null, other rules apply.

{
  "middle_name": "nullable|string|max:50"
}

present

Field must exist in input (can be empty/null).

{
  "acknowledged": "present|boolean"
}

sometimes

Only validate if field exists.

{
  "nickname": "sometimes|string|max:30"
}

Conditional Required

Make fields conditionally required.

required_if

Required when another field equals a value.

{
  "company_name": "required_if:account_type,business"
}

required_unless

Required unless another field equals a value.

{
  "parent_email": "required_unless:age,18"
}

required_with

Required when another field is present.

{
  "shipping_address": "required_with:physical_product"
}

required_without

Required when another field is absent.

{
  "email": "required_without:phone"
}

required_with_all

Required when all specified fields are present.

{
  "billing_address": "required_with_all:credit_card,save_card"
}

required_without_all

Required when all specified fields are absent.

{
  "guest_email": "required_without_all:user_id,session_id"
}

Type Rules

Validate data types.

string

Must be a string.

{
  "name": "required|string"
}

integer

Must be an integer (no decimals).

{
  "quantity": "required|integer"
}

numeric

Must be a number (integer or float).

{
  "price": "required|numeric"
}

boolean

Must be true or false.

{
  "active": "required|boolean"
}

array

Must be an array.

{
  "tags": "required|array"
}

object

Must be an object.

{
  "metadata": "required|object"
}

Size Rules

Validate size, length, or value. Size rules behave differently based on the field type:

Strings: Validates character length
Numbers: Validates the numeric value
Arrays: Validates item count

min

Minimum size/length/value.

{
  "password": "required|string|min:8",
  "age": "required|integer|min:18",
  "items": "required|array|min:1"
}

max

Maximum size/length/value.

{
  "username": "required|string|max:20",
  "quantity": "required|integer|max:100",
  "tags": "array|max:10"
}

size

Exact size/length/value.

{
  "pin": "required|string|size:4",
  "coordinates": "required|array|size:2"
}

between

Value/length must be in range.

{
  "age": "required|integer|between:18,120",
  "title": "required|string|between:5,100"
}

Format Rules

Validate string formats.

email

Valid email address format.

{
  "email": "required|email"
}

url

Valid URL format.

{
  "website": "sometimes|url"
}

uuid

Valid UUID format.

{
  "id": "required|uuid"
}

ip

Valid IP address (v4 or v6).

{
  "ip_address": "required|ip"
}

ipv4

Valid IPv4 address.

{
  "ip_address": "required|ipv4"
}

ipv6

Valid IPv6 address.

{
  "ip_address": "required|ipv6"
}

json

Valid JSON string.

{
  "config": "required|json"
}

regex

Matches regular expression pattern.

{
  "sku": "required|regex:^[A-Z]{3}-[0-9]{4}$",
  "phone": "required|regex:^\\+[0-9]{10,15}$"
}

Date Rules

Validate date values.

date

Valid date format.

{
  "birth_date": "required|date"
}

datetime

Valid datetime format.

{
  "scheduled_at": "required|datetime"
}

before

Date must be before specified date.

{
  "start_date": "required|date|before:2025-01-01"
}

after

Date must be after specified date.

{
  "end_date": "required|date|after:start_date"
}

before_or_equal

Date must be before or equal to specified date.

{
  "expiry": "required|date|before_or_equal:2030-12-31"
}

after_or_equal

Date must be after or equal to specified date.

{
  "publish_date": "required|date|after_or_equal:today"
}

File Rules

Validate uploaded files. These rules work with files uploaded via multipart/form-data requests.

file

Must be an uploaded file.

{
  "document": "required|file"
}

image

Must be an image file (jpeg, png, gif, bmp, webp).

{
  "avatar": "required|image"
}

mimes

Must be one of the specified MIME types.

{
  "document": "required|file|mimes:application/pdf,application/msword",
  "photo": "required|file|mimes:image/jpeg,image/png"
}

extensions

Must have one of the specified file extensions.

{
  "document": "required|file|extensions:pdf,doc,docx",
  "image": "required|file|extensions:jpg,jpeg,png,gif"
}

dimensions

Image dimension constraints. Only applies to image files.

{
  "avatar": "required|image|dimensions:min_width=100,min_height=100",
  "banner": "required|image|dimensions:width=1200,height=630",
  "photo": "required|image|dimensions:ratio=16/9"
}

Dimension Constraints:

Constraint	Description
`min_width`	Minimum width in pixels
`max_width`	Maximum width in pixels
`min_height`	Minimum height in pixels
`max_height`	Maximum height in pixels
`width`	Exact width in pixels
`height`	Exact height in pixels
`ratio`	Aspect ratio (e.g., `16/9`, `1/1`, `4/3`)

Examples:

{
  "thumbnail": "required|image|dimensions:max_width=200,max_height=200",
  "profile_photo": "required|image|dimensions:min_width=200,min_height=200,ratio=1/1",
  "og_image": "required|image|dimensions:width=1200,height=630"
}

Comparison Rules

Compare fields to each other.

same

Must match another field’s value.

{
  "password_confirmation": "required|same:password"
}

different

Must differ from another field’s value.

{
  "new_password": "required|different:current_password"
}

confirmed

Field must have a matching _confirmation field.

{
  "email": "required|email|confirmed"
}

This expects an email_confirmation field with the same value.

gt

Greater than another field.

{
  "max_price": "required|numeric|gt:min_price"
}

gte

Greater than or equal to another field.

{
  "end_date": "required|date|gte:start_date"
}

lt

Less than another field.

{
  "min_price": "required|numeric|lt:max_price"
}

lte

Less than or equal to another field.

{
  "discount": "required|numeric|lte:total"
}

Inclusion Rules

Validate against a list of values.

in

Must be one of the specified values.

{
  "status": "required|in:pending,active,suspended,closed",
  "role": "required|in:admin,editor,viewer"
}

not_in

Must not be one of the specified values.

{
  "username": "required|string|not_in:admin,root,system"
}

Control Rules

Control validation behavior.

bail

Stop validating the field on first error.

{
  "email": "bail|required|email|unique"
}

Without bail, all rules are checked. With bail, validation stops at first failure.

Array Validation

Validate nested array items using .* wildcard.

Basic Array Items

{
  "tags": "required|array",
  "tags.*": "string|max:50"
}

Object Array Items

{
  "items": "required|array|min:1",
  "items.*.product_id": "required|uuid",
  "items.*.quantity": "required|integer|min:1",
  "items.*.price": "required|numeric|min:0"
}

Nested Array Validation

{
  "orders": "required|array",
  "orders.*.items": "required|array|min:1",
  "orders.*.items.*.sku": "required|string"
}

Complete Examples

User Registration

{
  "source": "request.body",
  "schema": {
    "username": "required|string|min:3|max:20|regex:^[a-zA-Z0-9_]+$",
    "email": "required|email",
    "password": "required|string|min:8",
    "password_confirmation": "required|same:password",
    "date_of_birth": "required|date|before:2010-01-01",
    "terms_accepted": "required|boolean"
  }
}

Product Creation

{
  "source": "request.body",
  "schema": {
    "name": "required|string|min:2|max:200",
    "description": "nullable|string|max:5000",
    "price": "required|numeric|min:0",
    "compare_price": "nullable|numeric|gt:price",
    "sku": "required|string|regex:^[A-Z0-9-]+$",
    "category": "required|in:electronics,clothing,home,sports",
    "tags": "array|max:10",
    "tags.*": "string|max:30",
    "variants": "sometimes|array",
    "variants.*.name": "required|string",
    "variants.*.price": "required|numeric|min:0",
    "variants.*.stock": "required|integer|min:0"
  }
}

Order Placement

{
  "source": "request.body",
  "schema": {
    "items": "required|array|min:1|max:50",
    "items.*.product_id": "required|uuid",
    "items.*.quantity": "required|integer|min:1|max:100",
    "shipping_address": "required|object",
    "shipping_address.street": "required|string|max:200",
    "shipping_address.city": "required|string|max:100",
    "shipping_address.postal_code": "required|string|max:20",
    "shipping_address.country": "required|string|size:2",
    "billing_same_as_shipping": "required|boolean",
    "billing_address": "required_if:billing_same_as_shipping,false|object",
    "payment_method": "required|in:card,paypal,bank_transfer",
    "card_token": "required_if:payment_method,card|string",
    "notes": "nullable|string|max:500"
  }
}

Profile Update

{
  "source": "request.body",
  "schema": {
    "display_name": "sometimes|string|min:2|max:50",
    "bio": "nullable|string|max:500",
    "website": "nullable|url",
    "social_links": "sometimes|object",
    "social_links.twitter": "nullable|url",
    "social_links.linkedin": "nullable|url",
    "notification_preferences": "sometimes|object",
    "notification_preferences.email": "boolean",
    "notification_preferences.push": "boolean"
  }
}

File Upload

{
  "source": "request.files",
  "schema": {
    "avatar": "required|image|dimensions:min_width=200,min_height=200,ratio=1/1",
    "resume": "required|file|extensions:pdf,doc,docx|mimes:application/pdf,application/msword",
    "portfolio": "sometimes|file|extensions:pdf"
  }
}

Document Upload with Metadata

{
  "source": "request.body",
  "schema": {
    "title": "required|string|max:200",
    "description": "nullable|string|max:1000",
    "category": "required|in:report,invoice,contract,other"
  }
}

Combined with file validation:

{
  "source": "request.files",
  "schema": {
    "document": "required|file|extensions:pdf,doc,docx",
    "thumbnail": "sometimes|image|dimensions:max_width=400,max_height=400"
  }
}

Error Messages

Each rule generates a specific error message:

Rule	Message Example
required	The name field is required
email	The email field must be a valid email address
min (string)	The password field must be at least 8 characters
min (number)	The age field must be at least 18
min (array)	The items field must have at least 1 items
max	The title field may not be greater than 100 characters
in	The status field must be one of: pending, active, closed
uuid	The id field must be a valid UUID
same	The password_confirmation field must match password

Request Node - Validation node usage
Condition Node - Branch on validation results
Abort Node - Error responses

​Syntax

​Presence Rules

​required

​nullable

​present

​sometimes

​Conditional Required

​required_if

​required_unless

​required_with

​required_without

​required_with_all

​required_without_all

​Type Rules

​string

​integer

​numeric

​boolean

​array

​object

​Size Rules

​min

​max

​size

​between

​Format Rules

​email

​url

​uuid

​ip

​ipv4

​ipv6

​json

​regex

​Date Rules

​date

​datetime

​before

​after

​before_or_equal

​after_or_equal

​File Rules

​file

​image

​mimes

​extensions

​dimensions

​Comparison Rules

​same

​different

​confirmed

​gt

​gte

​lt

​lte

​Inclusion Rules

​in

​not_in

​Control Rules

​bail

​Array Validation

​Basic Array Items

​Object Array Items

​Nested Array Validation

​Complete Examples

​User Registration

​Product Creation

​Order Placement

​Profile Update

​File Upload

​Document Upload with Metadata

​Error Messages

​Related