Functional Serializers

This module contains related classes and functions for serialization.

PlainSerializer `dataclass` ¶

Plain serializers use a function to modify the output of serialization.

This is particularly helpful when you want to customize the serialization for annotated types. Consider an input of list, which will be serialized into a space-delimited string.

from typing import List

from typing_extensions import Annotated

from pydantic import BaseModel, PlainSerializer

CustomStr = Annotated[
    List, PlainSerializer(lambda x: ' '.join(x), return_type=str)
]

class StudentModel(BaseModel):
    courses: CustomStr

student = StudentModel(courses=['Math', 'Chemistry', 'English'])
print(student.model_dump())
#> {'courses': 'Math Chemistry English'}

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
`func`	`SerializerFunction`	The serializer function.
`return_type`	`Any`	The return type for the function. If omitted it will be inferred from the type annotation.
`when_used`	`Literal['always', 'unless-none', 'json', 'json-unless-none']`	Determines when this serializer should be used. Accepts a string with values `'always'`, `'unless-none'`, `'json'`, and `'json-unless-none'`. Defaults to 'always'.

WrapSerializer `dataclass` ¶

Wrap serializers receive the raw inputs along with a handler function that applies the standard serialization logic, and can modify the resulting value before returning it as the final output of serialization.

For example, here's a scenario in which a wrap serializer transforms timezones to UTC and utilizes the existing datetime serialization logic.

from datetime import datetime, timezone
from typing import Any, Dict

from typing_extensions import Annotated

from pydantic import BaseModel, WrapSerializer

class EventDatetime(BaseModel):
    start: datetime
    end: datetime

def convert_to_utc(value: Any, handler, info) -> Dict[str, datetime]:
    # Note that `helper` can actually help serialize the `value` for further custom serialization in case it's a subclass.
    partial_result = handler(value, info)
    if info.mode == 'json':
        return {
            k: datetime.fromisoformat(v).astimezone(timezone.utc)
            for k, v in partial_result.items()
        }
    return {k: v.astimezone(timezone.utc) for k, v in partial_result.items()}

UTCEventDatetime = Annotated[EventDatetime, WrapSerializer(convert_to_utc)]

class EventModel(BaseModel):
    event_datetime: UTCEventDatetime

dt = EventDatetime(
    start='2024-01-01T07:00:00-08:00', end='2024-01-03T20:00:00+06:00'
)
event = EventModel(event_datetime=dt)
print(event.model_dump())
'''
{
    'event_datetime': {
        'start': datetime.datetime(
            2024, 1, 1, 15, 0, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc
        ),
        'end': datetime.datetime(
            2024, 1, 3, 14, 0, tzinfo=datetime.timezone.utc
        ),
    }
}
'''

print(event.model_dump_json())
'''
{"event_datetime":{"start":"2024-01-01T15:00:00Z","end":"2024-01-03T14:00:00Z"}}
'''

Attributes:

Name	Type	Description
`func`	`WrapSerializerFunction`	The serializer function to be wrapped.
`return_type`	`Any`	The return type for the function. If omitted it will be inferred from the type annotation.
`when_used`	`Literal['always', 'unless-none', 'json', 'json-unless-none']`	Determines when this serializer should be used. Accepts a string with values `'always'`, `'unless-none'`, `'json'`, and `'json-unless-none'`. Defaults to 'always'.

field_serializer ¶

field_serializer(
    *fields: str,
    mode: Literal["plain", "wrap"] = "plain",
    return_type: Any = PydanticUndefined,
    when_used: Literal[
        "always", "unless-none", "json", "json-unless-none"
    ] = "always",
    check_fields: bool | None = None
) -> Callable[[Any], Any]

Decorator that enables custom field serialization.

In the below example, a field of type set is used to mitigate duplication. A field_serializer is used to serialize the data as a sorted list.

from typing import Set

from pydantic import BaseModel, field_serializer

class StudentModel(BaseModel):
    name: str = 'Jane'
    courses: Set[str]

    @field_serializer('courses', when_used='json')
    def serialize_courses_in_order(courses: Set[str]):
        return sorted(courses)

student = StudentModel(courses={'Math', 'Chemistry', 'English'})
print(student.model_dump_json())
#> {"name":"Jane","courses":["Chemistry","English","Math"]}

See Custom serializers for more information.

Four signatures are supported:

(self, value: Any, info: FieldSerializationInfo)
(self, value: Any, nxt: SerializerFunctionWrapHandler, info: FieldSerializationInfo)
(value: Any, info: SerializationInfo)
(value: Any, nxt: SerializerFunctionWrapHandler, info: SerializationInfo)

Parameters:

Name	Type	Description	Default
`fields`	`str`	Which field(s) the method should be called on.	`()`
`mode`	`Literal['plain', 'wrap']`	The serialization mode. `plain` means the function will be called instead of the default serialization logic, `wrap` means the function will be called with an argument to optionally call the default serialization logic.	`'plain'`
`return_type`	`Any`	Optional return type for the function, if omitted it will be inferred from the type annotation.	`PydanticUndefined`
`when_used`	`Literal['always', 'unless-none', 'json', 'json-unless-none']`	Determines the serializer will be used for serialization.	`'always'`
`check_fields`	`bool \| None`	Whether to check that the fields actually exist on the model.	`None`

Returns:

Type	Description
`Callable[[Any], Any]`	The decorator function.

Source code in pydantic/functional_serializers.py

def field_serializer(
    *fields: str,
    mode: Literal['plain', 'wrap'] = 'plain',
    return_type: Any = PydanticUndefined,
    when_used: Literal['always', 'unless-none', 'json', 'json-unless-none'] = 'always',
    check_fields: bool | None = None,
) -> Callable[[Any], Any]:
    """Decorator that enables custom field serialization.

    In the below example, a field of type `set` is used to mitigate duplication. A `field_serializer` is used to serialize the data as a sorted list.

    ```python
    from typing import Set

    from pydantic import BaseModel, field_serializer

    class StudentModel(BaseModel):
        name: str = 'Jane'
        courses: Set[str]

        @field_serializer('courses', when_used='json')
        def serialize_courses_in_order(courses: Set[str]):
            return sorted(courses)

    student = StudentModel(courses={'Math', 'Chemistry', 'English'})
    print(student.model_dump_json())
    #> {"name":"Jane","courses":["Chemistry","English","Math"]}
    ```

    See [Custom serializers](../concepts/serialization.md#custom-serializers) for more information.

    Four signatures are supported:

    - `(self, value: Any, info: FieldSerializationInfo)`
    - `(self, value: Any, nxt: SerializerFunctionWrapHandler, info: FieldSerializationInfo)`
    - `(value: Any, info: SerializationInfo)`
    - `(value: Any, nxt: SerializerFunctionWrapHandler, info: SerializationInfo)`

    Args:
        fields: Which field(s) the method should be called on.
        mode: The serialization mode.

            - `plain` means the function will be called instead of the default serialization logic,
            - `wrap` means the function will be called with an argument to optionally call the
               default serialization logic.
        return_type: Optional return type for the function, if omitted it will be inferred from the type annotation.
        when_used: Determines the serializer will be used for serialization.
        check_fields: Whether to check that the fields actually exist on the model.

    Returns:
        The decorator function.
    """

    def dec(
        f: Callable[..., Any] | staticmethod[Any, Any] | classmethod[Any, Any, Any],
    ) -> _decorators.PydanticDescriptorProxy[Any]:
        dec_info = _decorators.FieldSerializerDecoratorInfo(
            fields=fields,
            mode=mode,
            return_type=return_type,
            when_used=when_used,
            check_fields=check_fields,
        )
        return _decorators.PydanticDescriptorProxy(f, dec_info)

    return dec

model_serializer ¶

model_serializer(
    f: Callable[..., Any] | None = None,
    /,
    *,
    mode: Literal["plain", "wrap"] = "plain",
    when_used: Literal[
        "always", "unless-none", "json", "json-unless-none"
    ] = "always",
    return_type: Any = PydanticUndefined,
) -> Callable[[Any], Any]

Decorator that enables custom model serialization.

This is useful when a model need to be serialized in a customized manner, allowing for flexibility beyond just specific fields.

An example would be to serialize temperature to the same temperature scale, such as degrees Celsius.

from typing import Literal

from pydantic import BaseModel, model_serializer

class TemperatureModel(BaseModel):
    unit: Literal['C', 'F']
    value: int

    @model_serializer()
    def serialize_model(self):
        if self.unit == 'F':
            return {'unit': 'C', 'value': int((self.value - 32) / 1.8)}
        return {'unit': self.unit, 'value': self.value}

temperature = TemperatureModel(unit='F', value=212)
print(temperature.model_dump())
#> {'unit': 'C', 'value': 100}