GitHub Issue: TypeScript Error with artifact() - ZodObject Missing Required Properties

[AviOfLagos]

GitHub Issue: TypeScript Error with artifact() - ZodObject Missing Required Properties

Package: @ai-sdk-tools/artifacts@1.2.0
Environment:

• TypeScript: 5.7.2
• Zod: 4.1.13
• AI SDK: 5.0.101
• Node: 20.x

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🐛 Bug Description

When using the artifact() helper from @ai-sdk-tools/artifacts with even the simplest Zod schemas, TypeScript reports that the ZodObject type is incompatible with the expected type parameter.

📋 Error Message

Argument of type 'ZodObject<{ name: ZodString; industry: ZodString; tagline: ZodString; status: ZodEnum<["analyzing", "complete"]>; progress: ZodNumber; }, "strip", ZodTypeAny, { ... }, { ... }>' is not assignable to parameter of type 'ZodType<unknown, unknown, $ZodTypeInternals<unknown, unknown>>'.

Type 'ZodObject<...>' is missing the following properties from type 'ZodType<unknown, unknown, $ZodTypeInternals<unknown, unknown>>': def, type, check, clone, and 14 more.

🔄 Reproduction Steps

Minimal Example

import { artifact } from '@ai-sdk-tools/artifacts';
import { z } from 'zod';

// Even the simplest flat schema fails
export const BrandProfileArtifact = artifact('brand_profile', z.object({
  name: z.string(),
  industry: z.string(),
  tagline: z.string(),
  status: z.enum(['analyzing', 'complete']),
  progress: z.number().min(0).max(1),
}));
// ❌ TypeScript Error: ZodObject is not assignable to parameter type

What We Tried

1. Super simple schemas - Still fails

export const SimpleArtifact = artifact('simple', z.object({
  title: z.string(),
  status: z.enum(['writing', 'done']),
}));
// ❌ Same error

2. Removed all nested objects - Still fails

export const FlatArtifact = artifact('flat', z.object({
  text: z.string(),
  count: z.number(),
}));
// ❌ Same error

3. Removed .min()/.max() - Still fails

export const NoConstraintsArtifact = artifact('no_constraints', z.object({
  name: z.string(),
  value: z.number(),
}));
// ❌ Same error

🤔 Expected Behavior

Based on the documentation at https://ai-sdk-tools.dev/artifacts, this should work:

const Dashboard = artifact('dashboard', z.object({
  title: z.string(),
  metrics: z.object({
    revenue: z.number(),
    users: z.number(),
  }),
  status: z.enum(['loading', 'complete']),
  progress: z.number(),
}))

The schema should be accepted and artifact streaming should work.

🔍 Actual Behavior

TypeScript rejects ALL Zod schemas passed to artifact(), even the simplest ones, with the error that ZodObject is missing internal properties like def, type, check, clone.

💻 Full Code Context

File: lib/common/midday-artifacts.ts

/**
 * Attempting to use Midday artifacts as documented
 */
import { artifact } from '@ai-sdk-tools/artifacts';
import { z } from 'zod';

// Article artifact for WriterAgent
export const ArticleArtifact = artifact('article', z.object({
  title: z.string(),
  content: z.string(),
  wordCount: z.number(),
  status: z.enum(['writing', 'reviewing', 'complete']),
  progress: z.number().min(0).max(1),
}));
// ❌ Error on this line

// Social Post artifact for RepurposeAgent  
export const SocialPostArtifact = artifact('social_post', z.object({
  platform: z.enum(['twitter', 'linkedin', 'instagram']),
  content: z.string(),
  hashtags: z.string(),
  status: z.enum(['generating', 'complete']),
  progress: z.number().min(0).max(1),
}));
// ❌ Error on this line too

tsconfig.json (relevant settings):

{
  "compilerOptions": {
    "target": "ES2017",
    "lib": ["dom", "dom.iterable", "esnext"],
    "allowJs": true,
    "skipLibCheck": true,
    "strict": true,
    "noEmit": true,
    "esModuleInterop": true,
    "module": "esnext",
    "moduleResolution": "bundler",
    "resolveJsonModule": true,
    "isolatedModules": true,
    "jsx": "preserve",
    "incremental": true,
    "paths": {
      "@/*": ["./*"]
    }
  }
}

🔧 Attempted Workarounds

1. Type Assertion (works but defeats type safety)

export const ArticleArtifact = artifact('article', z.object({
  title: z.string(),
  status: z.enum(['writing', 'done']),
}) as any);
// ✅ Compiles but loses all type safety

2. Different moduleResolution

Changed moduleResolution from "bundler" to "node16" - didn't help.

3. Importing from different path

import { artifact } from '@ai-sdk-tools/artifacts/dist/index';
// Still same error

❓ Questions

1. Is there a specific Zod version required? (Currently using 4.1.13)
2. Is there a different way to define artifact schemas?
3. Are there working TypeScript examples in a repository we can reference?
4. Is this a known issue with a workaround?

🌍 Environment

@ai-sdk-tools/artifacts: 1.2.0
@ai-sdk-tools/store: 1.2.0
ai: 5.0.101
zod: 4.1.13
typescript: 5.7.2
next: 15.1.3

📦 Package Installation

pnpm add @ai-sdk-tools/artifacts @ai-sdk-tools/store
pnpm add ai@latest # Upgraded to v5 for compatibility

🙏 Request

Any guidance would be appreciated:

• Is this a type definition issue that can be fixed?
• Is there proper TypeScript usage documentation?
• Should we use a different approach for defining artifacts?

Thank you for the amazing toolkit! The Store and Memory features are working great. Just struggling with artifacts specifically.

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Additional Context: We're building a multi-agent brand engine and want to stream structured outputs from our agents to React components using the useArtifact hook. Everything else in the SDK works perfectly for now.