fix: honour required contract on serialize for fields with intrinsic Rust defaults

CHANGELOG.adoc

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 === Bug fixes
 * fix untagged enum variant ordering: Integer now comes before Number to prevent unreachable deserialization (#991)
 * generate `Default` impl for structs where all required fields have explicit defaults (#918)
+* honour the JSON Schema `required` contract on serialization for fields whose Rust type has an intrinsic default (`Vec`, `HashMap`, `Option<T>`). Previously an empty/`None` required field was silently omitted because `skip_serializing_if` was applied; now `#[serde(default)]` is emitted alone, so deserialize stays lenient (`{}` parses) but serialize always renders the field. **Wire-format change**: payloads that previously omitted empty required fields will now render them as `[]`, `{}`, or `null`
 * generate `TryFrom` instead of `From` for bounded integer newtypes, enforcing min/max constraints (#986)
 * render integer `minimum`/`maximum` as integers (not floats) in doc comments (#843)
 * handle special characters in enum variant names (`=`, `>`, `≥`, etc.) without panicking (#948)

typify-impl/src/defaults.rs

@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ fn all_props<'a>(
 
     if let Some(name) = maybe_name {
         let required = match &property.state {
-            StructPropertyState::Required => true,
+            StructPropertyState::Required | StructPropertyState::RequiredWithDefault => true,
             StructPropertyState::Optional | StructPropertyState::Default(_) => false,
         };
 

typify-impl/src/lib.rs

@@ -1327,7 +1327,10 @@ impl<'a> TypeStruct<'a> {
             .map(move |prop| TypeStructPropInfo {
                 name: prop.name.as_str(),
                 description: prop.description.as_deref(),
-                required: matches!(&prop.state, StructPropertyState::Required),
+                required: matches!(
+                    &prop.state,
+                    StructPropertyState::Required | StructPropertyState::RequiredWithDefault
+                ),
                 type_id: prop.type_id.clone(),
             })
     }

typify-impl/src/structs.rs

@@ -134,12 +134,23 @@ impl TypeSpace {
         let state = if required.contains(prop_name) {
             // Even required fields may have an explicit default value
             // specified in the schema. If so, we use it for the Default impl
-            // and builder pre-population (and also make serde more lenient).
-            has_default(
+            // and builder pre-population (and also make deserialization
+            // more lenient — but NOT serialization, since the schema
+            // still requires the field on the wire).
+            match has_default(
                 self,
                 &type_id,
                 metadata.as_ref().and_then(|m| m.default.as_ref()),
-            )
+            ) {
+                // `Optional` here means an intrinsic-default type
+                // (Vec, Option, Map, …) with no explicit schema
+                // default. Promote to RequiredWithDefault so that
+                // `generate_serde_attr` emits `#[serde(default)]`
+                // (lenient deserialize) without `skip_serializing_if`
+                // (serialization always emits the required field).
+                StructPropertyState::Optional => StructPropertyState::RequiredWithDefault,
+                other => other,
+            }
         } else {
             // We can use serde's `default` and `skip_serializing_if`
             // construction for options, arrays, and maps--i.e. properties that
@@ -342,6 +353,16 @@ pub(crate) fn generate_serde_attr(
         }
 
         (StructPropertyState::Required, _) => DefaultFunction::None,
+
+        // Required by the schema but with an intrinsic default for the
+        // Rust type. Emit `#[serde(default)]` so that deserializing a
+        // JSON object that lacks the field still succeeds (PR #918's
+        // intent), but DO NOT emit `skip_serializing_if`: the schema
+        // says the field is required on the wire.
+        (StructPropertyState::RequiredWithDefault, _) => {
+            serde_options.push(quote! { default });
+            DefaultFunction::Default
+        }
     };
 
     let serde = if serde_options.is_empty() {

typify-impl/src/type_entry.rs

@@ -223,6 +223,12 @@ pub(crate) enum StructPropertyRename {
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, PartialEq, Eq, PartialOrd, Ord)]
 pub(crate) enum StructPropertyState {
     Required,
+    /// Required by the schema, but with an intrinsic default value
+    /// (e.g. `Vec::new()`, `None`) — emit `#[serde(default)]` so
+    /// deserializing `{}` succeeds (PR #918), but DON'T emit
+    /// `skip_serializing_if`: the schema marks the field required, so
+    /// it must always be present on the wire.
+    RequiredWithDefault,
     Optional,
     Default(WrappedValue),
 }