567-labs--instructor/docs/concepts/enums.md

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Using Enums and Literals in Pydantic for Role Management	Learn how to implement Enums and Literals in Pydantic to manage standardized user roles with a fallback option.

To prevent data misalignment, we can use Enums for standardized fields. Always include an "Other" option as a fallback so the model can signal uncertainty.

from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from enum import Enum


class Role(Enum):
    PRINCIPAL = "PRINCIPAL"
    TEACHER = "TEACHER"
    STUDENT = "STUDENT"
    OTHER = "OTHER"


class UserDetail(BaseModel):
    age: int
    name: str
    role: Role = Field(
        description="Correctly assign one of the predefined roles to the user."
    )

If you're having a hard time with Enum an alternative is to use Literal instead.

from typing import Literal
from pydantic import BaseModel


class UserDetail(BaseModel):
    age: int
    name: str
    role: Literal["PRINCIPAL", "TEACHER", "STUDENT", "OTHER"]

See Also

• Types - Working with different data types including Literal
• Union Types - Using unions with enums for multiple choices
• Response Models - Using enums in Pydantic models
• Fields - Customizing enum fields with Field metadata