From 2bb402ad405b5d011357522f3aa90ca6450b4828 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: jbranchaud <jbranchaud@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 2026 17:08:27 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] Add Combine StrEnum With Pydantic For Union Type as a Python
 TIL

---
 README.md                                     |  3 +-
 ...ne-strenum-with-pydantic-for-union-type.md | 54 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 56 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 python/combine-strenum-with-pydantic-for-union-type.md

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c569d07..4010cec 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ working across different projects via [VisualMode](https://www.visualmode.dev/).
 
 For a steady stream of TILs, [sign up for my newsletter](https://visualmode.kit.com/newsletter).
 
-_1857 TILs and counting..._
+_1858 TILs and counting..._
 
 See some of the other learning resources I work on:
 
@@ -1087,6 +1087,7 @@ If you've learned something here, support my efforts writing daily TILs by
 - [Break Debugger On First Line Of Program](python/break-debugger-on-first-line-of-program.md)
 - [Check If Package Is Installed With Pip](python/check-if-package-is-installed-with-pip.md)
 - [Check Precondition Before Click Arg Parsing](python/check-precondition-before-click-arg-parsing.md)
+- [Combine StrEnum With Pydantic For Union Type](python/combine-strenum-with-pydantic-for-union-type.md)
 - [Commit Writes From Executed SQLite Statements](python/commit-writes-from-executed-sqlite-statements.md)
 - [Configure Other Attributes Of Dataclass Field](python/configure-other-attributes-of-dataclass-field.md)
 - [Control Passing Of Time In Tests](python/control-passing-of-time-in-tests.md)
diff --git a/python/combine-strenum-with-pydantic-for-union-type.md b/python/combine-strenum-with-pydantic-for-union-type.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..171a18e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/combine-strenum-with-pydantic-for-union-type.md
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# Combine StrEnum With Pydantic For Union Type
+
+I want a [Pydantic](https://pydantic.dev/docs/validation/latest/get-started/)
+model that I can use to verify the shape and values of user-provided config
+file. Let's say, for now, the only config value supported by the file is
+`storage_format` and it can be one of three values (`json`, `sqlite`,
+`inmemory`).
+
+I can start with a
+[`StrEnum`](https://docs.python.org/3/library/enum.html#enum.StrEnum) class to
+represent the set of valid values for the storage format field.
+
+```python
+from enum import StrEnum
+from typing import Literal
+
+class StorageFormat(StrEnum):
+    SQLITE = "sqlite"
+    JSON = "json"
+    INMEMORY = "inmemory"
+
+    @classmethod
+    def default(cls) -> Literal[StorageFormat.SQLITE]:
+        return cls.SQLITE
+```
+
+Notice I've also provided a class method called `default` for serving up a
+fallback default value.
+
+Here is the corresponding Pydantic `CliConfig` model which uses the
+`StorageFormat` string enum class as the type signature for its `storage_format`
+field.
+
+```python
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+class CliConfig(BaseModel):
+    storage_format: StorageFormat = StorageFormat.default()
+```
+
+For `storage_format` to be valid in the context of `CliConfig`, it must be one
+of the values defined by that `StrEnum`. I get auto-complete, I get type
+checking, and I can validate a config file I've just read into memory (in this
+case, using
+[`model_validate_json`](https://pydantic.dev/docs/validation/dev/api/pydantic/base_model/#pydantic.BaseModel.model_validate_json)).
+
+```python
+def _read_config(self) -> CliConfig:
+    if self.exists():
+        raw_json = self.config_file.read_text()
+        return CliConfig.model_validate_json(raw_json)
+
+    return CliConfig()
+```