@peerbits/fhir-validator

Fast, lightweight structural, cardinality, and reference validation for FHIR R4 resources.

Important

Scope & Positioning: @peerbits/fhir-validator is a fast in-memory structural and reference validator for FHIR R4 resources. It is not a full FHIR profile conformance engine, does not evaluate FHIRPath invariant expressions, and is not an ONC certification test kit.

Read our Known Limitations for a clear overview of supported checks vs. out-of-scope capabilities and recommended full-conformance alternatives.

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The Peerbits HealthTech Toolkit Narrative

@peerbits/fhir-validator works seamlessly alongside the rest of the Peerbits Open Source healthcare stack:

1. @peerbits/smart-launch — Performs EHR SMART-on-FHIR OAuth2 / OIDC discovery and authorization.
2. @peerbits/fhir-client — Connects to FHIR servers and executes type-safe CRUD, searches, and batch bundles.
3. @peerbits/fhir-validator — Inspects and verifies payload integrity at runtime, catching missing fields, invalid references, and malformed codings before requests hit the wire or database.

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Features

• Zero-Dependency & In-Memory: Pure TypeScript with zero runtime dependencies. Runs in Node.js, browsers, Edge workers, and Lambda functions.
• 7 Core Resource Types: Base structural rules and cardinality checks for:
  • Patient
  • Observation
  • Encounter
  • Condition
  • Coverage
  • Claim
  • ClaimResponse
• Reference Target-Type Enforcement: Checks that Reference elements target allowed resource types per the FHIR R4 specification.
• Coding & CodeableConcept Shape Verification: Structural validation of code and URI system fields without heavy external network calls.
• Pluggable Profile Constraints: Declaratively enforce additional required fields, cardinality minimums, and fixed values on top of base specifications (includes illustrative USCorePatientProfile and USCoreObservationVitalsProfile).
• OperationOutcome-Aligned Output: Returns { valid: boolean, issues: ValidationIssue[] } with diagnostic severities (error, warning, information).

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Installation

npm install @peerbits/fhir-validator

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Demo and Quick Start

Peerbits HealthTech - Fhir Validator Demo

1. Validating a Resource

import { validate } from "@peerbits/fhir-validator";

const observation = {
  resourceType: "Observation",
  id: "heart-rate-001",
  status: "final",
  code: {
    coding: [
      {
        system: "http://loinc.org",
        code: "8867-4",
        display: "Heart rate",
      },
    ],
  },
  subject: {
    reference: "Patient/synthetic-patient-001",
  },
  valueQuantity: {
    value: 72,
    unit: "/min",
    system: "http://unitsofmeasure.org",
    code: "/min",
  },
};

const result = validate(observation);
console.log(result.valid); // true
console.log(result.issues); // []

2. Catching Structural Errors (Before / After)

When passed a resource with deliberate errors:

import { validate } from "@peerbits/fhir-validator";

const malformedObservation = {
  resourceType: "Observation",
  // 1. Missing required 'status'
  code: {
    coding: [
      {
        // 2. Missing required 'system' URI
        code: "8867-4",
      },
    ],
  },
  subject: {
    // 3. Disallowed target resource type for Observation.subject
    reference: "Claim/claim-999",
  },
};

const result = validate(malformedObservation);
console.log(result.valid); // false
console.log(result.issues);

Result Output (ValidationIssue[]):

{
  "valid": false,
  "issues": [
    {
      "severity": "error",
      "path": "Observation.status",
      "code": "required",
      "message": "Missing required 'status' in 'Observation'."
    },
    {
      "severity": "error",
      "path": "Observation.code.coding[0].system",
      "code": "required",
      "message": "Missing required 'system' URI in 'Observation.code.coding[0]'."
    },
    {
      "severity": "error",
      "path": "Observation.subject",
      "code": "invalid-reference-type",
      "message": "Reference at 'Observation.subject' targets disallowed resource type 'Claim'. Allowed types: Patient, Group, Device, Location."
    }
  ]
}

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Applying Profile Constraints

You can pass profile constraints to enforce additional requirements beyond base FHIR:

import { validate, USCorePatientProfile } from "@peerbits/fhir-validator";

const minimalPatient = {
  resourceType: "Patient",
  id: "patient-1",
  gender: "female",
};

// Base validation passes (since name & identifier are optional in base FHIR R4)
const baseResult = validate(minimalPatient);
console.log(baseResult.valid); // true

// US Core Patient requires name and identifier
const profileResult = validate(minimalPatient, { profile: USCorePatientProfile });
console.log(profileResult.valid); // false
console.log(profileResult.issues);
// => Issues flagging missing 'Patient.identifier' and 'Patient.name'

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API Reference

validate(resource: unknown, options?: ValidateOptions): ValidationResult

Validates any JSON object against base FHIR R4 rules and optional profile constraints.

ValidationResult

• valid: boolean — true if zero issues with severity: "error" were found.
• issues: ValidationIssue[] — List of validation issues.

ValidationIssue

• severity: "error" | "warning" | "information"
• path: string — Dot-notated element path (e.g. Observation.code.coding[0].system).
• code: string — Machine-readable issue code (e.g. required, invalid-type, invalid-reference-type).
• message: string — Human-readable description.

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Contributing & Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run test suite
npm test

# Type check
npm run typecheck

# Build bundle
npm run build

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License

Apache 2.0 © Peerbits